Marshall Islands

• The Constitution of 1979, the highest law
• Acts of the Nitijela (parliament), and American-style common law
• Customary law, especially for land rights
• Decisions of the Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court, with appellate jurisdiction
• The High Court
• District and Community Courts, and the Traditional Rights Court

A law degree, usually from the United States, and admission by the Supreme Court.

• A Traditional Rights Court decides questions about customary titles and land.
• It has a Compact of Free Association with the United States, but its own constitution and courts.
• A council of chiefs, the Council of Iroij, advises on customary matters.

Micronesia, Palau, United States, Fiji, Kiribati

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Marshall Islands 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.

• PacLII: Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute
• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.