The Palace of Justice in Lebanon. (Credit: Archive photo by Sami Ayad)
From laws against serious crimes, such as sexual violence, to outdated rules that simply lost relevance over time, Lebanon’s legal system in 2025 still carries many provisions dating back 100 years ago to the French mandate.Some of these laws exist only on paper, like a ban on women wearing shorts, but others remain actively enforced. "Some archaic and old laws can become obsolete by the fact that they stopped being applied [often due to a given policy of prosecution], without being annulled or updated by the legislator," said Karim Nammour, a lawyer and member of Legal Agenda.Lebanon’s Penal Code was issued in 1943, 20 years after the French mandate began and just months before Lebanon gained independence, and it has seen only minor amendments since its adoption. “It needs a lot of updates,” Nammour pointed out. Older...
From laws against serious crimes, such as sexual violence, to outdated rules that simply lost relevance over time, Lebanon’s legal system in 2025 still carries many provisions dating back 100 years ago to the French mandate.Some of these laws exist only on paper, like a ban on women wearing shorts, but others remain actively enforced. "Some archaic and old laws can become obsolete by the fact that they stopped being applied [often due to a given policy of prosecution], without being annulled or updated by the legislator," said Karim Nammour, a lawyer and member of Legal Agenda.Lebanon’s Penal Code was issued in 1943, 20 years after the French mandate began and just months before Lebanon gained independence, and it has seen only minor amendments since its adoption. “It needs a lot of updates,” Nammour pointed out....
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