Iran · Overview
The legal system of Iran
A codified system whose form is continental and whose substance is Twelver Shia jurisprudence. The Civil Code of 1928–35 was drafted on the French model but its provisions on persons, family and succession restate Shia fiqh, and it remains in force. After 1979 the criminal law was rebuilt around Islamic categories — hadd, qisas, diyat and ta'zir — now consolidated in the Islamic Penal Code of 2013. The distinguishing institutional feature is that all legislation must pass the Guardian Council, which vets every enactment for consistency with Islamic criteria and the Constitution and may void it outright, so review happens before promulgation rather than in court.
Legal tradition
Iran belongs to the islamic law with civil law codification tradition. A codified system whose form is continental and whose substance is Twelver Shia jurisprudence. The Civil Code of 1928–35 was drafted on the French model but its provisions on persons, family and succession restate Shia fiqh, and it remains in force. After 1979 the criminal law was rebuilt around Islamic categories — hadd, qisas, diyat and ta'zir — now consolidated in the Islamic Penal Code of 2013. The distinguishing institutional feature is that all legislation must pass the Guardian Council, which vets every enactment for consistency with Islamic criteria and the Constitution and may void it outright, so review happens before promulgation rather than in court.
How power is divided
Unitary, with 31 provinces headed by governors-general appointed by the Interior Ministry, alongside elected city and village councils created by the Constitution and operating since 1999 with limited competences.
Where law comes from
- The Constitution
- Article 4 requires all laws to be based on Islamic criteria; the Guardian Council judges compliance.
- Sharia (Twelver Shia fiqh)
- The substantive foundation; Article 167 directs judges to authoritative sources where statute is silent.
- Statutes of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
- Effective only after Guardian Council approval.
- The Civil Code and Islamic Penal Code
- French-form codification restating Shia substantive rules.
- Supreme Court unification rulings
- Resolve conflicting interpretations and bind lower courts.
The legal profession
Two parallel routes to practice, which is unusual and consequential: attorneys licensed by the Iranian Bar Association (Kanoon-e Vokala), a self-governing body dating to 1953, and attorneys licensed under Article 187 of the Third Development Plan directly by the judiciary. The two groups have contested each other's standing for two decades. Notaries operate licensed offices under the registration organisation, and their authentication is required for property transfers, marriage contracts and powers of attorney.
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