Report of the Commission on Constitutional Reform (the Soulbury Commission), Cmd. 6677

The Soulbury Commission Report (Cmd. 6677, 1945) and the resulting Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council 1946 framed the transfer of power. Section 29(2) of the resulting Constitution prohibited communal discrimination — but enforcement was confined to the Privy Council judicial route (Kodeeswaran v Attorney General, JCPC 1969) and could be — and was — circumvented by the 1972 Constitution which removed s.29(2) altogether. Anchor for the structural argument: minority-protection clauses without an entrenched amendment threshold and an independent constitutional court are reversible by the legislature they bind.