Ireland

• The Constitution of Ireland, the highest law
• Acts of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament)
• European Union law, which takes priority in the areas where the EU has power
• Case law (precedent), which still draws on English and Irish decisions

• The Supreme Court at the top
• The Court of Appeal, then the High Court
• The Circuit Court and the District Court for lower-value civil cases and most criminal cases

As in England, the profession is split into solicitors and barristers. Solicitors train through the Law Society of Ireland and barristers through the King's Inns. Lawyers qualified abroad can sit the Law Society's exams.

• Constitutional judicial review is strong: the Constitution protects rights that the courts have recognised even though they are not written in the text.
• The Constitution can only be changed by a referendum of the people.
• Irish and English are both official languages, with Irish named as the first official language.
• Irish law has grown away from English law since independence, so English decisions are persuasive but not binding.

United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, India

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Ireland as: Common 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.

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Kenya.

• Courts Service of Ireland
• Irish Statute Book: Constitution of Ireland
• Law Society of Ireland

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.