Angola
Civil law
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Angola is a civil-law country whose private law comes from Portugal. It has a Constitution of 2010 and a Constitutional Court. Customary law is recognised, and Portuguese is the language of the law.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 2010, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, many inherited from Portugal and amended since independence in 1975
- Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court
- Customary law, which the Constitution recognises within limits
The main courts
- The Supreme Court at the top of the ordinary courts
- The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws
- Provincial courts and municipal courts
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree, then a traineeship and membership of the Angolan Bar Association.
What may surprise you
- Angola keeps much of Portugal's older code system, under its own constitution.
- Customary authorities have a recognised role in local disputes.
- The Constitution created a separate Constitutional Court.
- Portuguese-speaking countries follow related models, which makes comparison with Brazil and Portugal easy.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Angola as: Civil law. It names the systems in order of importance.
The map colours a country by the first-named system, and shows both civil-law and common-law countries as “mixed”. It is a simplification, and real systems are rarely pure.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
Sources last reviewed: October 2026.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s Legal Families Atlas is an educational overview. It simplifies on purpose, and it is not legal advice. For a real legal question about Angola, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
