Namibia

• The Constitution of 1990, the highest law, with a bill of rights
• Statutes, and Roman-Dutch common law as developed in South Africa
• Customary law, applied by traditional authorities and community courts
• Decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Court

• The Supreme Court, the final court
• The High Court
• Magistrates' courts, and community courts that apply custom

A law degree and admission as a legal practitioner by the High Court.

• The Constitution abolishes the death penalty and protects environmental values.
• Traditional authorities run community courts recognised by statute.
• It was ruled by Germany and then South Africa, but its law follows South Africa's Roman-Dutch tradition.

South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Namibia 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, Guyana, Israel, Lesotho, Malta, Mauritius, Northern Cyprus, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
• Constitute Project: constitution of Namibia

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.