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1 Introduction
The judicial system of Bangladesh has not grown overnight or in any particular period of history ([13] Huda, 1997, p. 740). The present legal and judicial system of Bangladesh owes its origin mainly to 200 years British rule in the Indian subcontinent although some elements of it are remnants of Pre-British period tracing back to Hindu and Muslim administration. It passed through various stages and has been gradually developed as a continuous historical process. The process of evolution has been partly indigenous and partly foreign and the legal system of the present day emanates from a mixed system which has structure, legal principles and concepts modeled on both Indo-Mughal and English law. The Indian subcontinent has a known history of over 500 years with Hindu and Muslim periods which preceded the British period, and each of these early periods had a distinctive legal system of its own.
Bangladesh is a twice-born nation. It achieved independence in 1947 from British domination as a part of Pakistan named as East Pakistan. Over a period of two decades, it suffered from what has been described as internal colonialism. It finally emerged as a sovereign nation in 1971 through protracted mass agitation and a war of liberation, which claimed millions of lives ([19] Khan et al. , 1996, p. 1). The Judiciary of Bangladesh consists of a Supreme Court, subordinate courts and tribunals. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh comprises of the Appellate Division (AD) and the High Court Division (HCD). It is the apex court of the country and other courts and tribunals are subordinate to it. In this paper, I have briefly discussed the judicial system of Bangladesh from ancient period to present day under the captions of Hindu, Muslim, British, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods.
2 Hindu period: ancient judicial system
In ancient times, the Hindu kings ruled the Bengal (present Bangladesh) in a period of around 1,500 years before and after the beginning of the Christian era. During this period, India was divided into several independent states and the king was the supreme authority of each state and was considered to be the fountain of justice[1] . There were five major types of court system in ancient Bengal - The King Court, the Chief Justice...