The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh which came into force on December 16, 1972, is the Supreme Law of the Republic,' the fundamental law from which all public authorities derive their powers, all laws their validity and all subjects their rights. This Constitution, like most other Constitutions of the world, contains a list of fundamental human rights. These rights are given to all citizen of the Republic, and as they are given by the Constitution, the same cannot be taken away by ordinary legislation. It is in accordance with this Constitution that alt private rights have to be determined and all public authority administered. It has two general purposes, namely, to establish different organs of the Government and to assign them their respective functions, and to make provision for general welfare of the people. The essence of the Constitution of the Republic is that it defines the powers of the Government by imposing limitations on the exercise of executive authority. Furthermore, by the incorporation in the Constitution of such fundamental rights as personal liberty, equality before the last, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of assembly and association, freedom, of movement and residence, freedom to hold and deal with property, and freedom of religion, the framers of the Constitution attempted to impose restrictions of the uncontrolled power of the Executive in the field where individual liberty seemed most desirable, and to prohibit variations of these rights except by the comparatively difficult process of amending the Constitution. While the Constitution of the Republic by and large seeks to introduce a system of government of laws with a power to superior court to judicially review all administrative actions, yet it also contains provisions empowering the Executive to suspend the fundamental rights or the remedies available for the enforcement of such rights during the period of emergency' of which the Executive is the sole-judge.

The Constitution of the Republic is supplemented by laws enacted and adopted by the Legislature for regulating the exercise of powers through organs established by the Constitutions. These laws are organic laws of the country.

Enactment of law by the legislature did not begin till Nineteenth century during the British regime. In Nineteenth century the legislative Acts took the form in which they are east and presented today. Until the Twentieth century, the amount of legislation was comparatively small. The position began to change after the passing of the Government of India Act, 1935, and particularly after partition of the British Indian Empire into two sovereign Dominions, i.e., India and Pakistan in 1947. Since then there has been a great increase both in the volume of legislation and its scope and now there is hardly any aspect of life that is not, in some measure affected by legislation.

As Parliament is the supreme law making body in Bangladesh, Acts of Parliament, subject to the Constitutional restrictions, are binding on all courts, taking precedence over all other sources of law. Under the Constitution, the responsibility of deciding whether the legislature has power to make a law is that of the Legislature itself and, unless a constitutional question is involved, the validity of tan cannot be called in question on the ground that the legislature by which it was made had no power to make it. Under Article 26 of the Constitution, the courts have been empowered to declare laws inconsistent with or made in derogation of the fundamental rights or against a provision of the Constitution to be void.

The Codification of the laws prevailing in Bangladesh is under process. At present there is a Code of the laws prevailing in She Republic known as 'Bangladesh Code' which seeks to present the amended, adapted and authentic version of all enacted laws in force in the country. These laws include all operative enactments, which have been inherited from the past enacted by various authorities according to competence under the Constitution in force at the relevant time. These inherited laws exist laws within the meaning of Article 152(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Further more, emergence of Bangladesh as an independent sovereign State calls for extensive amendments, adaptations and repeal of the existing laws as well as enactment of new laws designed to meet the changed and changing political, social and economic needs of the people. The law today is contained in about two thousand Acts of Parliament, some thousands of statutory instruments and statutory rates and orders. The Ministry of law and Parliamentary Affairs has been working to ascertain the current position of existing laws, which have undergone extensive changes, and to keep track of the flow of new laws, which are being continuously enacted.