M Rafiqul Islam & Muhammad Ekramul Haque 
The Constitutional Law of Bangladesh 
Progression and Transformation at its 50th Anniversary

This book provides a supportive lending hand to researchers of constitutional law worldwide about the constitutional law of Bangladesh. Moreover, this book discusses the evolution and development of the constitutional law of Bangladesh over 50 years from its embryonic stage with reference to comparative constitutional law. This book is a very useful resource for the comparative constitutional researchers as readers will be able to easily interpret the constitutional law of Bangladesh from national, regional and global constitutional law perspectives.





This book celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Constitution, the first of its kind to portray the journey of constitutionalism in Bangladesh comprehensively with intellectual observations and palatable recommendations for improvement. This book looks back to the constituent assembly debates, intention of the constitution makers and how have those dreams and aspirations have come into realities, what goals have beenachieved, what caused some failures, and what should be its future directions. At such a momentous point in history, it is imperative that its native and foreign constitutional authoritative voices scholarly assess the constitutional design, understand the reasons for its successes and occasional failures, and ventilate their views towards its progressive development to elevate it to a new height in the 21st century and beyond.








The book chapters discuss not only the text of the constitution and some judicial precedents, rather involve in a much larger task of unveiling the interpretative approach of the Constitution from a comparative constitutional law perspective. This book shall project the future roadmap for the journey of constitutionalism in Bangladesh throughout all chapters offering policy recommendations for the revision of the Constitution. 

Table of Content

INTRODUCTION.- PART ONE: CONSTITUTION-MAKING, CHANGES AND PHILOSOPHY.- CHAPTER 1:  THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION OF BANGLADESH AND MAKING IT WORK.- CHAPTER 2: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATES ON THE BANGLADESH CONSTITUTION: INTENTIONS, INSIGHT, AND IMPLEMENTATION.- CHAPTER 3:  SECULARISM AS A STATE POLICY, STATE RELIGION, AND MINORITY RIGHTS IN THE CONSTITUTION: BENIGN OR MALIGN FOR COMMUNAL HARMONY IN BANGLADESH?.- CHAPTER 4:  CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW IN BANGLADESH.- CHAPTER 5: CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES IN BANGLADESH: UNDERSCORING THE NEED FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS.- PART TWO: ORGANS OF THE STATE, CONSTITUTIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS.- CHAPTER 6:  ROLE OF PARLIAMENT IN ENSURING DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY IN BANGLADESH: SETTING THE AGENDA FOR A STRENGTHENED PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM.- CHAPTER 7: CONSTITUTIONALISATION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: WHERE DOES BANGLADESH STAND AT FIFTY YEARS?.- CHAPTER8: MECHANISMS FOR JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD: WHITHER BANGLADESH?.- CHAPTER 9: FIFTY YEARS OF ELECTIONEERING IN BANGLADESH: THE COLLAPSE OF A CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN.- PART THREE: SPECIALISED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND ISSUES.- CHAPTER 10: RESTRICTIONS ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH: WEDNESBURY UNREASONABLENESS AND PROPORTIONALITY.- CHAPTER 11: PROTECTION THROUGH CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES: THE CASE OF WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND BACKWARD SECTIONS OF THE PEOPLE.- CHAPTER 12: THE ‘INTERNATIONAL CRIMES’ EXCEPTION TO THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS REGIME OF THE BANGLADESH CONSTITUTION.- CHAPTER 13: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTITUTIONALISM IN BANGLADESH: FROM RECOGNITION TO PRACTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY.- CHAPTER 14: TOWARDS A CONSTITUTIONAL LAW FRAMEWORK FOR FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS REFORM: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH.- CHAPTER 15: REFUGEE PROTECTION UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF BANGLADESH: THE ROHINGYA REFUGEES IN CONTEXT.- CHAPTER 16: OCEANGOVERNANCE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF BANGLADESH: EMERGING RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE AND NATURE.- CHAPTER 17: DIGITAL CONSTITUTIONALISM IN BANGLADESH TO PROTECT RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN BIG DATA REGIME.- PART FOUR: CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDIES.- CHAPTER 18:  ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: TRANSFORMATION OF NON-JUSTICIABLE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES TO JUSTICIABLE RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH.- CHAPTER 19:  THE WRIT JURISDICTION IN BANGLADESH: IN SEARCH OF A CONSISTENT PROCEDURAL FRAMEWORK.- CHAPTER 20:  EMERGENCY POWERS AND MARTIAL LAW UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF BANGLADESH.- CHAPTER 21:  JUDICIAL LAWMAKING IN BANGLADESH: LOOKING BACK AND INTO THE FUTURE.- CHAPTER 22: PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF BANGLADESH: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.- BIBLIOGRAPHY.- INDEX.

