Comoros
Civil law
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The Comoros is a federation of three islands with a mixed system: French-style civil law, Islamic law for family and personal matters, and local custom. Business law is shared with other OHADA countries.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution, the highest law, which makes Islam the state religion and a source of inspiration for law
- Codes and statutes in the French tradition
- Islamic law, especially for marriage, divorce and inheritance
- OHADA Uniform Acts for business law
The main courts
- The Supreme Court (also the constitutional court)
- Courts of appeal and first-instance courts
- Cadis (Islamic judges) for personal and family matters
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and professional training, then registration with the Bar.
What may surprise you
- Islamic judges, called cadis, still decide family disputes.
- Three islands, each with its own government, share one national legal system.
- It is a French-speaking country in which Arabic is also an official language.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Comoros as: Civil law, Muslim. 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.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
- OHADA: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa
- JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
Sources last reviewed: October 2026.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s Legal Families Atlas is an educational overview. It simplifies on purpose, and it is not legal advice. For a real legal question about Comoros, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
