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Slovenia

Civil law

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Slovenia is a civil-law country with a Constitution of 1991 and a strong Constitutional Court. Its law has Austrian roots, and a single state legal exam opens the way to every legal career: judge, prosecutor, lawyer or notary.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Where the law comes from

  • The Constitution of 1991, the highest law
  • Codes and statutes, such as the Obligations Code and the Criminal Code
  • European Union law, which takes priority in its area
  • Decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court

The main courts

  • The Supreme Court at the top of the ordinary courts
  • The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and hears constitutional complaints
  • Higher courts, district courts and local courts, with separate labour and administrative courts

Becoming a lawyer

A law degree, a traineeship, and the state legal exam, then admission to the Slovenian Bar Association.

What may surprise you

  • One state legal exam is the gateway to all the main legal professions.
  • Individuals can bring a constitutional complaint after using ordinary remedies.
  • Private law follows the Austrian tradition from Habsburg times.

Related systems

How this country is classified

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Slovenia 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.

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 Slovenia, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.