Cyprus as a British Colony
Cyprus was a colony of Great Britain for 82 years (1878-1960). Only a few months after the Mohammedans took over the administration of the island, the British criminalized a plethora of behaviors, legislated the creation of courts and in 1894, with the Lawyers Law, regulated the procedure for granting a license to practice law for the courts of Cyprus. Also, in 1879, they established a police force along the lines of the colonial model of policing (the Cyprus Military Police), as well as prisons, thus complementing the criminal justice system on the island. Thus, it is not surprising that, even after Cyprus was declared an independent state in 1960, its legal system concerning the administration of criminal justice (criminal law, criminal procedure and investigation stage) is largely based on the English legal system.
The Anglo-Saxon Tradition
Furthermore, the Anglo-Saxon tradition of law is followed for the basic principles of application and interpretation of laws, although most of the laws in the Republic of Cyprus, with the exception of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure (statutes that are amended from time to time) are laws enacted in 1960 and later. A remnant of the same Anglo-Saxon legal tradition is the use of terms in English. The courts follow the principle of “precedent”, i.e. binding prior case-law, but the case law of English courts or courts of commonwealth countries is not binding, but guiding.
Common-Law
As a country of common law, within a court, the two sides fight each other, intending, through the presentation of oral testimony and evidence, to convince the court (whose role is always arbitral) of the fairness of their side. Unlike other common law countries, such as England and Australia, law is not taught in Cyprus in secondary education. So, unfortunately, with the exception of lawyers, the public is not even elementary aware of the legal system of Cyprus. For a foreign legal visitor, its legal system is of particular interest, since it is a unique mixed system consisting of elements of common law and continental law.
Recent Influences
Cypriot law has been influenced primarily by the law of England but also by that of France, Germany, the USA and, finally, by Ottoman law. Both Private and Criminal Law as well as the Procedure of Cyprus are communal and codified in legislations, in contrast to Public Law which has its origins in continental law. Since 2004, with the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union, Cyprus Law has been widely enriched by European and Human Rights Law. The legal system of Cyprus combines a number of different essential parts and a number of different judicial traditions. It is probably unique in the world, not only in terms of its survival and preservation, but also in its multidimensional content and character.