Southeast Asian Legal Research Guide: Introduction to Cambodia & its Legal System

The Cambodian legal system is based largely on the French civil system, and is statute based. The Constitution is the Supreme Law. The legal system has evolved from unwritten customary law, prevalent during Angkorian times, to statutory law, under the French colonisation from 1863 to 1953 and up until 1975. Under the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979, the entire Cambodian legal system was destroyed.