Rights
The 1960 Constitution and the doctrine of necessity
The Constitution of 1960 established a bicommunal republic with a Greek Cypriot President and a Turkish Cypriot Vice-President. After the breakdown of bicommunal government in 1963 the Supreme Court developed the doctrine of necessity to allow the state to function without the Turkish Cypriot participation the Constitution requires.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Republic's law applies in the areas under its effective control. It is suspended in the northern third of the island pending a settlement, and the British Sovereign Base Areas have a separate legal regime.
Governing law
- Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus 1960
- Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Law 33/1964 — merging the constitutional and high courts
In practice
This is the essential point for anyone working on Cyprus: the Republic of Cyprus is the internationally recognised state for the whole island and is an EU member, but its administration does not extend to the north, and EU law is suspended there under Protocol 10 to the Accession Treaty. The doctrine of necessity, articulated in the Ibrahim case in 1964, permits departure from constitutional provisions that have become unworkable — it is the legal foundation on which the Republic's institutions have operated for sixty years. Constitutional review is exercised by the Supreme Constitutional Court, restored as a separate court by the 2022 judicial reform.