Gambia
Religious (Islamic) law is a leading source
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The Gambia is a common-law country with English-style courts and a Constitution of 1997. Islamic law applies to Muslims in family matters, through special courts, and customary law applies in some local matters.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 1997, the highest law
- Statutes, and English common law and equity
- Islamic law, applied by the Cadi courts to Muslims in family matters
- Customary law, in some local matters
The main courts
- The Supreme Court, the final court
- The Court of Appeal and the High Court
- Magistrates' courts, Cadi courts and district tribunals
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and a Gambian bar course, then admission by the Supreme Court.
What may surprise you
- Muslims take family matters to Islamic courts, while the rest of the law follows English models.
- The Atlas groups it with Islamic-law systems because of its Muslim majority, although its courts are English in style.
- Judges often come from other Commonwealth countries.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Gambia as: Muslim, Common 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.
Other countries in the same family
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan.
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 Gambia, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
