The legal system of Czechia
An Austro-German civil-law system recodified in 2014, when a single new Civil Code swallowed the old commercial code, family law and much of consumer law at once. The Constitutional Court is a strong actor, and its constitutional-complaint docket is the main route for rights litigation.
Legal tradition
Czechia belongs to the civil law tradition. An Austro-German civil-law system recodified in 2014, when a single new Civil Code swallowed the old commercial code, family law and much of consumer law at once. The Constitutional Court is a strong actor, and its constitutional-complaint docket is the main route for rights litigation.
How power is divided
Parliamentary government with a directly elected President since 2013 whose powers remain mostly formal, checked by a Constitutional Court that may annul both statutes and judicial decisions.
Where law comes from
- Constitutional order
- The Constitution plus the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.
- EU law
- Applicable since 2004; precedence within its field.
- Ratified treaties
- Article 10 makes them binding and superior to statute.
- Statutes
- Above all the 2014 Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012) and the Criminal Code.
- Government and ministerial decrees
- Secondary legislation requiring statutory authority.
The legal profession
A single advocacy profession (advokáti) regulated by the Czech Bar Association, entered after a three-year traineeship and examination. Notaries, executors and insolvency administrators are separate professions.
Law by topic in Czechia
- Family LawFamily law inside the Civil Code, with partnership reform in 2024Family law was absorbed into the 2014 Civil Code. Divorce may be granted without inquiry into breakdown where the spouses agree and have lived apart for six months, and from 2025 same-sex couples may enter a partnership with nearly all marital effects.
- Human RightsCharter rights enforced through constitutional complaintThe Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms guarantees civil, political, economic and social rights, with social rights subject to implementing statutes. The Public Defender of Rights in Brno is the equality body and national preventive mechanism.
- Immigration & NationalityEU free movement with quota-based national employee cardsEU citizens move freely. Third-country nationals rely on the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, principally the employee card and the EU Blue Card, with government quotas and appointment capacity at embassies often the binding constraint.
- Property & LandCadastre-based ownership with the superficies solo cedit rule restoredThe 2014 Civil Code restored the principle that a building forms part of the land, reversing decades of separate ownership. Rights are registered in the cadastre of real estate, and registration is required for transfer to take effect.
- Tax LawProgressive income tax at 15% and 23% with 21% corporate taxPersonal income tax is 15%, rising to 23% above an annual threshold linked to average wages. Corporate tax rose to 21% in 2024, VAT was consolidated to 21% standard and 12% reduced, and filing runs through the MOJE daně portal.
- Civil ProcedureDistrict and regional courts with electronic case filesCivil claims start in the district courts, with regional courts taking commercial, company and intellectual-property matters at first instance. Extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Court is limited to questions of law of significance.
- Employment & LabourLabour Code with statutory grounds required for dismissalThe 2006 Labour Code permits termination by the employer only on grounds listed in the Code, with a two-month notice period running from the start of the following month. The 2023 amendment regularised remote work and improved protection for short-hours agreements.
- Constitutional LawA constitutional order of two documents and a powerful courtThe 1993 Constitution and the separate Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms together form the constitutional order. The Constitutional Court in Brno annuls statutes and also quashes final judgments through the individual constitutional complaint.
- Business & CorporateRecodified private law with a CZK 1 minimum-capital companyThe 2014 recodification put contract and company law into the new Civil Code and the Business Corporations Act. The s.r.o. requires only CZK 1 of registered capital, and registration is made in the commercial register kept by the regional courts.
- Criminal Law2010 Criminal Code with corporate criminal liabilityThe Criminal Code of 2009, in force from 2010, modernised the offence catalogue and introduced a material-formal concept of crime. Corporate criminal liability was added in 2012, with a compliance defence that has become central to Czech corporate practice.
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