Faroe Islands

• The Home Rule Act of 1948, which sets out what the islands decide
• Laws of the Løgting in the areas taken over
• Danish law, in areas that remain with Denmark, such as the courts and foreign affairs

• The Faroese court of first instance
• The Danish High Court (Østre Landsret), for appeals
• The Supreme Court of Denmark

A law degree, usually from Denmark, and admission through the Danish route, then practice before the Faroese courts.

• The islands have their own parliament and government, but Danish courts are the top of the system.
• The islands are not part of the European Union, though Denmark is.
• Faroese is the language of the local administration.

Denmark, Greenland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Faroe Islands 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.

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.