Qatar

• The Permanent Constitution of 2004, the highest law
• Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code (2004) and the Penal Code
• Islamic law, especially for family matters
• The rules of the Qatar Financial Centre, which are based on common-law models

• The Court of Cassation at the top of the ordinary courts
• Courts of appeal and courts of first instance, with specialised family courts
• The Qatar Financial Centre's own courts and arbitration body for commercial disputes within the centre

A law degree and a licence from the Ministry of Justice. Rules for foreign lawyers are limited.

• Two court systems with different traditions operate side by side: the state courts and the Qatar Financial Centre courts.
• Qatar merged its separate Sharia and civil courts into a single system in the early 2000s.
• Arabic is the language of the main courts.

Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

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

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman.

• Al Meezan: Qatar Legal Portal

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.