The legal system of El Salvador
A civil-law system under the 1983 Constitution, fully dollarised since 2001. Two features are unusual: Bitcoin was made legal tender in 2021 (amended in 2025 to remove compulsory acceptance), and the country has operated under a renewed régimen de excepción since March 2022, suspending several constitutional guarantees including the limit on pre-charge detention. Any citizen may ask the Constitutional Chamber to strike down a statute.
Legal tradition
El Salvador belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system under the 1983 Constitution, fully dollarised since 2001. Two features are unusual: Bitcoin was made legal tender in 2021 (amended in 2025 to remove compulsory acceptance), and the country has operated under a renewed régimen de excepción since March 2022, suspending several constitutional guarantees including the limit on pre-charge detention. Any citizen may ask the Constitutional Chamber to strike down a statute.
How power is divided
Unitary, with 14 departments. A 2023 reform cut municipalities from 262 to 44 and the Legislative Assembly from 84 seats to 60.
Where law comes from
- Constitution
- Article 144 places ratified treaties above ordinary statutes.
- Statutes of the Legislative Assembly
- Single chamber; some organic statutes need a qualified majority.
- Codes
- Civil Code 1859, Labour Code 1972, Criminal Code 1997, Family Code 1994.
- Constitutional Chamber precedent
- Binding, including its self-executing remedies.
The legal profession
The Supreme Court itself authorises the exercise of the profession and holds disciplinary power, so a lawyer's licence can be suspended by the court rather than by a bar. Notarial function is granted separately, also by the Supreme Court.
Law by topic in El Salvador
- Family LawA dedicated Family Code and specialised family courtsEl Salvador consolidated family law into the Código de Familia of 1994, with its own procedural statute and specialised courts. Unión no matrimonial is recognised after three years and produces inheritance and maintenance effects. Same-sex marriage is not recognised.
- Immigration & NationalityThe 2019 Special Migration Act and CA-4 movementThe Ley Especial de Migración y Extranjería consolidated a fragmented regime into one statute administered by the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería. El Salvador is part of the CA-4 area, so movement to Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua is visa-free.
- Tax LawTerritorial income tax, 13% VAT and a digital-asset exemptionIncome tax under the Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta is territorial in principle, with specific rules capturing certain foreign-source passive income. VAT is 13%. Bitcoin and other digital assets were exempted from income tax to support the 2021 legal-tender policy.
- Criminal LawAdversarial code operating under emergency modificationThe 2011 Código Procesal Penal is adversarial and oral. Since 2022, however, the régimen de excepción and successive anti-gang statutes have altered detention limits, group liability and juvenile penalties, so the code as written no longer describes practice on its own.
- Civil ProcedureOral procedure since the 2010 Civil and Commercial CodeThe Código Procesal Civil y Mercantil of 2010 replaced a written nineteenth-century regime with oral hearings, concentrated evidence and active case management. It is one of the more modern civil procedure statutes in the region.
- Constitutional LawConstitutional Chamber review, and a régimen de excepción since 2022The Sala de lo Constitucional of the Supreme Court decides amparo, habeas corpus and abstract unconstitutionality claims, the last of which any citizen may bring. Since March 2022 a renewed régimen de excepción has suspended several constitutional guarantees, and any statement of Salvadoran rights that omits it would be misleading.
- Business & CorporateCommercial Code companies plus a digital-assets regimeThe Código de Comercio governs companies, with the sociedad anónima the standard form and registration through the Centro Nacional de Registros. El Salvador is also unusual in having made bitcoin legal tender in 2021 and enacted a bespoke digital-assets statute in 2023.
- Property & LandUnified registry and cadastre, with an agricultural ownership capTitle is registered at the Centro Nacional de Registros, which merged the property registry and the cadastre into a single institution, making El Salvador's land records comparatively reliable. The Constitution caps rural landholding at 245 hectares.
- Employment & LabourLabour Code with dollarised wages and sector minimumsThe Código de Trabajo governs employment, and because the economy is dollarised all figures are in US dollars. Minimum wages are set by sector through the Consejo Nacional del Salario Mínimo, with commerce and services at USD 365 monthly.
Found something out of date on El Salvador?
Corrections are reviewed against the primary source before anything changes.