Mr. Raja Goonaratne

Senior Lecturer (G I)

LL.B (Hons) Colombo, LL.M (Monash), PGD in Forensic Medicines, PhD (Reading), Attorney-at-Law

Legal Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Website
Contact:

CRC, 2nd Floor, HSS Building,Room

Office: 112881230, Ext: 230

rdarmasirie@gmail.com

Web: https://lk.linkedin.com/in/raja-goonaratne-6b3957141


Areas of Specialization:

Criminal Law, Law of Contract, Commercial Law, International Humanitarian Law

Research interests:

Indigenous Legal Heritage, Buddhist Jurisprudence and Buddhist Ecclesiastical Law

Affiliations:

Bar Association of Sri Lanka-Life Member
Medico-Legal Society of Sri Lanka –Member
Bangladesh Bioethics Society- International General Member

Contributions:

[1].National Housing Commissioner, from 2010 to 2015.
[2] Director, National Housing Authority, from 2010 to 2015
[3] Director, Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank (HDFC) from 2010 to 2015
[4] Chairman- Appeal Board- National Housing Development Authority 2012
[5] Member- Audit Committee -National Housing Development Authority 2012-2014
[6]Director General, National Secretariat of Non-governmental Organizations from 2020 to 2022
[7]Director/Board Member, National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) from 2020 to 2022

[8] Director/ Board Member, Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRCSL) from 2020-
2022
[9]Director/Member of the Board of management, National Police Academy, from 2020- up-to-date
[10] Former Head of the Department of Legal Studies, The Open University of Sri Lanka

Awards:

World Bank Justice Reform Project Award to pursue postgraduate studies at Monash
University, Australia in 2001

Ongoing Research:

Ancient Legal Theory and Practice as Evinced by Epigraphic Records in Sri Lanka

Research Supervisions:

Supervisor LL.M Thesis – The Open University (Former)

Publications:

Books

[1]. Raja Goonaratne, Criminal Law- Book 1- Sinhala, (1st edn, Open University of Sri
Lanka 2001)
[2]. Raja Goonaratne, Criminal Law- Book 1- English, (1st edn, Open University of Sri
Lanka 2001)
[3]. Raja Goonaratne, The Basic Principles of Criminal Law (Sinhala), (1st edn, Author, 2009)
[4]   Raja Goonaratne, Law of Contracts (Sinhala), ( 2 nd edn, Stamford Lake Publishers, 2022),
[5] Raja Goonaratne, An Introduction to Criminal Law (Sinhala), ( 2 nd edn, Stamford Lake
Publishers, 2022)
[6] Raja Goonaratne and Others, Legal Environment of Business, Block 1 (English), (1st edn, Open
University of Sri Lanka 2005)
[7]. Raja Goonaratne and Others, Glossary of Legal Terms, (1st edn, Open University of Sri
Lanka 1999)

[8] Raja Goonaratne, Business Law of Sri Lanka – Part1 : Law of Contracts and Negotiable
Instruments-Sinhala ( 1 st edn, Author, 2009)
[9] Raja Goonaratne and Others, Reflections of the Conscience- Fidel Castro, ( 1 st edn, Bolivarian
Solidarity, 2011)

[10] Raja Goonaratne and Others, Understanding Law- Unit 1- English, (1st edn, Open
University of Sri Lanka 2001)
[11] Raja Goonaratne and Others, Introduction to Laws of Sri Lanka- English, (1st edn, Open
University of Sri Lanka 2012)

Articles in Encyclopedias, Chronicles, Journals, Commentaries, Festschrifts

[1] Raja Goonaratne, The law relating to Arson, Sinhalese Encyclopedia, (1998). Volume 9, pp.539-
540.
[2]. Raja Goonaratne, International Court of Justice, Sinhalese Encyclopedia, (1998). Volume 9,
[3]. Raja Goonaratne and Others, (2010) Neurobiological Stress Markers in Tsunami Survivors: A Case
Commentary- Asian Bioethics Review- Vol. 2.
[4] Raja Goonaratne, A Comparative Study of the Vevalketiya Stone Inscription from the Perspectives of
Criminal Law of Sri Lanka, (2023), IJHSSM,Vol. 3, (Issue 3), pp. 428-443
[5] Raja Goonaratne, Great Chronicle –Mahawansa (2016), Vol. 6.
[6] Raja Goonaratne, Uwawellassa Liberation Struggle-200 th Years of Commemoration – A Critical
Study on How the Indigenous Laws were Suppressed for Colonial Requirements (1 st Edn Presidential
Secretariat and Kaleniya University 2018), pp..191-200.
[7] Raja Goonaratne, A Tribute To A Pioneer In Social Sciences at OUSL- A Critical Analysis
of the Proposed Procedure for Making of a New Constitution in Sri Lanka (1 st Edn. The Open
University of Sri Lanka)
[8] Raja Goonaratne, Foreign Policy Perspectives: Sri Lanka First-An Appraisal of NGOs’
Rapid Response to Covid-19 and Post-Covid Development Role in Sri Lanka ( 1 st Edn.
Ambassadors Forum,

Conference Proceedings

[1] Raja Goonaratne ‘New Trends in the Protection of Human Rights in Sri Lanka –A Bird's Eye-view
on the Existing Legal Superstructure in Sri Lanka’ ( 7 th International Conference on Sri Lankan Studies
Canberra, December 1999)
[2] Raja Goonaratne, ‘Right to Health Care, Medical Treatments and Doctors' Responsibility’ (Annual
Scientific Session of the Medico-Legal Society of Sri Lanka, November 2000)
[3] Raja Goonaratne, ‘ Witness and Victim Protection System under the International Criminal Justice
System’ ( 10 th Sri Lankan Studies Conference, University of Kelaniya on 16, December 2005)

[4] Raja Goonaratne, ‘Internal Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka and the Application of International
Humanitarian Law’ (Training Session at International Centre of Humanitarian Law. Switzerland,
September 2004)
[5] Raja Goonaratne,’ A Study on the theory and Practice of International Commercial Arbitration in
Ancient Sri Lanka as Evinced by Hopitigamu Sel Lipiya- Epigraphic Record- A Comparative Study,
(HSS Faculty Seminar, The Open University of Sri Lanka 11 .08. 2018)
[6] Raja Goonaratne, ‘A Study of Vevalketiya Slab Inscription from the Perspectives of the Penal Laws
of Sri Lanka’(International Postgraduate Research Conference -IPRC),University of Kelaniya. 05 .12.
2018)
[7] Raja Goonaratne, ‘A Study on the Theory and Practice of International Commercial Arbitration in
Ancient Sri Lanka as evinced by Hopitigama Epigraphic Record’, (3 rd International Conference on
Eastern Studies, University of Kelaniya., 08 .11. 2018)
[8] Raja Goonaratne ‘The law on exemption from criminal liability and grant of immunity to offenders
in ancient Sri Lanka- A comparative analysis of selected epigraphic records with contemporary penal
laws, (1 st Research Colloquium, University of Kelaniya. 22 .06. 2019)

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