In 1982, at the initiative of then ALA President, the late Lord President of Malaysia, Tun Mohammed Suffian, the germinal seeds of ALA’s publication, “ASEAN Legal Systems” were sown. The objective was to put together a concise yet comprehensive and authoritative reference to the legal systems of nations in the ASEAN region, which would allow readers to gain a deeper insight into how the rule of law has brought each nation closer to the attainment of democratic ideals and aspirations. In 1987, during the Presidency of Chief Justice Sansern Kraichitti, “Legal Systems in the ASEAN Region” was published, covering only 2 ASEAN legal systems. It was to take no less than 13 years of committed collaborative labours before the authoritative volume, “ASEAN Legal Systems” was finally published, with the help of the Singapore National Committee, in 1995, during the late Chief Justice of the Philippines, Marcelo B Fernan’s presidency.
Since then, substantial constitutional changes have been made to the legal systems of a few ASEAN nations. The earlier publications also did not contain a write-up on the legal systems of Lao PDR and Vietnam, which were only formally inducted as members of the ALA in 2003. The Governing Council therefore decided in 2004 to commence work on a new publication, entitled “Legal Systems in ASEAN”, which would be an up to date, comprehensive and authoritative compilation of the legal systems of all eight member nations of ALA. The following is the fruit of committed collaborative labours inspired by shared ideals that the rule of law remains sovereign in every society in ASEAN.