Chile

• The Constitution of 1980, amended many times, the highest law
• The Civil Code (1855, in force from 1857), the Penal Code and other codes and statutes
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court
• Scholarly writing, which is influential

• The Supreme Court at the top
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws
• Courts of appeal, and first-instance courts, including specialised family, labour and criminal courts

A law degree from a Chilean university, then a period of practice (about six months at a legal assistance corporation), and a licence granted by the Supreme Court.

• The Supreme Court itself grants the licence to practise law.
• The Civil Code by Andrés Bello has been in force for over 160 years and influenced other countries, such as Colombia and Ecuador.
• The recurso de protección lets people go to a court of appeal to defend their constitutional rights quickly.
• Chile has used a mix of old civil-law tradition and recent procedural reforms, especially in criminal procedure.

Colombia, Argentina, Spain, Peru, Mexico

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Chile 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, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

• Judiciary of Chile (Poder Judicial)
• Constitutional Court of Chile

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.