Civil law in Equatorial Guinea

The Ley Fundamental provides the constitutional framework and recognizes equality, property rights and the judicial function. The Código Civil is the main civil code for private-law matters and is publicly catalogued as Royal Decree of 24 July 1889, but its text retains Spain-specific references. Its local application should therefore be checked for the concrete case rather than assumed from the historical text alone. Civil personality begins at birth, and the age of majority is 18. Emancipation can result from marriage, a parental grant from age 16 or a judicial grant. The Registro Civil records births, marriages, emancipation, recognition, deaths and naturalisation; Central, Provincial and District offices, notaries and judges may have roles depending on the record. Access is formally established but records and procedures are largely manual. A UNICEF profile reports birth registration often taking roughly one week to one month, while no fixed nationwide deadline for marriage registration was verified. Civil contracts create duties to give, do or refrain from doing something. The usual requirements are consent, a sufficiently certain object and a lawful cause. Contractual freedom is limited by law, morality and public order, and good faith affects performance and interpretation. A reciprocal breach can support a claim for performance or resolution together with damages and interest through the courts. Business contracts may additionally fall under OHADA Uniform Acts, which creates a commercial-law boundary rather than a separate general civil-law rule. Ownership generally includes the right to use and dispose of property within statutory limits. Acquisition may occur through occupation, law, donation, testamentary or intestate succession, contract followed by delivery, or prescription. The Registro de la Propiedad y Mercantil supports property and commercial registration. Land is also governed by Ley Núm. 4/2009, which distinguishes private and collective land, State public domain and State private property. Reserves and public-domain land are non-transferable. Traditional property may belong to pueblos, tribes or family groups through communal land, cotos familiares or traditional family patrimony; collective patrimony is formally protected against seizure, alienation and prescription. Customary occupation by nationals and natural heirs can receive protection even without a title, subject to statutory limits. A concession of free State urban or rural land requires an administrative file and a decision by the Prime Minister. Foreign acquisition or concession requires an express Presidential Resolution and may last no more than 99 years; notaries and registrars must request the required authorisation. No current standard nationwide tariff or processing time for these land procedures was verified. A formal marriage requires consent and is subject to impediments including non-emancipated minority, an existing marriage, close kinship and the prior intentional killing of a spouse. Civil registration may involve a judge, notary or municipal authority. Parents owe care and alimentos, meaning maintenance support. The legacy Civil Code treats matrimonial, non-matrimonial and adoptive filiation as equal for inheritance purposes. Official 2019 Senate materials also discuss civil, customary and canonical or religious forms, but they reflect proposals and debate rather than a verified enacted Family Code. Customary marriage, polygamy, dowry and ethnic rules therefore cannot be assigned one uniform national effect. On 28 April 2026, the Ministry of Justice reactivated work on updating the Código Civil, focusing on marriage regimes, succession and widows. A proposal to remove compulsory marriage to a deceased spouse's brother was reported, but no enacted replacement rule was verified. Succession transfers rights at death. Testamentary and intestate succession can include assets, rights and duties that have not ended with the deceased. Forced heirs are descendants, or otherwise ascendants and the surviving spouse; the legacy text assigns children a legitime of two-thirds. Land inheritance remains constrained by registration, concession and customary-patrimony rules, and the interaction between customary succession and the formal system is not publicly consolidated. A person who causes damage through fault or negligence generally has a duty to repair it. The Civil Code also contains vicarious-liability rules for parents, tutors, employers and establishments. Civil claims depend on proof, applicable special laws and limitation rules; a one-year period appears in the text for certain possession and negligence actions, but its local applicability should be verified. Ley Núm. 5/2009 regulates the Poder Judicial. The formal civil process generally begins before a competent Tribunal de Primera Instancia and may proceed through appeal to the Tribunal Supremo. Family and labour specialisation has been reported since 2009, and commercial disputes are reportedly handled as civil cases at first instance. Current consolidated filing rules, court fees, standard durations and a reliable legal-aid pathway were not verified in official public sources. Publication gaps, concerns about judicial independence and inconsistent enforcement can affect practical access. Ordinary civil judgments are enforced through the national judicial framework. Equatorial Guinea has been an OHADA member since ratification on 16 April 1999 and entry into force on 14 August 1999. The OHADA Uniform Act on simplified recovery and enforcement was adopted on 17 October 2023 and took effect on 16 February 2024; it is relevant to covered business and debt enforcement but does not automatically replace national execution for family or ordinary non-business matters. OHADA arbitration and mediation frameworks also apply within their scopes, although no national arbitration or mediation centre was verified. Formal documents, registration, notarial acts and competent-authority approvals are central evidence when a right must be exercised or enforced in Equatorial Guinea.