{"id":61084,"date":"2012-11-20T15:48:21","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T15:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=61084"},"modified":"2012-11-22T17:39:31","modified_gmt":"2012-11-22T17:39:31","slug":"impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/","title":{"rendered":"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\">The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) and the Commonwealth Magistrates\u2019 and Judges\u2019 Association (CMJA) are concerned about the recent motion in the Sri Lankan Parliament to proceed with the impeachment of Chief Justice <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Shirani+Bandaranayake&amp;x=13&amp;y=9\">Shirani Bandaranayake<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2522\" style=\"width: 302px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/chief-justice-or-her-husband-must-resign\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2522\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2522\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2522\" title=\"Shirani B colombo telegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"252\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2522\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chief Justice Bandaranayake<\/p><\/div>\n<p align=\"left\">The existence of an independent and impartial judiciary is one of the cardinal features of any country governed by the rule of law. By virtue of its membership of the Commonwealth, Sri Lanka is committed to the shared fundamental values and principles of the Commonwealth, at the core of which is a shared belief in, and adherence to, democratic principles including an independent and impartial judiciary. Any measure on the part of the Executive or Legislature which is capable of being seen as eroding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary is a matter of serious concern and is in danger of eroding public confidence in the legal system as a whole.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The <em><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles on the Accountability of and the Relationship between the <\/span><\/em>Three Branches of Government (2003), <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">which form part of the Commonwealth fundamental values state <\/span>that disciplinary proceedings which might lead to the removal of a judicial officer should include appropriate safeguards to ensure fairness\u2019 that is to say, the right to be fully informed of the charges against them, to be represented at a hearing, to make a full defence and to be judged by an independent and impartial tribunal.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\n<p align=\"left\">Furthermore tthese Principles require that judges should be subject to suspension or removal <strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">only <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">for <\/span>reasons of incapacity or misbehaviour that\u00a0<strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">clearly\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\">renders them unfit to discharge their duties. <\/span>The Associations urge upon the Government and Parliament of Sri Lanka to respect the independence of the judiciary and in particular to comply with its constitutional safeguards and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles which, as the Commonwealth Secretary General emphasised in his statement of 15 November 2012, &#8216;govern the relationship between the three branches of government and are a cornerstone of our Association&#8217;s values.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA)<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA)<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Commonwealth Magistrates\u2019 and Judges\u2019 Association (CMJA)<\/p>\n<p>19 November 2012<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":2522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[6613,6020,6614],"class_list":["post-61084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories","tag-commonwealth-lawyers","tag-impeachment-motion-against-chief-justice-shirani-bandaranayake","tag-magistrates-and-judges-on-the-impeachmnet-motion-against-chief-justice-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-20T15:48:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-22T17:39:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"252\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/\",\"name\":\"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-20T15:48:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-22T17:39:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"width\":\"292\",\"height\":\"252\",\"caption\":\"Chief Justice Bandaranayake\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-11-20T15:48:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-22T17:39:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":292,"height":252,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/","name":"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-20T15:48:21+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-22T17:39:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg","width":"292","height":"252","caption":"Chief Justice Bandaranayake"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/impeachment-esure-firness-and-latimer-house-principles-says-commonwealth-lawyers-magistrates-and-judges\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Impeachment: Esure Firness And Latimer House Principles Says Commonwealth Lawyers, Magistrates And Judges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/shirani-b-colombo-telegraph.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61084"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61492,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61084\/revisions\/61492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}