Law of Afghanistan

Law Of Afghanistan

The legal system of Afghanistan consists of Islamic, statutory and customary rules. It has developed over centuries and is currently changing in the context of the reconstruction of the Afghan state. The supreme law of the land is the Constitution of the Islamic Republic Afghanistan of 2004. Beside there is complex legislation which stems from different historical periods. For instance, the so-called four volumes of civil law were developed on the basis of Egyptian models and promulgated in the time of the monarchy. Other legislation came into force under of President Daoud, the communist regime, the Mujahideen (1992-1996), the Taliban (1996-2001) and the new government led by President Hamid Karzai. Legislation promulgated before the current Constitution of 2004 came into force is valid only as far as it is in complinace with the principles and provisions of this constitution. Article 130 of the Constitution establishes that judges must apply the constitution and legislation and may only resort to Hanafi fiqh (i.e. one of the Schools of Islamic Law) if a necessary legal rule cannot be found in the written laws.