The country of Algeria is a democratic republic that uses a presidential government model.
Algeria is a north African country that is influenced by both French and Muslim customs, traditions and laws. Because Algeria was under French rule for a long period of time many people in Algeria speak French. However Arabic is the official language of Algeria as Islam is the religion of state. The majority of Algerian people are of the Muslim faith and this influences some Algerian laws.
The laws of Algeria have their origin in the French colonies that previously occupied Algeria. The French invaded Algeria in 1830. Before this event statutory law had already existed. When the French invaded they applied French statutory law to Algeria. This lasted until Algeria gained independence in 1962.
There are a few sources that Algerian law is based upon. Some of these are the habit, Islamic law and the natural rights and rules of equity.
The legal system that Algeria uses distributes political and legal activities between their three branches of government. The president of Algeria and his administration implement the law. Parliament is left responsible for dealing with both civil and criminal legislation and the court system makes the decisions on civil and criminal cases brought before them.
Due to the history of French rule in Algeria the current legal system is very similar to that of European countries. It even has some similarities with the legal system of the United States of America. Although the legal system is governed in a style that comes from foreign influence Algeria makes a strong attempt to preserve the culture and traditions of the country. This is shown by the fact that Algeria tries to create laws that keep the rights of the people of Algeria intact without interfering with the way that the government works.
