Djibouti

• The Constitution of 1992, the highest law
• Codes and statutes in the French tradition
• Islamic law, as set out in the Family Code, for personal status
• Customary law (xeer), for local disputes

• The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council
• The Court of Appeal
• The Tribunal of First Instance, and Sharia sections for family matters

A law degree and professional training, then registration with the Bar of Djibouti.

• Three layers of law operate together: French codes, Islamic law and clan custom.
• Arabic and French are both official languages of the courts.
• It hosts foreign military bases but has its own full set of civil courts.

Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, France, Comoros

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Djibouti as: Civil law, Muslim, 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.

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 Djibouti

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.