The Effect of Anglo-Indian Legislation on Burmese Customary Law

Abstract

Burma lost her sovereignty to the British in 1885 and regained her independence in 1948. Thus, British rule over the whole of Burma lasted sixty-three years, although, if we take into consideration three years of Japanese occupation during the Second World War, the period of effective British rule in Burma was only sixty years. It must, however, be mentioned that the establishment of British authority in Burma did not take place all at once and the coming was not as peaceful and honourable as the going; for the British government, which by the beginning of the 19th century was already firmly established in India, had to fight three costly wars with the Burmese before being able to take over the entire country. These wars stretched over a period of more than sixty years. The first Anglo-Burmese War was fought in 1824, in which native Indian troops were used for the first time by the British to invade and subjugate a foreign country. The British, by virtue of their superiority in naval power and modern artillery, won the war as a result of which the Treaty of Yandabo was concluded in 1826. Under this treaty the Burmese King had to cede to the British government the two coastal provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim.