Norway

• The Constitution of 1814, the highest law
• Acts of Parliament (the Storting), and preparatory works that explain them
• The agreement on the European Economic Area, which brings most EU single-market law into Norway
• Decisions of the Supreme Court, which carry great weight

• The Supreme Court (Høyesterett) at the top
• Courts of appeal and district courts
• Courts do not form a separate administrative system; most public-law cases go to the ordinary courts

A five-year master's degree in law, then about two years of practice with a licence from the supervisory authority for legal practice.

• Norway is not in the European Union but is closely tied to EU law through the European Economic Area.
• Courts have reviewed whether laws follow the Constitution since the 1800s, though they rarely strike them down.
• There is no single Civil Code.
• Administrative disputes mostly go to the ordinary courts, not to a separate system.

Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Norway 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.

• The Norwegian Courts (English pages)
• Lovdata: Norwegian legal information

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.