"The Burmese peoples have had a long tradition of adherence to legal formality. As well as the legislation inherited from the British, a complex web of post-independence statutes and, more recently, martial law decrees, orders and regulations govern almost every aspect of the country?s civil and political life. Despite this attachment to legal formalism, successive military governments have often impeded access to vital information, especially in matters touching on the politically sensitive issue of human rights, so that the precise state of the law on such matters is often difficult to ascertain..."