Legal System

Legal Regime

Zambia has a dual legal system, with customary and statutory law running concurrently. In the case of conflict between the two, statutory law prevails. Where there is a lacuna in the law, recourse is had to the English common law and other specific English statutes.

Court Structure

The highest Court is the Supreme Court, ranking equally with the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court's jurisdiction is limited to constitutional matters only. The Supreme Court only hears special cases that raise novel issues on which the it needs to make a pronouncement.

Other courts are the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Subordinate Court and the Local Court. The Small Claims Court is also part of the court structure. Its jurisdiction is to limited low value money claims.