Costa Rica
Civil law
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Costa Rica is a civil-law country with a Constitution of 1949. Its Constitutional Chamber is one of the most active constitutional courts in Latin America, and it has no army, which the Constitution forbids.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 1949, the highest law
- Codes and statutes in the Spanish civil-law tradition
- Decisions of the Constitutional Chamber, which bind everyone
- International human-rights treaties, which rank above ordinary laws
The main courts
- The Supreme Court of Justice, with several chambers, including the Constitutional Chamber
- Courts of appeal (tribunales de apelación)
- First-instance courts and local courts (juzgados)
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree (licenciatura) and registration with the Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados).
What may surprise you
- Anyone can bring a quick constitutional case, without a lawyer, to the Constitutional Chamber.
- An independent Supreme Electoral Tribunal runs elections and is treated almost as a separate branch of government.
- The Constitution abolishes the army.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Costa Rica 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.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
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 Costa Rica, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
