Brunei

• The Constitution of 1959 (parts suspended under emergency powers), and orders of the Sultan
• Statutes and English common law, for most civil and commercial matters
• Islamic law, applied in the Syariah courts to Muslims, including the Syariah Penal Code
• Decisions of the Court of Appeal and the High Court

• The Supreme Court, made up of the Court of Appeal and the High Court
• The Subordinate Courts: the Magistrates' Courts and the Intermediate Courts
• The Syariah Courts: the Syariah Court of Appeal, the Syariah High Court and the Syariah Subordinate Courts

A law degree, a period of practical training, and admission by the High Court. Foreign lawyers may be admitted for particular cases.

• A Syariah Penal Code applies beside the civil criminal law, with different rules for Muslims.
• Judges in the common-law courts often come from other Commonwealth countries.
• The Sultan holds both executive and legislative authority.

Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Brunei as: Muslim, Common law, Customary. 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.

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.