Lebanon

Legal tradition

Lebanon belongs to the civil law with confessional personal status tradition. A French-model civil-law system: the Code of Obligations and Contracts of 1932 was drafted under the Mandate and remains the core of private law, alongside a Commercial Code of 1942 and a Code of Civil Procedure of 1983. What makes Lebanon distinctive is personal status, which is not codified nationally at all. Eighteen recognised confessional communities administer marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance through their own courts applying their own law, so the applicable rule depends entirely on the parties' registered community. There is no civil marriage in Lebanon, though civil marriages contracted abroad are registered and recognised.

How power is divided

Unitary, with eight governorates and districts administered centrally and elected municipal councils that have real but under-funded competences. Administrative decentralisation was promised by Taif and never enacted.

Where law comes from

The 1926 Constitution

As amended by Taif in 1990; the preamble entrenches communal coexistence.

Statutes of Parliament

Published in the Official Gazette; decree-laws also used in some periods.

Code of Obligations and Contracts 1932

French-model core of private law.

Confessional personal status laws

Eighteen communities apply their own law through their own courts.

Judicial precedent

Not formally binding; Court of Cassation authority is persuasive.

The legal profession

Lawyers are admitted by the Beirut Bar Association or the Tripoli Bar Association after a law degree and a three-year traineeship, with compulsory membership and a right of audience that widens with seniority. Both bars are self-governing and historically influential in public life. Notaries are licensed public officers whose authentication is required for real property transfers and company formation, and the two bars maintain legal aid committees that provide the main free representation.