South Sudan

• The Transitional Constitution, the highest law
• Statutes made since independence, and English common law
• Customary law, applied by traditional authorities and chiefs' courts

• The Supreme Court
• Courts of appeal and high courts
• County courts, and customary courts run by chiefs

A law degree and registration with the South Sudan Bar Association. The legal profession is small.

• Chiefs' courts handle a large share of disputes, since state courts are few.
• It was part of Sudan until 2011, which used a different legal system.
• It follows the East African common-law model.

Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists South Sudan as: Common law, Customary. It names the systems in order of importance. Not listed separately by JuriGlobe; classified here by the editors as common law with customary law, following the legal framework inherited from Sudan.

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.

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Ireland, Jamaica.

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

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.