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Country Background

The Vatican City-State is located in Southern Europe, and is an enclave of Rome, Italy. The capital is the Vatican City. The Vatican City-State does not have an official language, but Latin (the official language of the Vatican until 2014) and Italian are used extensively in the city-state. The country’s population in 2015 was approximately 1,000 people. The Holy See is an entirely Roman Catholic country, and Catholicism is the official religion of the city-state. 

Constitution & Legal Structure

The Vatican City-State is referred to as an ecclesiastical elective monarchy, and is self-described as an "absolute monarchy." The Vatican City-State came into existence as a sovereign nation in 1929 with the signing of the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. The Vatican presents a challenge for the legal researcher wishing to separate the affairs of the city-state from those of the Catholic Church. The Vatican City-State is a distinct legal jurisdiction, but the inexorable intertwining of the Church—in the form of the Holy See—with the Vatican City-State sometimes obfuscates the jurisdictional boundaries that lie between church and city-state.

The Vatican City-State is the only widely recognized country that is not officially a member state of the United Nations, although the the Holy See, which is distinct from Vatican City-State, has permanent observer status with all the rights of a full member except for voting in the UN General Assembly.

Constitutional Status of Islamic Law

Islamic law has no constitutional status in the Vatican City-State.

Jurisdiction(s) of Islamic Law

Islamic law has no official jurisdiction of operation in the Vatican City-State.

Dominant School of Islamic Law

The Vatican City-State has no official school of Islamic law.

Sources of Law for Legal Research

Official Publications

• Legislative
  • Laws and Decrees
• Executive
  
  • Government Portal
  • The Holy See (official web site)
• Judicial
  • Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura - consists of the cardinal prefect, who serves as ex-officio president of the court, and two other cardinals of the Prefect Signatura; judicial duties were established by the Motu Proprio, or papal directive, of Pope Pius XII in 1946; most Vatican criminal matters are handled by the Republic of Italy courts [from the World Factbook]

Unofficial Databases

• RefWorld Legal Information: Holy See (Vatican City State) (UNHCR)
• WIPO Lex: Holy See (World Intellectual Property Organization)

References:

For an extended list of legal resources for this country, see the Library of Congress’s Research Guide, and for a narrative review, see the GlobaLex Foreign Law Research Guide (most updated version, where available). The Constitution is available in the LOC Guide in its original language. For full versions of past constitutions, amendments, and related legislation, see HeinOnline World Constitutions Illustrated or Oxford Constitutions of the World [subscription required for each].