Legal system of Saudi Arabia

The legal system of Saudi Arabia is grounded in sharia, drawn from the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, with judges guided primarily by the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence. Unlike most Muslim-majority states, Saudi Arabia has historically applied sharia without a single formal codification, which has produced uncertainty over the exact scope and content of the law. The government committed to codifying sharia in 2010 and published a sourcebook of legal principles and precedents in 2018, and sharia remains the foundation for criminal, family, commercial and contract matters, supplemented by modern regulations issued by royal decree covering areas such as intellectual property and corporate governance.