Guatemala
| Legal system family | Civil law |
| How the law works | Based on Napoleonic civil law. Guatemala has had three Civil Codes: the first from 1877, a new one introduced in 1933, and the one currently in force, passed in 1963. This Civil Code has undergone reforms over the years, as well as a few derogations concerning areas subsequently regulated by newer laws, such as the Code of Commerce and the Law of the National Registry of Persons. In general, it follows the tradition of the Roman-French system of civil codification. Regarding the theory of 'sources of law' in the Guatemalan legal system, the 'Ley del Organismo Judicial' recognizes 'the law' as the main legal source (in the sense of legislative texts). However, it also establishes 'jurisprudence' as a complementary source. Although jurisprudence technically refers to judicial decisions in general, in practice it tends to be confused and identified with the concept of 'legal doctrine', which is a qualified series of identical resolutions in similar cases pronounced by higher courts (the Constitutional Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Amparo', and the Supreme Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Casación') whose theses become binding for lower courts. |
| Form of government | representative democracy; presidential system |
| Constitution | – |
| Legislature | Congress of the Republic of Guatemala |
| Highest court | – |
| Head of state | Bernardo Arévalo de León |
| Head of government | Bernardo Arévalo de León |
| Age of majority | 18 |
| Minimum marriage age | 18 |
| Retirement age | – |
| Official languages | Spanish |
| Capital | Guatemala City |
| Continent | North America |
| Population | 17,263,239 |
Wikipedia: law of Guatemala ↗ · Wikidata ↗