Eswatini

• The Constitution of 2005, the highest law
• Statutes, and Roman-Dutch common law, mainly as developed in South Africa
• Swazi law and custom, applied in the traditional courts
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Court

• The Supreme Court, the final court
• The High Court
• Magistrates' courts, and Swazi National Courts for custom

A law degree and admission as an attorney or an advocate by the High Court, as in South Africa.

• A system of traditional courts, with local officials presiding, runs alongside the Roman-Dutch courts.
• The King and the traditional authorities have strong constitutional powers.
• Its law is closely tied to South African law and its reports.

South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Eswatini as: Civil 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.

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 Swaziland

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.