Burmese ဓမ္မသတ် is often transliterated "dhammathat" and the Tai and Mon terms are typically romanized as "thammasāt" or "dhammasāt" (Thai: ธรรมศาสตร์).
The word dhammathat is first mentioned in a Burmese inscription from 13th-century Bagan, although it is likely that dhammasattha texts were transmitted there earlier.
[3] In traditional Burmese law, the order of precedence was mutual arbitration, yazathats, and dhammathat.
Hundreds of dhammasatth, commentaries, and related legal texts are extant in parabaik (palm-leaf manuscript) form.
Dhammasatths influenced a number of Southeast Asian societies prior to the colonial era in matters concerning marriage, theft, assault, slavery, debt, kingship, property, inheritance as well as other issues.