Bhutan

• The Constitution of 2008, the highest law
• Statutes passed by the Parliament, and the old legal code (Thrimzhung Chenmo), which still shapes many rules
• Customary and Buddhist traditions, in family and community matters
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Court

• The Supreme Court, the highest court
• The High Court
• District courts (Dzongkhag courts), and sub-district courts (Dungkhag courts)

A law degree, often from India or abroad, and a licence from the Bhutan Bar Council. Many cases are handled by 'jabmis', or lay representatives.

• The Constitution says that the country must aim for 'Gross National Happiness' and protects its environment, with at least 60 percent forest cover.
• The legal code goes back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
• Lay representatives (jabmis) have long argued cases in court.

India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Bhutan as: Customary, 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.

Andorra, Mongolia, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea.

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

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.