Civil law in Sudan

The Civil Transactions Act 1984 replaced the Sudan Contracts Act 1974 and provides the main framework for private-law contracts. Related legislation includes the Land Settlement and Registration Act 1925 as amended in 1985, the Civil Procedure Act 1983 as amended in 2009 and 2018, the Personal Status of Muslims Act 1991, the Evidence Act 1994, the Rent Act 1991 and the Arbitration Act 2016. Current amendments should be checked against the official Gazette and Ministry of Justice materials because a consolidated current text was not retrievable from searchable official pages. Leases require a written form, including renewal; an official Supreme Court authority treated an unwritten lease as void. A construction contract must be written and identify its subject, type, quantity, performance method, completion period and consideration. Case law records an exception for some continuing contracts made before 1984. Government contracting is handled through إدارة العقود, or Contracts Administration. Reviews commonly cover the authority of the parties and representatives, legal capacity, term, price, payment, attachments, applicable law, force majeure, dispute provisions, termination notice and performance duties. Subcontracting or assignment requires written consent. Government guidance states a bid security of 2% of the contract value, performance security of 10% generally valid through performance, construction retention usually of 5% and security for advance payments; these figures are not universal rules for private contracts. Land ownership transfers follow the formal registration system under the Land Settlement and Registration Act. The General Registrar of Lands and local land-registration offices issue or use a شهادة بحث, or search certificate. A registrar may refuse registration when information or documents are missing, an instrument is invalid or the required form has not been followed. A registered court attachment affects later dealings until it is cancelled. Mortgage filing can require the deed, search certificate, land-authority approval on Form 3A for usufruct or beneficial ownership and, where applicable, approval from the agricultural-disposition committee. A 2026 Judiciary decision reduced land-registration fees, but the revised tariff amount was not available in the researched material. Personal-status matters follow the Personal Status Courts and the Personal Status of Muslims Act 1991. The statute and researched case law concern marriage, divorce, maintenance-related disputes and inheritance; its rules should not be generalized to every resident of Sudan. Inheritance proceedings use terms such as ترِكة for the estate, إعلام وراثي for an inheritance declaration, إدخال وارث for adding an heir, إخراج وارث for excluding an heir and التخارج for an estate settlement or renunciation. The usual process identifies heirs and assets, verifies the deceased's title and registration status, addresses debts and valid wills, obtains a court decision and then completes partition or registration. Estate assets cannot be freely disposed of before related rights and debts are cleared, and a settlement made before the court decision remains subject to court approval. The court may reserve assets for debts. A 2007 authority concerning a marital-heir claim involving four existing wives required joined claims against the identified wife or wives and joinder of the remaining heirs. Older authorities recorded periods of 15 years for ordinary sharia claims and 33 years for inheritance or waqf claims after a capable claimant's silence; their current amendment status was not verified. A tort claim concerns damage without a contractual link. Article 138 of the Civil Transactions Act 1984 has been cited by the Supreme Court, and official authority states that a harmful act can lead to compensation, including harmful state or administrative omission. Causation, evidence and valuation of damage remain case-specific. Ordinary courts may hear compensation claims based on administrative activity when the claimant is not challenging the administrative decision itself. Civil claims proceed before the competent court under the Civil Procedure Act. The Judiciary uses courts including the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, General Civil Courts, Partial or Judge Courts and Town or Rural Courts. A described judicial apparatus includes one Court of Appeal, 25 general or partial courts and seven town or rural courts, but those figures are not established as a nationwide total. General Civil Courts hear appeals from second-degree Partial or Judge Courts, while Courts of Appeal hear first-instance decisions from General Civil Courts and first-degree Partial or Judge Courts. Cassation before the Supreme Court is subject to statutory filing periods and security requirements, but no universal current deadline was verified. Summons and service generally follow the Civil Procedure Act. Ordinary service is not conducted between sunset and sunrise without court permission, and service on armed-forces or law-enforcement personnel follows a special process through the unit commander. Foreign official documents require formalities in the country of origin and Sudanese authentication or recognition; non-compliance may prevent admission. Filing forms and electronic services vary by court. The Judiciary's Litigation Services portal is available to litigants, agents and lawyers, although its full features were not verified. The execution court handles enforcement. Under Article 232 of the Civil Procedure Act, payment arrangements and, in relevant circumstances, detention are available measures. Article 248(2)(b) protects tools, machines and items necessary for a debtor's trade or profession when the court finds them necessary; Supreme Court authority has applied this protection to a company as a legal person, not only to an individual. An insolvency or indigence request is distinct from an automatic stay of execution. A final judgment is ordinarily binding during execution, while challenges to the merits belong in appeal or review. A third-party objection requires proof of the third party's ownership. The Mortgage Sale Act provides a special bank-enforcement process for pledged assets, separate from ordinary civil-procedure mortgage litigation. Enforcement against government or state bodies involves Ministry of Justice notification and legal-department participation under the Article 213 framework, with an opportunity for voluntary compliance or advice before coercive measures. Court fees follow the Civil Procedure fee schedule, but current tariff amounts were not retrieved. The Ministry of Justice also lists a contract-notarisation fee schedule without a verified current amount. The Legal Aid Administration can provide free assistance after a written application to its Head of Administration, an inquiry, proof of inability to hire counsel and an apparently meritorious case. Assistance covers civil, criminal and sharia courts. Refugees and foreigners are eligible under the stated Ministry policy, while women and children receive priority. Where a provincial Legal Aid office is absent, access may involve coordinated appointment of lawyers. Consumer protection, labor law and criminal law are separate subject areas; they enter civil-law analysis only where a necessary liability, enforcement or boundary issue arises.