Mixed Jurisdiction Legal System
Originally, Seychelles was a french colony before acceding to the British. The effect of this is that Seychelles has a unique mixed jurisdiction legal system. The civil law is governed by a Civil Code derived from the French Napoleanic Code, there is therefore, strictly speaking, no such thing as tort and trusts, which are creations of British case law (common law). The criminal law is substantially based on the British criminal law. Procedural law is primarily British based. One learned in British courtroom procedure will find great similarities with Seychelles procedural law.

The sources of law are mainly through legislation. The National Assembly is the Seychelles legislative branch. The National Assembly has the power to create, amend and repeal all laws except for certain chapters in the Constitution of the Republic of Seychelles. This is the supreme law of the country and certain chapters therein, such as the constitutional rights of individuals, can only be amended by a referendum.

Case law developments may expound upon or clarify issues not specifically targeted by legislation, but as mentioned above, there are no branches of the law that have been developed solely through case law. The Civil Code of Seychelles sets out the laws and principles applicable in dealing with civil disputes. Those learned in the English laws may be surprised to find that several principles that are the basis of their law of tort/contract does not apply at all in Seychelles. Instead of the common law based tort, we have Delict. And instead of a common law based contract law, the Civil Code sets out all the principles applicable in Seychelles' contract law.

For a discourse on the Court Hierarcy, Jurisdiction of Courts and Tribunals and the Appellate Process, please refer to the section on the Judiciary.