| Country | Legal system |
| Antarctica | Antarctica is administered through annual meetings - known as Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings - which include consultative member nations, non-consultative member nations, observer organizations, and expert organizations; decisions from these meetings are carried out by these member nations (with respect to their own nationals and operations) in accordance with their own national laws; more generally, access to the Antarctic Treaty area, that is to all areas between 60 and 90 degrees south latitude, is subject to a number of relevant legal instruments and authorization procedures adopted by the states party to the Antarctic Treaty; note - US law, including certain criminal offenses by or against US nationals, such as murder, may apply extraterritorially; some US laws directly apply to Antarctica; for example, the Antarctic Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. section 2401 et seq., provides civil and criminal penalties for the following activities unless authorized by regulation of statute: the taking of native mammals or birds; the introduction of nonindigenous plants and animals; entry into specially protected areas; the discharge or disposal of pollutants; and the importation into the US of certain items from Antarctica; violation of the Antarctic Conservation Act carries penalties of up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison; the National Science Foundation and Department of Justice share enforcement responsibilities; Public Law 95-541, the US Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978, as amended in 1996, requires expeditions from the US to Antarctica to notify, in advance, the Office of Oceans, Room 5805, Department of State, Washington, DC 20520, which reports such plans to other nations as required by the Antarctic Treaty; for more information, contact Permit Office, Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia 22230; telephone: (703) 292-8030, or visit its website at www.nsf.gov |
| Antigua and Barbuda | common law based on the English model |
| Arctic Ocean | void |
| Argentina | civil law system based on West European legal systems; note - efforts at civil code reform begun in the mid-1980s has stagnated |
| Armenia | civil law system |
| Aruba | civil law system based on the Dutch civil code |
| Ashmore and Cartier Islands | the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia and the laws of the Northern Territory of Australia, where applicable, apply |
| Atlantic Ocean | void |
| Australia | common law system based on the English model |
| Austria | civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court |
| Azerbaijan | civil law system |
| Bahamas, The | common law system based on the English model |
| Bahrain | mixed legal system of Islamic law and English common law |
| Bangladesh | mixed legal system of mostly English common law and Islamic law |
| Barbados | English common law; no judicial review of legislative acts |
| Belarus | civil law system; note - nearly all major codes (civil, civil procedure, criminal, criminal procedure, family and labor) have been revised and came into force in 1999 or 2000 |
| Belgium | civil law system based on the French Civil Code; note - Belgian law continues to be modified in conformance with the legislative norms mandated by the European Union; judicial review of legislative acts |
| Belize | English common law |
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This page was last updated on 3 February, 2012 |
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