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Cambodia (Kingdom of Cambodia / ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា)

Jurisdiction code: KH · Legal system: civil-law
Language(s): km

Cambodia is a Southeast Asian civil-law constitutional monarchy whose family-law framework operates under the Civil Code 2007 (effective 2011) Book V (Family) and the Law on Marriage and Family 1989. Parental authority and child custody are governed by Civil Code arts. 1034-1054. The Supreme Court of Cambodia (តុលាការកំពូល) is the apex court for civil and criminal matters; the Constitutional Council (ក្រុមប្រឹក្សាធម្មនុញ្ញ) operates separate constitutional review. Family-law matters are heard at first instance in the Court of First Instance under specialised family-procedure rules. Psychology profession is regulated through the Ministry of Health framework; no unified federal-statutory psychology regulator exists. Cambodia is silent on 'parental alienation' as a statutory label; courts operate substantively under the welfare-of-the-child standard codified in Civil Code art. 1037. Cambodia is non-Hague Convention.

PA recognition status

  • Statutory: silent
  • Apex court position: no-apex-position
  • Professional regulator position: silent

Statutory framework

  • Civil Code 2007 arts. 1034-1054 (Book V Family) — Civil Code — Parental authority and custody (2007) — https://www.moj.gov.kh/
  • Federal civil code Book V on Family, effective 2011 (replacing 1989 Law on Marriage and Family for most provisions). Arts. 1034-1054 govern parental authority and child custody.
  • Law on Marriage and Family 1989 — Law on Marriage and Family (1989) — https://www.moj.gov.kh/
  • Federal statute on marriage and family enacted under PRK administration; residual application for matters not covered by Civil Code.

Apex courts

Supreme Court of Cambodia (តុលាការកំពូល)

https://www.supremecourt.gov.kh/

Constitutional Council (ក្រុមប្រឹក្សាធម្មនុញ្ញ)

https://www.ccc.gov.kh/

Professional regulators

Anonymisation convention

Cambodian family-court decisions are anonymised per Supreme Court practice using initials.

Key developments

  • 1989 — Federal marriage and family statute enacted under PRK administration.
  • 2007 — Comprehensive Civil Code adopted, with Book V on Family. Effective 2011.

Structural findings

  • Cambodia operates a civil-law framework with codified Civil Code Book V family-law, drawing on Japanese civil-law assistance in drafting — places Cambodia in the East Asian civil-law cluster with Japanese-influenced codification heritage.
  • Non-Hague Convention status places Cambodia in the non-Hague Southeast Asian cluster.
  • Psychology profession regulation operates through Ministry of Health framework — lacks unified federal-statutory psychology regulator.

See also

  • jurisdiction:vietnam
  • jurisdiction:thailand
  • jurisdiction:laos
  • jurisdiction:japan
  • evidence:cross-border-parental-abduction-and-pa-intersection
  • evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine

Sources

  1. Supreme Court of Cambodia — https://www.supremecourt.gov.kh/ (Supreme Court) [km,en]
  2. Constitutional Council — https://www.ccc.gov.kh/ (Constitutional Council) [km,en]
  3. Ministry of Justice — https://www.moj.gov.kh/ (Ministry of Justice) [km,en]

Editorial notes

  • Cambodia jurisdiction sidecar — civil-law framework with Japanese-influenced codification heritage. Civil Code 2007 Book V + Law on Marriage and Family 1989 + non-Hague Convention.
  • PA-recognition: silent statutory + no-apex-position + silent regulator.
  • Joins Southeast Asian + civil-law + Japanese-codification-influenced + non-Hague Convention clusters within the corpus.

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