Lebanon

• The Constitution of 1926 (amended), the highest law
• French-style codes and statutes, such as the Code of Obligations and Contracts of 1932
• The personal-status rules of the recognised religious communities
• Decisions of the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Council

• The Court of Cassation at the top of the ordinary courts
• The Constitutional Council, which reviews laws, and the State Council for administrative cases
• Courts of appeal and first-instance courts; separate religious courts for personal status

A law degree, a traineeship, and registration with one of the two bar associations (Beirut or Tripoli).

• There is no single civil law of marriage: each recognised community has its own.
• The system follows France in separating ordinary and administrative courts.
• Two bar associations exist, in Beirut and in Tripoli.
• Courts and institutions have been under great strain in recent years, so check current developments.

France, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Lebanon as: Civil law, Muslim. 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.

• NYU GlobaLex: The Lebanese Legal System and Research

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.