Bahamas

• The Constitution of 1973, the highest law
• Acts of Parliament, and English common law and equity
• Decisions of the Bahamian courts and of the Privy Council

• The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal
• The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court
• Magistrates' Courts, which hear most criminal cases

A law degree and a legal education certificate, then admission to the Bahamas Bar by the Supreme Court.

• Like other former British colonies in the Caribbean, it still sends final appeals to London.
• Equity is a living part of the law, since English equity was received along with the common law.
• Bahamian lawyers are called counsel and attorney, and one professional does all the work, in or out of court.

Jamaica, Barbados, Belize, United Kingdom, Canada

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Bahamas 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, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya.

• Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.