Benin

• The Constitution of 1990, the highest law
• Codes and statutes in the French tradition, and the Code of Persons and the Family
• OHADA Uniform Acts for business law
• Customary law, in some family and land matters

• The Supreme Court, with judicial, administrative and accounts chambers
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and protects rights
• Courts of appeal and courts of first instance

A law degree and professional training, then registration with the Bar of Benin.

• A Constitutional Court was created in the early 1990s, as part of the country's shift to multiparty government.
• Business law is made largely at the OHADA level, not in Cotonou.
• French-style codes sit beside customary rules in family matters.

Togo, Mali, Senegal, France, Côte d'Ivoire

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

• OHADA: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa
• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Constitute Project: constitution of Benin

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.