Sierra Leone
Common law
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Sierra Leone is a common-law country with a Constitution of 1991. English law is the base, and customary law and Islamic law apply to many people in family and land matters through local courts.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 1991, the highest law
- Acts of Parliament, and English common law and equity
- Customary law, applied by local courts
- Islamic law, in family matters for Muslims
The main courts
- The Supreme Court, the final court
- The Court of Appeal and the High Court
- Magistrates' courts and Local Courts, which apply customary law
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree from Sierra Leone Law School, then a call to the bar by the General Legal Council.
What may surprise you
- Local Courts, staffed by community members, apply customary law to many everyday disputes.
- The Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international tribunal, tried leaders of the civil war.
- English-style courts operate beside customary law in the same country.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Sierra Leone as: Common 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
- JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
- Constitute Project: constitution of Sierra Leone
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 Sierra Leone, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
