Procedures
Hybrid procedure with compulsory abunzi mediation at community level
Civil procedure is governed by the 2018 law and blends civil-law and common-law features. Abunzi mediation committees must hear most small civil disputes before a court will entertain them, which diverts a large share of litigation out of the formal system.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Abunzi committees, primary, intermediate, High and Commercial Courts, and the Supreme Court; the EACJ for Treaty questions.
- Deadline — Abunzi mediation: compulsory first instance for claims below the statutory threshold
- Deadline — Appeal: 30 days from judgment
- Deadline — Prescription: five years for most personal actions under the Civil Code
Governing law
- Law n° 22/2018 relating to civil, commercial, labour and administrative procedure
- Law n° 37/2016 determining the organisation of abunzi mediators
- Law on arbitration and conciliation in commercial matters
In practice
The abunzi system institutionalises community mediation as a compulsory stage rather than an optional alternative: elected lay mediators hear the dispute first, and only if mediation fails does the matter proceed. Together with the migration toward common-law commercial procedure, it makes Rwandan civil process genuinely hybrid rather than transitional.