Czechia · Overview
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.
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