Egypt · Overview
The legal system of Egypt
A civil-law system whose private law derives from the 1949 Civil Code, drafted by Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri and the single most influential codification in the Arab world — Libya, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait and others took it as their model, so Egyptian doctrine carries weight well beyond Egypt. Article 2 of the constitution makes the principles of Islamic Sharia the principal source of legislation, and unusually this is not merely declaratory: the Supreme Constitutional Court has developed a working test distinguishing the immutable principles of Sharia from rules open to legislative discretion, and has struck down statutes on that basis. Personal status is administered under religious rules by community, with the Coptic and other Christian churches applying their own canon law to their members.
Legal tradition
Egypt belongs to the civil law with islamic law as principal source tradition. A civil-law system whose private law derives from the 1949 Civil Code, drafted by Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri and the single most influential codification in the Arab world — Libya, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait and others took it as their model, so Egyptian doctrine carries weight well beyond Egypt. Article 2 of the constitution makes the principles of Islamic Sharia the principal source of legislation, and unusually this is not merely declaratory: the Supreme Constitutional Court has developed a working test distinguishing the immutable principles of Sharia from rules open to legislative discretion, and has struck down statutes on that basis. Personal status is administered under religious rules by community, with the Coptic and other Christian churches applying their own canon law to their members.
How power is divided
Unitary, with 27 governorates headed by governors appointed by the President. There is no legislative devolution — governorates administer central policy, and local popular councils have been without elections for over a decade.
Where law comes from
- The Constitution
- Supreme; enforced by the Supreme Constitutional Court.
- Principles of Islamic Sharia
- Article 2 makes them the principal source of legislation; justiciable before the SCC.
- Legislation
- Statutes of the House of Representatives; presidential decree-laws when it is not in session, requiring later ratification.
- The Civil Code 1949
- Al-Sanhuri's code; the backbone of obligations, contract and property.
- Custom and equity
- Article 1 of the Civil Code directs judges to custom, then Sharia principles, then natural justice, where no text applies.
The legal profession
A single fused profession of advocates enrolled with the Egyptian Bar Association, with rights of audience tiered by seniority — appearance before the Court of Cassation requires years of practice and separate admission. Judges are career appointments recruited largely from the prosecution service and trained through the National Centre for Judicial Studies; the Council of State maintains a separate judicial career for administrative judges.
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