Cambodian Defenders Project

Laws of the Kingdom of Cambodia

This compendium of Cambodian legislation has been compiled by the staff of the CDP as a resource for local and international legal scholars, and those interested in Cambodian law. The current era of liberal democratic governance in the Kingdom of Cambodia dates back to the Constitution of 1993. Since the enactment of the Constitution, the legislature (National Assembly) has enacted a variety of new laws including those on labor, elections, drugs and trafficking in persons, many of which are included in this online compendium of Cambodian Law. In addition to the legislation made since 1993, the law of Cambodia includes pre-1993 laws, such as that on contract and other liabilities, saved by Article 158 of the Constitution.

A special case is the State of Cambodia (SOC) law on criminal procedure. This law was made in 1993 by the SOC, the predecessor state of the current Kingdom of Cambodia. At the time, however, it is arguable that the SOC did not have the capacity to make laws for Cambodia, as this power had been delegated to the Supreme National Council under the Paris Peace agreements. Nevertheless, the SOC law remains an important part of the criminal law as it is applied in Cambodia, and for this reason, it has been included here.

The reader should be advised that this is a grammatical and stylistic clean up of unofficial translations of Cambodia’s laws. Some of these translations are very poor, some are very good. There are no doubt mistakes in the translations and, inevitably, there will be mistakes in what is compiled here. Diligence and care, however, has been taken to ensure the highest standard possible, and any errors that may be found are likely to be semantic and not substantive.

In the event that an authoritative legal reference is needed, it is advised that attorneys seek out the "official" Khmer-language edition of the law and rely on a skilled Khmer legal interpreter. Because these are unofficial translations, please do not use the laws compiled here as a basis for any legal claims or legal decisions. Feel free, however, to use the laws compiled here as a springboard into further study of Cambodian law.

1.Constitution (1993)	8.Law on Immigration (1994)
2.Contract and Other Liabilities Law(1988)	9.Law on Investment (1994)
3.Criminal Law & Procedure (UNTAC)(1992)	8.Law on Punishment of the act of Terrorism (1992)
4.Criminal procedure (SOC) (1993)	9.Law on the Bar (1995)
5.Electoral Law (1997)	10.Press Law (1995)
6.Labor law (1997)	11.Trafficking Law (1996)
7.Law on Demonstrations (1991)	11.Law on Monogamy (Draft)