Honduras · Overview
The legal system of Honduras
A civil-law system operating under the 1982 Constitution, with constitutional review concentrated in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. Two questions dominate recent legal history: the status of presidential re-election, which the Supreme Court reinterpreted in 2015 despite an entrenched prohibition, and the ZEDE special economic zones, repealed by Congress in 2022 amid continuing investor arbitration.
Legal tradition
Honduras belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system operating under the 1982 Constitution, with constitutional review concentrated in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. Two questions dominate recent legal history: the status of presidential re-election, which the Supreme Court reinterpreted in 2015 despite an entrenched prohibition, and the ZEDE special economic zones, repealed by Congress in 2022 amid continuing investor arbitration.
How power is divided
Unitary, with 18 departments and 298 municipalities. Municipal autonomy is constitutionally protected, and the Garifuna and Miskito communities hold collectively titled coastal land recognised in Inter-American Court judgments.
Where law comes from
- Constitution
- Supreme; ratified treaties prevail over ordinary statutes where they conflict.
- Statutes of the National Congress
- Single chamber of 128 deputies.
- Codes
- Civil Code 1906, Labour Code 1959, Criminal Code 2020, Civil Procedure Code 2007.
- Constitutional Chamber precedent
- Binding interpretation of the Constitution.
The legal profession
Practice requires membership of the Colegio de Abogados de Honduras. Lawyers are admitted as abogado and may obtain a separate notarial commission from the Supreme Court after five years of practice.
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