Law of the British Virgin Islands

The law of the British Virgin Islands is a combination of common law and statute, and is based heavily upon English law.

Law in the British Virgin Islands tends to be a combination of the very old and the very new. As a leading offshore financial centre, the territory has extremely modern statutes dealing with company law, insolvency, banking law, trust law, insurance and other related matters. However, in a number of areas of law, such as family law, the laws of the British Virgin Islands are based upon very old English laws, and can cause some difficulty in modern times. Other areas of law, such as international law, are essentially regulated externally through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London by Order in Council. A large body of the laws of the British Virgin Islands consists of the common law, which continually updates itself through judicial precedent in the territory and in other common law countries.

The British Virgin Islands is a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. Although the local legislature and courts are independent from the United Kingdom, the British government deals with most international relations on behalf of the territory, although authority has been delegated to the territory to negotiate on its own behalf in certain areas (see below under Constitutional law). The British Virgin Islands does not have a separate vote at the United Nations.