Greenland

• The Self-Government Act, which sets out what Greenland decides
• Laws of the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament
• The Greenlandic Criminal Code, which has applied since 1954
• Danish law, in areas that remain with Denmark

• The District Courts of Greenland, which include lay judges
• The High Court of Greenland
• The Supreme Court of Denmark, which is the final court

A law degree, usually from Denmark, and the right to appear before the Greenlandic courts. Some cases are argued by lay advocates.

• Lay judges sit in Greenlandic trials, a feature of its own justice system.
• Its criminal code emphasises reintegration, and sets few fixed sentences.
• Greenland can decide to become independent, under the Self-Government Act.

Denmark, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Greenland 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.