Turkmenistan
Civil law
Compare Turkmenistan with another country →
Turkmenistan is a civil-law country whose law comes from the Soviet period. It has a Constitution that declares the country permanently neutral, and a Supreme Court. The courts are closely tied to the presidency.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code and the Criminal Code
- Decrees of the President, which play a large part in lawmaking
The main courts
- The Supreme Court
- Regional and city courts
- District courts, and a court for commercial matters
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree and a licence from the Ministry of Justice. The legal profession is small.
What may surprise you
- It is a neutral state, a status recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in 1995.
- The President has wide powers over the courts.
- Little detailed information on the courts is public, so this profile gives the formal structure only.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Turkmenistan 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.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
- JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)
- Constitute Project: constitution of Turkmenistan
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 Turkmenistan, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
