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Comparison

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Because every portal follows the same fifteen-section outline, the comparison is genuinely like-for-like rather than a collage of whatever each government happens to publish.

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Comparison of selected legal systems
AttributeEquatorial GuineaIndexedBotswanaReviewedMexicoReviewed
Legal familyCivil law (Spanish tradition)Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common lawCivil law
System of governmentUnitary presidential republicParliamentary republicFederal presidential republic
ConstitutionFundamental Law of Equatorial GuineaConstitution of BotswanaPolitical Constitution of the United Mexican States
In force since199119661917
CapitalMalaboGaboroneMexico City
Official languagesSpanish, French, PortugueseEnglish, SetswanaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyCentral African CFA franc (XAF)Botswana pula (BWP)Mexican peso (MXN)
Population1,700,0002,680,000130,000,000
Division of powersPresidential system with a Vice-President and Prime Minister, a bicameral Parliament of Chamber of Deputies and Senate, and a judiciary headed by the Supreme Court of Justice.Unitary. Districts and sub-districts administer central policy, and the House of Chiefs (Ntlo ya Dikgosi) is an advisory chamber that must be consulted on bills affecting customary law, tribal organisation and tribal property.Federal. Powers not expressly granted to the union are reserved to the 32 states (Article 124). States run their own civil, family and criminal-enforcement codes, but criminal procedure, labour and commercial law were federalised to produce single national codes.
How law is madeBills pass the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and are promulgated by the President, who may return a text for reconsideration.Bills are introduced in the National Assembly, take three readings with committee scrutiny between the second and third, and go to the President for assent. Bills affecting customary law, tribal property or the organisation of the tribes must first be referred to the Ntlo ya Dikgosi for its opinion, though that opinion does not bind the Assembly.Bills may be introduced by the President, either chamber, state legislatures or by citizens with 0.13% of the electoral roll. Both chambers must pass an identical text; the President may veto, and Congress overrides with two-thirds of each chamber. Constitutional amendments need two-thirds of Congress plus a majority of state legislatures (Article 135).
Legal professionAbogados admitted through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados; practice requires competence in both Spanish codes and French-language OHADA texts.A fused profession of attorneys admitted by the High Court after a recognised law degree and articles of pupillage; there is no split between advocates and attorneys, and the Law Society of Botswana regulates practice.A law degree plus a cédula profesional from the Education Ministry licenses practice; there is no compulsory bar examination or single mandatory bar, which distinguishes Mexico from most of the region. Notaries public are a separate, strictly limited state-appointed profession with exclusive competence over real estate and company deeds.

A comparison table flattens nuance by design. Where a difference matters to a decision you are making, open both portals and read the section in full — the constitutional detail behind a one-line summary is often the part that governs the outcome.