Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

The Supreme Court is the highest court in Morocco. It supervises a legal system
consisting of twenty-one Courts of Appeal, sixty-eight Courts of First Instance, 837 Communal
and District Courts, eight Trade Courts and seven Administrative Tribunals. The Supreme Court
is the final court of appeal from judgments of all lower courts. The Courts of Appeal try
criminal cases and hear appeals from lower courts. Cases involving small sums of money are
heard by the Communal and District Courts, while more important civil cases are heard by the
Courts of First Instance. The Trade Courts handle certain commercial disputes. Finally, the
Administrative Tribunals rule on disputes relating to the powers of the administration,
administrative contracts, and claims for compensation for wrongs done by public entities. They
are also empowered to ascertain the consistency of administrative acts with legal provisions.
The Qur’an is still a source of law. It is applied by the Quadis (Muslim judges who
interpret and administer the religious law of Islam) and is limited to the family law issues of
Muslims. Likewise, rabbinical law applies to issues of family law for Jews.
Internet Resources:
118
Ministry of Culture and Communication
http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/e_page.html
House of Representatives
http://www.majliss-annouwab.ma/
II. CITATION GUIDE
Prime Minister Office
http://www.pm.gov.ma/fr/index.html
Ministry of Justice
http://www.justice.gov.ma/
There is no uniform national citation manual in Morocco. There are some accepted practices,
but all authors do not follow them.
1.0 Constitution
Cite the Constitution (Dustur al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah) by abbreviated title (“Mor Const”),
followed by “Art.” and article number:
Mor Const, Art. 3.
2.0 Legislation
2.1 Laws and Decrees
Cite laws and decrees by title or abbreviated title, number, and date. Citations may be followed
by the date and number of the issue of the Official Gazette of Morocco (al-Jaridah al-Rasmiyah
al-Maghribiyah, abbreviated Mor OG) in which the law or decree is published:
Law no. 608.76.1 of October 1976 amending the law of Military Justice (Qanun al-Adl al-
Askari). In Mor OG of January 5, 1977, no. 3349, p.3.