About the author

M Rafiqul Islam is currently an Emeritus Professor of Law at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He studied Economics and Law at The University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh and obtained BA Honours in 1973 and MA in Economics in 1974 and LLB with first class in 1975. He also obtained LLM in 1979 and Ph D in 1983, both in International Law, from Monash University, Australia, under the Monash Graduate Scholarships. He has about 45 years of legal teaching and research experience at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at universities in common law jurisdictions spanning both developed and developing countries since March 1975. Professor Islam has been an active legal academic and researcher and has published extensively in his areas of teaching and research interest, mostly in Public International Llaw. His major publications in the main include: International Trade Law of the WTO (Oxford University Press, 2006); An Introduction to International Refugee Law (Brill/Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston, 2013, co-ed);  International Law: Current Concepts and Future Directions (Lexis Nexis Australia, 2014); National Trials of International Crimes in Bangladesh: Transitional Justice as Reflected in Judgments, Brill/Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston (International Edition); and the University Press Limited, Dhaka (Bangladesh Edition) March 2019. Professor Islam was the Director of Higher Degree Research (Ph D and MPhil) and has actively been involved in the administration and supervision of research leading to Master of Research (M Res), M Phil, and Ph D degrees. He was awarded the ‘Outstanding Teacher Award’ by Macquarie University in 2000 for his contributions to teaching and higher degree research supervision and administration. Professor Islam is also the recipient of the Macquarie University Arts Faculty Best Higher Degree Research Supervisor Award in 2013 and the Vice Chancellor’s special award ‘in appreciation of [his] service, loyalty and commitments to the University’ in 2016. https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/rafiqul-islam   

Muhammad Ekramul Haque Ph D is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the Department of Law, University of Dhaka, of which he is also an alumnus. He earned a Gold Medal for his academic achievements at the University. He did his Ph D in Constitutional Law and International Law at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He has published research articles on Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Muslim Family law in peer-reviewed law journals, authored several law books, and presented papers at many conferences held all over the world including Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Finland, and the US. He has received the Monash Law Deans Award, Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, Monash Graduate Scholarship, and scholarship from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  Dr Haque is one of the leading scholars in the fields of constitutional law and comparative constitutional law in Bangladesh. His contributions to the study of constitutional law of Bangladesh focus on how comparative constitutional experience and international law reflect and help shape the understanding and developing contents of Bangladeshi constitutional provisions and their interpretations. He is a resource person for the training of Judges and government officials in Bangladesh and member of the Research Group on ‘Cross-Judicial Fertilization: The Use of Foreign precedents by Constitutional Judges’, International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), and the International Society of Public Law ICON•S. His most recent works are: State Volume Editor, Bangladesh, in the Encyclopedia of Public International Law in Asia, Seokwoo Lee, ed, BRILL NIJHOFF, 2021 and Section Editor, International Handbook of Disaster Research, Springer-Nature (2022). His current works include: Monograph on ‘Bangladesh’ in International Encyclopaedia of Constitutional Law, edited by Professor André Alen and Professor David Haljan, Kluwer Law International (forthcoming) and the co-editor of Implementation of Sustainable Development in the Global South: Strategies, Innovations and Challenges,  HART Publishing (forthcoming). https://www.du.ac.bd/body/faculty_details/LAW/333#