Procedures
A 2007 procedure act, a common-law hierarchy, and customary courts doing most of the work
The Code of Civil Procedure Act 2007 governs statutory litigation, with a hierarchy from county courts to the Supreme Court. Customary courts resolve the majority of disputes in practice.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, High Courts, county courts, plus a parallel customary court structure.
Governing law
- Code of Civil Procedure Act 2007
- Judiciary Act 2008
- Local Government Act 2009 — customary court jurisdiction
In practice
The formal system is common-law in structure, inherited through Sudan from Anglo-Egyptian practice, and the 2007 Act provides conventional pleading, interlocutory and execution procedure. The functional reality is dualist: customary courts under the Local Government Act, presided over by chiefs, handle most civil disputes including family, land and cattle matters, with appeal into the statutory hierarchy. Statutory courts are concentrated in Juba and state capitals, so geographic access is the binding constraint. The judiciary has been affected by resource shortages, salary arrears and judges' strikes, and the number of qualified lawyers is small. Arbitration is available but rarely used domestically; investment contracts typically provide for foreign-seated arbitration. Given these constraints, the enforceability of a civil judgment cannot be stated with confidence.