Family law in Algeria is governed by the 1984 Family Code. The provisions of the 1984 Code are drawn from various schools of law, a draft Algerian code of Muslim law formulated by a commission in 1916 during French rule, and parallel legislation from neighbouring countries (particularly Moroccan enactments). It is primarily rooted in shari’a principles. Article 222 of the Code specifies the shari’a as the residuary source of law, thus allowing for selection of appropriate interpretations from any school of law or directly from the original sources of law (Qur’an and sunnah) or from secondary sources. Women make up 70% of the country’s lawyers and 60% of its judges.
The 1984 Code has been subject to revision, in particular in 2005. Procedure in the Family Courts is regulated by the 2009 Code of Civil and Administrative Procedure – in particular in relation to family cases in Book 2, Title 2, Chapter 1.
An unofficial translation of the Algerian Family Code provided by the British Embassy, Algiers is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/algerian-family-code
Andrew Allen QC 