Croatia

• The Constitution of 1990, the highest law
• Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Obligations Act and the Criminal Code
• European Union law, which takes priority in its area
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court

• The Supreme Court at the top of the ordinary courts
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and hears constitutional complaints
• County courts and municipal courts, with separate commercial and administrative courts

A law degree, a traineeship of about three years and a bar exam, followed by registration with the Croatian Bar Association.

• Individuals can bring a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court.
• Private law has a long link to Austrian law, from the time of the Habsburg monarchy.
• Commercial and administrative disputes are heard in their own courts.
• Croatia has had to adapt many laws to meet EU membership rules.

Serbia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Croatia 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.

• Constitutional Court of Croatia (English pages)
• Supreme Court of Croatia

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.