Saint Pierre and Miquelon

• The Organic Law on the overseas collectivities, which sets out local powers
• French law, including the Civil Code, in most matters
• Decisions of the Territorial Council in its own fields

• The Court of Cassation in Paris, the final court for ordinary cases
• The Higher Court of Appeal (Tribunal supérieur d'appel), which sits on the islands
• The Court of First Instance

A French law degree and the French bar course, with admission to a French bar.

• It is the only part of the former French colonial empire in North America that is still French.
• A special appeal court sits on the islands, instead of sending appeals to the mainland first.
• It is a French jurisdiction beside Canada, a mixed common-law and civil-law country.

France, Saint Martin (French part), Saint-Barthélemy, New Caledonia

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Saint Pierre and Miquelon 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.

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.