The legal system of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

is a mix of the civil law and the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

systems.

Language

Puerto Rico is the only current U.S. jurisdiction whose legal system operates primarily in a language other than

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

: namely, Spanish. Because the U.S. federal government operates primarily in English, Puerto Rican attorneys are typically bilingual in order to litigate in English in U.S. federal courts and to litigate federal preemption issues in Puerto Rican courts.

Sources

United States Code

Title 48 of the United States Code outlines the role of the United States Code to United States territories and insular areas such as Puerto Rico.

Leyes de Puerto Rico

Many of the Laws of Puerto Rico () are modeled after the Spanish Civil Code, which is part of the

Law of Spain The Law of Spain is the legislation in force in the Kingdom of Spain, which is understood to mean Spanish territory, Spanish waters, consulates and embassies, and ships flying the Spanish flag in democratically elected institutions. Characterist ...

. After the U.S. government assumed control of Puerto Rico in 1901, it initiated legal reforms resulting in the adoption of codes of criminal law, criminal procedure, and civil procedure modeled after those then in effect in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Although Puerto Rico has since followed the federal example of transferring criminal and civil procedure from statutory law to rules promulgated by the judiciary, several portions of its criminal law still reflect the influence of the

California Penal Code The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the United States, American state of California. It was origin ...

Judicial system

The judicial branch is headed by the Chief Justice of the

Puerto Rico Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United St ...

, which is the only appellate court required by the Constitution. All other courts are created by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. As Puerto Rico is under United States sovereignty, U.S. federal law applies in the territory, and cases of a federal nature are heard in the

United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (in case citations, D.P.R.; ) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The court is based in San ...

References

External links

Leyes de Puerto Rico on LexJuris.com

Puerto Rico Resources
Georgetown Law Library
The Laws of Puerto Rico, and other downloads
Office of Legislative Services to the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly
Guide to Law Online: U.S. Puerto Rico

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

* {{North America topic, Law of