Finland

• The Constitution of 2000, the highest law
• Acts of Parliament, together with government bills that explain them
• European Union law, which takes priority in its area
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court

• The Supreme Court for ordinary civil and criminal cases
• The Supreme Administrative Court for disputes with public authorities
• Courts of appeal, district courts and administrative courts

A master's degree in law. The protected title 'advocate' is held by members of the Finnish Bar Association, who need several years of experience and must pass the bar exam.

• The Constitutional Law Committee of Parliament, not a court, checks bills for constitutionality in advance.
• Finland has two parallel court systems: ordinary and administrative.
• A good part of Finnish law still follows the Swedish tradition from when Finland was part of Sweden.
• Anyone with a law degree can practise as a lawyer, but only Bar members may use the title advocate.

Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Estonia

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Finland 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.

• Finnish Judicial System (Courts of Finland)
• Finlex: Finnish legal information

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.