Procedures
A 1974 procedure code over courts that compete with xeer and non-state forums
The Civil Procedure Code of 1974 governs formal litigation, with courts operating unevenly across regions. Most civil disputes are resolved by xeer elders, sharia forums or, in some areas, al-Shabaab courts.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal and member state courts of varying capacity; Somaliland runs a separate hierarchy; non-state forums are widely used.
Governing law
- Civil Procedure Code 1974
- Judicial Organisation Law and its successors
- Provisional Constitution 2012, chapter on the judiciary — Constitutional Court not established
In practice
Formal procedure descends from Italian civil-law practice and the 1974 code is still the reference text, but the question a user actually needs answered — where can I bring a claim and will the judgment be enforced — has no single answer. Court functioning varies sharply by region; Somaliland's courts operate continuously and with more predictability than those in much of the south; the federal Constitutional Court has never been established, so constitutional and inter-governmental disputes lack a forum. Alternative forums dominate by volume: xeer negotiation between lineage representatives, sharia arbitration, and in areas under its control al-Shabaab's courts, whose speed and enforcement capacity make them attractive even to parties who reject the group politically. Legal aid and qualified representation are scarce. There is no reliable law reporting, so precedent in the ordinary sense is not accessible.