Cambodia

Legal tradition

Cambodia belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system rebuilt almost from nothing. The Khmer Rouge period destroyed the legal profession, the courts and the statute book, and the post-1993 reconstruction was carried out with heavy external assistance: the Civil Code of 2007 and the Code of Civil Procedure of 2006 were drafted with Japanese support and took effect in 2011, while the Criminal Code of 2009 drew on French models. Land law is dominated by the Land Law of 2001 and the unresolved legacy of the 1975–79 abolition of private title, which is why possession-based claims and systematic registration matter more here than in most civil-law states.

How power is divided

Unitary, with 25 provinces and the capital. The Organic Law of 2008 created elected councils at provincial, municipal and district level, but fiscal and appointment power remains centralised in the Ministry of Interior.

Where law comes from

The 1993 Constitution

Supreme; Article 31 incorporates international human rights instruments.

Laws of the National Assembly

Promulgated by the King after Senate review.

The Civil Code 2007 and Criminal Code 2009

The core codifications; both in force from 2011 and 2010 respectively.

Sub-decrees and prakas

Executive instruments; the working detail of most regulatory regimes.

Land Law 2001

Governs title, possessory claims and economic land concessions.

The legal profession

Lawyers are admitted by the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, which controls the entrance examination and the training centre and holds a statutory monopoly on court representation. The profession was rebuilt from single figures in the early 1990s and now numbers well over a thousand. Foreign lawyers may advise and appear only in association with a Cambodian member, and notarial functions sit with a small licensed notariat created under the Civil Code reforms.