How to read legal citations in Egypt
Egypt has a civil-law system based on the French model, with codes from the 1940s that influenced much of the Arab world. Laws are cited by number and year, and court cases by number and 'judicial year', a year counted from the court's own start.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Style guide: Egyptian court practice and the Official Gazette. Egypt has no single mandatory style guide. Statutes are cited by number and year; Court of Cassation and Supreme Constitutional Court decisions are cited by case number and the 'judicial year'.
Real citations, decoded
Click or hover over any underlined piece to see what it means.
A code article Code
,
- Code Egyptian Civil Code
Law No. 131 of 1948, drafted by Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri. It influenced the civil codes of several other Arab states. - Article art 163
Article 163 is the general rule of liability: every fault that causes harm to another obliges the person who committed it to compensate.
The Constitution Constitution
,
- Instrument Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt 2014
The current constitution, adopted in 2014 and amended in 2019. - Article art 192
Article 192 makes the Supreme Constitutional Court the body that decides on the constitutionality of laws.
Things to remember
- Egyptian statutes are cited by 'Law No. X of Year' (for example Law No. 131 of 1948). The year is part of the citation.
- A Court of Cassation case reads like 'Appeal No. 123 of Judicial Year 45' (الطعن رقم 123 لسنة 45 قضائية). The judicial year counts from when that court started a series of cases, not from a calendar year.
- The Supreme Constitutional Court hears questions of constitutionality. Its decisions are published in the Official Gazette.
- Egyptian courts use Arabic, and most English translations of judgments and statutes are unofficial.
Where to find the text, free
- Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt
- Court of Cassation of Egypt
- Constitute Project: Egypt's Constitution
To understand how courts and law fit together in Egypt, read the Egypt profile in the Legal Families Atlas.
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TheLawToKnow Tools’s citation guide is an educational overview of standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so check the style guide before submitting or publishing. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.
