Mongolia
Customary law is a leading source
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Mongolia is a civil-law country whose codes, including the Civil Code of 2002, draw on German law and earlier Soviet law. Its Constitution of 1992 created a Constitutional Court (the Tsets), and traditional customs still influence local life. The map lists customary law first because that is how JuriGlobe describes it.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 1992, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code (2002) and the Criminal Code
- Decisions of the Supreme Court, which guide lower courts
- Customary law, in limited local and family matters
The main courts
- The Supreme Court at the top of the ordinary courts
- The Constitutional Court (Tsets), which reviews laws and decides constitutional disputes
- Aimag and capital-city courts, and soum and district courts at first instance
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and a licence, then membership of the Mongolian Bar Association.
What may surprise you
- The Constitutional Court's main tasks are to rule on constitutional disputes and to supervise the Constitution.
- The law shifted from the Soviet model to a market-economy model after 1990, with strong German influence.
- Traditional customs of herders and rural communities still affect everyday disputes.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Mongolia as: Customary, 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.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
Sources last reviewed: October 2026.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s Legal Families Atlas is an educational overview. It simplifies on purpose, and it is not legal advice. For a real legal question about Mongolia, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
