Falkland Islands

• The Falkland Islands Constitution Order of 2009, the highest local law
• Laws made by the Legislative Assembly, and English common law and statutes applied there
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal

• The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the final court
• The Falkland Islands Court of Appeal
• The Supreme Court, the Magistrate's Court and the Summary Court

A law degree and admission through the English or another Commonwealth route. Few lawyers live on the islands.

• Judges usually fly in from outside to hear serious cases.
• Sovereignty is disputed between the United Kingdom and Argentina.
• The Governor of the islands is also the Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, United Kingdom, Argentina, Bermuda

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Falkland Islands as: Common 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.

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Ireland, Jamaica.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.