History of the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate's Court

Evolution of the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate's Court

The origins of Kuliyapitiya’s judicial history trace back to 1 January 1911, when the area’s first court house was established as the Kanadulla Magistrate’s Court and Court of Requests, with Hon. W. A. Weerakoon serving as its first judge. The court originally stood at the Meegahakotuwa junction before later relocating to the site of what is now the Sri Lanka Telecom Tower, and it eventually moved again to the premises currently occupied by the District Court. At the time of its founding, Kuliyapitiya had only four practicing lawyers. Over the decades that followed, the Kanadulla court was served by thirty six judges, among them several British civil servants and future Supreme Court justices, most notably Chief Justice Sansoni.

King George III - Royal Charter of Judge of 1801

A significant change came on 1 June 1959, when the court was renamed from Kanadulla to Kuliyapitiya and became the Additional District Court, Magistrate’s Court, and Court of Requests, functioning technically as an extension of the Kurunegala District Court. From 1959 to 1973, it operated as a joint court staffed by seven judges, hearing criminal matters on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, while civil matters were heard on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The next major turning point arrived with the Administration of Justice Law of 1973, which took effect on 1 January 1974 and split the District and Magistrate’s Courts into separate institutions. The District Court remained in its existing building, while the Magistrate’s Court relocated to the former Rural Court building. Hon. Eardley P. Ratwatta, who had been the last judge of the joint court, became the first District Judge and also briefly served as Magistrate during this transition.

The Magistrate’s Court also maintained circuit sittings in nearby towns, holding court at Hettipola on Tuesdays, Narammala on Wednesdays, and Pannala on Thursdays. The Pannala circuit was eventually discontinued after a magistrate encountered a cobra in his chambers, an incident that brought an end to sittings there. Hettipola and Narammala, on the other hand, went on to become permanent, daily functioning Magistrate’s Courts in their own right.

The court’s modern chapter began on 6 October 2001, when a new Magistrate’s Court building was formally opened by Chief Justice Sarath Silva. The old court building was then converted into the Magistrate Court Office, and a Legal Aid Office was established on that same day.

Across its long history, the Kuliyapitiya bench has produced many judges who went on to serve on the Supreme Court, with Justice Nissanka Udulagama recognized as the last Kuliyapitiya magistrate to achieve that distinction. In addition, numerous members of the local bar rose through the ranks to become High Court judges, cementing Kuliyapitiya’s enduring legacy as a training ground for some of Sri Lanka’s most distinguished legal minds.