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Monarchy Of Ceylon (1948–1972)
From 1948 to 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon functioned as an independent constitutional monarchy in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign and head of state of the country. Ceylon shared the sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms, with the country's monarchy being separate and legally distinct. The monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties were mostly delegated to their representative, the Governor-General of Ceylon, governor-general of Ceylon. The Ceylon Independence Act 1947 transformed the British Ceylon, British Crown Colony of Ceylon into an independent sovereign state known as the Dominion of Ceylon. Upon independence in 1948, King George VI became the monarch of Ceylon and reigned until his death in 1952; he was succeeded by his elder daughter Queen Elizabeth II. In 1953, Elizabeth II was granted the official title of ''Queen of Ceylon'' by the country's parliament and, in this capacity, she visited the island nation in April 1954. The Crown primarily functi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emblem Of Sri Lanka
The National Emblem of Sri Lanka is used by the State of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan government in connection with the administration and government of the country. The current emblem has been in use since 1972 and created under the ideas and guidance of Nissanka Wijeyeratne. At the time, he was Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Chairman of the National Emblem and Flag Design Committee. The designer of the emblem was Venerable Mapalagama Wipulasara Maha Thera, and the artwork was by S. M. Seneviratne. The emblem features a gold lion Attitude (heraldry)#Passant, passant, holding a sword in its right fore paw (the same lion from the flag of Sri Lanka) in the centre on a maroon background surrounded by golden petals of a Nelumbo nucifera, Blue Lotus the national flower of the country. This is placed on top of a traditional grain vase that sprouts sheaves of rice, rice grains that circle the border reflecting prosperity. The crest (heraldry), crest is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty Of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set the stage for the Napoleonic Wars. Britain gave up most of its recent conquests; France was to evacuate Naples and Egypt. Britain retained Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Trinidad. It was signed in the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Amiens on 25 March 1802 (4 Germinal X in the French Revolutionary calendar) by Joseph Bonaparte and Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace". The consequent peace lasted only one year (18 May 1803) and was the only period of general peace in Europe between 1793 and 1814. Under the treaty, Britain recognised the French Republic. Together with the Treaty of Lunéville (1801), the Treaty of Amiens marked the end of the Second Coalition, which had waged war against Revolutionary F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission ( ''Solbari Komisyan Sabawa''; ) was a prime instrument of constitutional reform in British Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) that succeeded the Donoughmore Commission. It was announced in 1944 and headed by Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers, headed by D.S. Senanayake. This commission ushered in the Soulbury Constitution and independence to the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. Its constitutional recommendations were largely those of the 1944 Board of Ministers' draft, a document reflecting the influence of Senanayake and his main advisor, Sir Ivor Jennings.Prof. K. M. de Silva, History of Sri Lanka, Penguin 1995 Background to the appointment of the commission The struggle for independence in Ceylon had been fought on "constitutionalist" lines rather than on the strongly confrontational approach that had developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion of the young and non-citizens (among others). At the same time, some insist that more inclusion is needed before suffrage can be truly universal. Democratic theorists, especially those hoping to achieve more universal suffrage, support presumptive inclusion, where the legal system would protect the voting rights of all subjects unless the government can clearly prove that disenfranchisement is necessary. Universal full suffrage includes both the right to vote, also called active suffrage, and the right to be elected, also called passive suffrage. History In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, which almost always meant a minority of the male population. In some jurisdiction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections typically occur at regular intervals as mandated by a country's constitution or electoral laws, and may include elections for a legislature and sometimes other positions such as a directly elected president. In many jurisdictions, general elections can coincide with other electoral events such as Local government, local, Region, regional, or Supranational union, supranational elections. For example, on 25 May 2014, Belgian voters simultaneously elected their national parliament, 21 members of the European Parliament, and regional parliaments. In Politics of the United States, the United States, "general election" has a slightly different, but related meaning: the ordinary electoral competition following the selection of candid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Council Of Ceylon
The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It replaced the Legislative Council of Ceylon, the colony's original legislative body. There were only two State Councils: the First, elected in 1931, and the Second, elected in 1936. The 1947 Soulbury Constitution replaced the State Council with the Parliament of Ceylon, as part of a process of constitutional development leading up to independence, which took place on 4 February 1948. History Due to Ceylonese demands for constitutional reform, a royal commission was established by the British authorities under the chairmanship of the Earl of Donoughmore. The Donoughmore Commission arrived in the colony in 1927, before returning to the United Kingdom where it issued its report. The Commission proposed reforms which were implemented as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donoughmore Constitution
