Somalia · Legislation
Legislation and primary sources
Where to find the authoritative text of the law in Somalia, and how to confirm it is still in force.
Sources of law, ranked
- Provisional Constitution 2012
- Supreme in form; no Constitutional Court exists to enforce it.
- Sharia
- Article 2 makes it the measure of validity for all legislation.
- Xeer (customary law)
- Administered by clan elders; resolves most disputes in practice, including serious crime.
- Legislation
- Acts of the Federal Parliament, and separate legislation in each member state.
- Colonial-era codes
- Italian civil-law codes in the south and common-law inheritance in the north, still formally in force.
The legislative process
Bills are introduced by the government or members and passed by the House of the People, with the Upper House participating on matters affecting member states, before presidential assent. Because Article 2 subjects all legislation to consistency with Sharia and no court exists to adjudicate that limit, and because member-state legislation operates in parallel, the effective legislative picture cannot be described as unified.
Found something out of date on Somalia · Legislation?
Corrections are reviewed against the primary source before anything changes.