The law Bangladesh governs by, 1849 to 2023
Legal Architecture
Every government acts through law it inherited and law it wrote. This page lays out the standing body of Bangladeshi legislation by era and by type. Two patterns stand out: a layer of colonial statute still in force more than a century later, and a clean break in ordinance-making after the return to parliamentary democracy.
By era
| Era | Instruments |
|---|---|
| Colonial (pre-1947) | 23 |
| Pakistan era (1947 to 1970) | 7 |
| Founding era (1971 to 1990) | 37 |
| Reform era (1991 to 2008) | 30 |
| Modern era (2009 to present) | 45 |
By type
| Type | Count | Span |
|---|---|---|
| act | 93 (65.5%) | 1849 to 2023 |
| ordinance | 19 (13.4%) | 1960 to 1985 |
| constitutional article | 17 (12.0%) | 1972 |
| policy | 8 (5.6%) | 1997 to 2016 |
| rules | 4 (2.8%) | 1979 to 2008 |
| constitution | 1 (0.7%) | 1972 |
Oldest still listed
- Drains Act 18491849
- Penal Code 18601860
- Evidence Act 18721872
- Contract Act 18721872
- Specific Relief Act 18771877
Most recent
- Cyber Security Act 20232023
- Income Tax Act 20232023
- Bangladesh Refugees Act 20212021
- Land Administration (Mutation) Act 20192019
- Electricity Act 20182018
Method and sources
Source: the GovTwin legal-framework registry, 142 instruments spanning 1849 to 2023: acts, ordinances, constitutional articles, policies and rules. Era bands group each instrument by enactment year. The registry tracks instruments recorded as currently in force; that coverage is not a claim that the colonial statutes listed here are unamended, only that they remain on the books. The absence of any ordinance after 1985 reflects the post-1990 return to parliamentary lawmaking, when ordinance-making by the executive was curtailed. See the government twin for the institutions that administer these laws.