The Donoughmore Constitution (; ), created by the Donoughmore Commission, served Sri Lanka (Ceylon) from 1931 to 1947 when it was replaced by the Soulbury Constitution. It was a significant development. First, it was the only constitution in the British Empire (outside Dominions of Australia, South Africa and Canada) enabling general elections with adult universal suffrage. For the first time, a "dependent", non-caucasian country within the empires of Western Europe was given one-person, one-vote and the power to control domestic affairs. Here was the pilot project whose success would ensure freedom from colonial rule for whole swathes of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Secondly, it created a committee system of government specifically to address the multi-ethnic problems of Sri Lanka. Under this system, no one ethnic community could dominate the political arena. Instead, every government department was overseen by a committee of parliamentarians drawn from all the ethnic communit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Henry, Duke Of Gloucester
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974) was a member of the British royal family. He was the third son of King George V and Mary of Teck, Queen Mary, and was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI. He served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only Prince to hold the post. Henry was the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, where he excelled at sports, and went on to attend Eton College, after which he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars, a regiment he hoped to command. However, his military career was frequently interrupted by royal duties, and he was nicknamed "the unknown soldier" due to his low profile. While big-game shooting in Kenya, he met the future pilot Beryl Markham, with whom he became romantically involved. The court put pressure on him to end the relationship, but he had to pay regular hush-money to avert a public scandal. In 1935, also under paren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legislative Council Of Ceylon
The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first form of representative government in the island. The 1931 Donoughmore Constitution replaced the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon. Members of the Legislative Council, used the post-nominal letters, MLC. History Introduction In 1833 the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission created the Legislative Council of Ceylon, the first step in representative government in British Ceylon. Initially the Legislative Council consisted of 16 members: the British Governor, the five appointed members of the Executive Council of Ceylon (the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor-General, the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding), four other government officials (including the Government Agents of the Western and Central provinces) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Executive Council Of Ceylon
The Executive Council of Ceylon was the executive council created in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon in March 1833. History The 1833 Colebrooke-Cameron Commission recommended the creation of the Legislative Council and the Executive Council, the first step in representative government in British Ceylon. Accordingly, both were established on 19 March 1833 by letters patent. The Executive Council initially consisted of the British Governor (the president of the council) and five other senior British officials: the General Officer Commanding, the Colonial Secretary (Principal Secretary), the Kings's Advocate, the Treasurer and the Government Agent for the Central Province. The governor had to consult the Executive Council in the discharge of his duties but he could over rule the council's advice. In 1840 the Auditor-General replaced the Gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Governors Of British Ceylon
The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was the head of the British colonial administration in Ceylon, reporting to the Colonial Office. With Ceylon gaining self-rule and dominion status with the creation of Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, this office was replaced by the Governor-General, who represented the British monarch as the head of state. The office of Governor-General was itself abolished in 1972 and replaced by the post of President when Sri Lanka became a republic. Appointment The governor, appointed by the British monarch (on the advice of the prime minister and the secretary of state for the colonies), maintained executive power in Ceylon throughout British rule. Powers and functions The governor was the head of the executive administration in the island. Initially l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kandyan Convention
In the history of Sri Lanka, the Kandyan Convention () was a treaty signed on 2 March 1815 between the British governor of Ceylon, Sir Robert Brownrigg, and the chiefs of the Kandyan Kingdom, British Ceylon, whereas, according to the Sinhala version of the Convention, the signatories were the chiefs of Sihale , for the deposition of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha and ceding of the kingdom's territory to the British Crown. It was signed in the Magul Maduwa (Royal Audience Hall) of the Royal Palace of Kandy. Background The king, of South Indian ancestry, faced powerful opposition from the Sinhalese chieftains who sought to limit his power. A successful coup was organized by the chieftains, ending 2358 years of self-rule on the island and resulting in the imprisonment of the king in Vellore. The treaty is unique in that it was not signed by the monarch on the throne but by members of his court and other dignitaries of the kingdom. The convention gained a degree of infamy when, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
