American Samoa

• The Constitution of American Samoa, and United States federal law that applies to it
• Laws made by the Fono, the territorial legislature
• Samoan custom, especially for land and chiefly titles
• Decisions of the High Court of American Samoa

• The High Court of American Samoa, with an Appellate Division and a Trial Division
• The District Court, and village courts that apply custom
• The federal courts, which have limited reach

A law degree, usually from the United States, and admission by the High Court.

• Land is mostly communal, and cannot easily be sold to people outside Samoan families.
• People born there are United States nationals, but not citizens by birth.
• Village councils and chiefs hear certain local disputes.

Samoa, United States, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Tonga

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists American Samoa as: Common 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.

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Ireland, Jamaica.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.