Serbia

• The Constitution of 2006, the highest law
• Codes and statutes, such as the Law on Obligations, inherited from the Yugoslav period and amended since
• Decisions of the Supreme Court, which guide lower courts
• International treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights

• The Supreme Court at the top of the ordinary courts
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and hears constitutional appeals
• Courts of appeal, higher courts and basic courts, plus separate commercial and administrative courts

A law degree, a period of practice with a lawyer, and the bar exam, followed by registration with the Bar Association of Serbia.

• Serbian private law descends from Austrian and German law through the older Yugoslav system.
• Commercial and administrative disputes have their own courts.
• Serbia's laws are being brought closer to EU law as part of the accession process.
• The legal systems of the former Yugoslav countries still look alike in many areas.

Croatia, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Serbia 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.

• Constitutional Court of Serbia

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.