Taiwan

• The Constitution of the Republic of China, the highest law
• Codes such as the Civil Code, the Criminal Code and the Codes of Procedure
• Decisions of the Constitutional Court
• The Judicial Yuan's interpretations, which have shaped many areas of law

• The Judicial Yuan, which administers the courts and houses the Constitutional Court
• The Supreme Court, and the Supreme Administrative Court
• High courts and district courts, and high administrative courts

A law degree and a passing mark in a national bar examination, then membership of a local bar association.

• The civil code is largely of German and Swiss origin, brought through Japan and the mainland.
• Taiwan has a separate administrative court system, as in Germany.
• The basic codes date from the 1930s and have been amended many times, not replaced.

Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, Switzerland

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Taiwan 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.

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

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

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.