Guinea-Bissau
Civil law
Compare Guinea-Bissau with another country →
Guinea-Bissau is a civil-law country with a Portuguese legal heritage and customary law that matters in local life. It is a Portuguese-speaking member of OHADA, the business-law system of mainly French-speaking Africa.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution, the highest law
- Codes and statutes in the Portuguese tradition
- OHADA Uniform Acts for business law
- Customary law, in family and land matters
The main courts
- The Supreme Court of Justice
- Regional courts
- Sector courts, and traditional authorities in some areas
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and registration with the Bar.
What may surprise you
- It is a Portuguese-speaking country that applies a French-speaking business-law system.
- The state's courts are thin in rural areas, so customary authorities settle many disputes.
- Its political institutions have been interrupted several times.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Guinea-Bissau 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.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
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 Guinea-Bissau, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
