Bahrain
Religious (Islamic) law is a leading source
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Bahrain is a civil-law country with a Constitution of 2002. Islamic law governs family matters in separate Sunni and Ja'fari (Shia) courts, and the country has its own dispute-resolution centre that follows international practice.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 2002, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, with legal ideas drawn from Egyptian and other Arab models
- Islamic law, applied in personal status matters according to the Sunni or Ja'fari school
- Decisions of the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court
The main courts
- The Court of Cassation at the top of the ordinary courts
- The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws
- Civil, criminal and Sharia courts (Sunni and Ja'fari) at first instance and on appeal
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and registration with the Ministry of Justice and the Bahrain Bar.
What may surprise you
- Family cases are heard under either the Sunni or the Ja'fari school of Islamic law, depending on the parties.
- A modern international dispute-resolution centre sits beside the courts.
- Courts handle matters in Arabic.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Bahrain as: Muslim, Civil law, Common law, Customary. 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
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan.
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 Bahrain, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
