Sri Lanka

• The Constitution of 1978, the highest law
• Acts of Parliament, many of them based on English models
• Roman-Dutch common law, which governs most private law, such as contract and property
• Customary and religious personal laws (Kandyan law, Thesawalamai, Muslim law)

• The Supreme Court at the top
• The Court of Appeal, then the High Court
• District courts and magistrates' courts

Study at the Sri Lanka Law College or a law degree route, a period of apprenticeship, and admission as an attorney-at-law by the Supreme Court.

• Roman-Dutch law, as in South Africa, still shapes private law there.
• Three communities have their own personal laws: Kandyan, Tamil of the north (Thesawalamai) and Muslim.
• The legal profession is split into attorneys-at-law and advocates, with the Supreme Court in charge of admission.
• Sri Lanka's legal system joins English, Dutch and local traditions.

South Africa, India, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Bangladesh

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Sri Lanka as: 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.

Botswana, Cameroon, Cyprus, Guyana, Israel, Lesotho, Malta, Mauritius, Namibia, Northern Cyprus, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, South Africa.

• Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.