Vatican City

• The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State (2000), which sets out the state's structure
• Canon law of the Catholic Church, the first source of law
• Laws made by the Pope and the Pontifical Commission for the state
• Italian laws, adopted by reference to fill gaps

• The Court of Cassation, in which the highest tribunal of the Church sits as the final court
• The Court of Appeal
• The Tribunal, the court of first instance, and the Single Judge

A degree in law and, for canon law, further study. Lawyers who appear before the courts must be on a list approved by the state.

• The Pope is both head of the Church and of the state.
• The Holy See, the government of the Catholic Church, is a different legal person from Vatican City State.
• It has long borrowed from Italian law for matters its own statutes do not cover.

Italy, San Marino, Monaco, Spain, France

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Vatican City 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.

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

• JuriGlobe: world legal systems (University of Ottawa)

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.