Isle of Man

• Acts of Tynwald, the island's parliament, with Royal Assent
• English common law and equity, applied by the island's courts
• Old Manx customary law, in a few areas, especially land
• Decisions of the High Court and the Staff of Government Division

• The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the final court
• The Staff of Government Division, the appeal court
• The High Court of Justice, with its judges called Deemsters, and the Courts of Summary Jurisdiction

A law degree, a Manx law course, and admission as an advocate by the High Court. Advocates act as both solicitors and barristers.

• Its judges are called Deemsters, a title used on the island for centuries.
• Tynwald is one of the oldest continuing parliaments in the world.
• Manx advocates carry out the work of both barristers and solicitors.

Jersey, Guernsey, United Kingdom, Ireland, Bermuda

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Isle of Man as: Common 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.

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Ireland, Jamaica.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Isle of Man legislation

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.