Kyrgyzstan
Civil law
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Kyrgyzstan is a civil-law country whose law comes from the Soviet period and has been rewritten since independence. Councils of village elders (aksakal courts) still settle some local disputes.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code and the Criminal Code, based on the Soviet legacy and later models
- Customary law, applied by elders' courts in local matters
The main courts
- A Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court
- Regional courts and city courts
- Local courts, and elders' (aksakal) courts in villages
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and a qualification exam, then membership of a bar association.
What may surprise you
- Courts of elders, called aksakal courts, have legal recognition for small local disputes.
- The legal system has been reformed many times since independence, and the Constitution has been changed more than once.
- It draws on Russian and Kazakh models for many codes.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Kyrgyzstan 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.
Other countries in the same family
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 Kyrgyzstan, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
