Niger
Civil law
Compare Niger with another country →
Niger is a civil-law country with a legal system from France, in which Islamic law and custom matter for family life. Its constitutional arrangements have been affected by political events, so this profile describes the formal structure.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution, the highest law while in force
- Codes and statutes in the French tradition
- OHADA Uniform Acts for business law
- Islamic and customary law, in family and local matters
The main courts
- The Court of Cassation and the Council of State
- The Constitutional Court, and a Court of Accounts
- Courts of appeal and first-instance courts
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and professional training, then registration with the Bar of Niger.
What may surprise you
- Customary chiefs and Islamic judges handle many family and land disputes outside the state courts.
- It copies the French split between ordinary and administrative top courts.
- Business law comes from OHADA Uniform Acts.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Niger as: Civil law, Customary. 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
- OHADA: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa
- JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
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 Niger, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
