Armenia

• The Constitution, the highest law
• Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code (1998) and the Criminal Code
• The European Convention on Human Rights, which applies as a treaty
• Decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation

• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and hears individual complaints
• The Court of Cassation, the highest ordinary court
• Courts of appeal and courts of first instance of general jurisdiction

A law degree, a period of training and a qualification exam, then membership of the Chamber of Advocates.

• People can complain to the European Court of Human Rights after trying the Armenian courts.
• The Soviet structure of its codes was reworked after independence on European models.
• The Constitutional Court hears complaints from individuals about laws applied to them.

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Moldova, France

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Armenia 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, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Constitute Project: constitution of Armenia

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.