Somalia
Religious (Islamic) law is a leading source
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Somalia has several layers of law at once: Islamic law, customary law (xeer), older statutes from British and Italian rule, and newer federal law under a Provisional Constitution of 2012. Its institutions are still being built, so this profile describes the formal structure.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Provisional Constitution of 2012, the highest law
- Islamic law (Sharia), with which no law may conflict under the Constitution
- Customary law (xeer), applied by clan elders
- Statutes and codes from the 1960s, based on Italian and British models
The main courts
- A Constitutional Court and a federal court system, set out in the Constitution
- State courts in the federal member states
- Elders and customary mechanisms, which settle many disputes in practice
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and registration with a bar association. The profession is small and still developing.
What may surprise you
- Clan elders are still an important source of dispute resolution.
- The Constitution says no law may contradict Sharia.
- Somaliland, in the north, claims independence and has its own courts.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Somalia as: Muslim, Civil law, 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
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman.
Sources
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 Somalia, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
