Tunisia

• The Constitution, the highest law (revised in recent years)
• French-style codes and statutes, such as the Code of Obligations and Contracts
• The Personal Status Code of 1956, which draws on Islamic jurisprudence in a modern code
• Decisions of the Court of Cassation

• The Court of Cassation at the top of the ordinary courts
• The Administrative Court for disputes with public bodies
• Courts of appeal and first-instance courts

A law degree, a professional training course, and registration with the national Bar Association.

• The 1956 Personal Status Code banned polygamy and gave women rights unusual in the region at the time.
• Tunisia's French-style two-court structure separates ordinary courts from administrative justice.
• The constitutional framework has changed several times, so check current developments.
• Private law reads like a French code, but the family code rests on Islamic sources.

France, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Italy

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

• Tunisian legislation portal (Legislation.tn)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.