1. General
1.1 Main Sources of Law
For the first 100 years or so following its independence in
1844, the Dominican Republic had a legal system based on French
law, specifically on the Napoleonic Codes – civil, civil
procedure, commercial, criminal and criminal procedure –
under a constitution based on the US model, with three branches of
government: a strong presidency, a legislature and a judiciary with
the power to cancel acts of the other branches found to be
unconstitutional.
Since the first half of the 20th century, however, there has
been a move away from the French model, with the adoption of many
statutes and codes inspired by other legal systems. Examples
include: