Austria

• The Federal Constitution of 1920, the highest law
• The ABGB (1811), the Penal Code and other codes and statutes
• European Union law, which takes priority in its area
• Decisions of the Supreme Court, which carry weight in practice

• The Supreme Court (OGH) for civil and criminal cases
• The Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) and the Constitutional Court (VfGH), which sit separately from the ordinary courts
• Higher regional courts, regional courts and district courts

A law degree, then several years of supervised practical training (including time in a court), and the bar exam, followed by registration with a regional bar chamber.

• The ABGB of 1811 is still in force, in an updated form.
• The Constitutional Court model, with a court separate from the ordinary courts that reviews laws, was designed in Austria.
• Serious crimes are tried by a jury of lay people, which is unusual in civil-law countries.
• Austrian and German private law are close cousins, and each influences the other.

Germany, Switzerland, Czechia, Hungary, Poland

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Austria 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.

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso.

• Constitutional Court of Austria (English pages)
• Austrian Legal Information System (RIS)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.