Guyana

• The Constitution of 1980, as amended, the highest law
• Acts of Parliament, and English common law and equity
• Roman-Dutch law in some areas, such as the system of transferring land called 'transport'
• Decisions of the Guyanese courts and of the Caribbean Court of Justice

• The Caribbean Court of Justice, the final court of appeal
• The Court of Appeal and the High Court
• Magistrates' Courts

A law degree and a legal education certificate, then admission as an attorney-at-law by the High Court.

• It is the only country in South America whose main legal tradition is English common law.
• Land is passed by 'transport', a Dutch colonial method, not by the English deed.
• It is a republic with an executive President.

Suriname, Barbados, Belize, South Africa, Sri Lanka

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Guyana as: Common law, 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.

Botswana, Cameroon, Cyprus, Israel, Lesotho, Malta, Mauritius, Namibia, Northern Cyprus, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka.

• Caribbean Court of Justice
• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Constitute Project: constitution of Guyana

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.