Cambodia

• The Constitution of 1993, the highest law
• Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code (2007) and the Criminal Code (2009)
• Royal decrees and sub-decrees made by the government

• The Supreme Court, the highest court
• The Court of Appeal
• Municipal and provincial courts

A law degree, a course at the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, and membership of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

• A hybrid tribunal with Cambodian and international judges, the Extraordinary Chambers, was set up to try Khmer Rouge leaders.
• A Constitutional Council, not the ordinary courts, decides constitutional questions.
• The legal system has had to be rebuilt after the destruction of the 1970s.

Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, France, Japan

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Cambodia 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, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

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

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.