Comparison

Read two legal systems against each other

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
Attribute	Equatorial GuineaIndexed	ComorosReviewed	SamoaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law (Spanish tradition)	Mixed French civil law and Islamic law	Common law with customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Federal presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary republic
Constitution	Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea	Constitution of the Union of the Comoros	Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa
In force since	1991	2001	1962
Capital	Malabo	Moroni	Apia
Official languages	Spanish, French, Portuguese	Comorian, Arabic, French	Samoan, English
Currency	Central African CFA franc (XAF)	Comorian franc (KMF)	Samoan tālā (WST)
Population	1,700,000	850,000	220,000
Division of powers	Presidential 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.	Federal. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli each have a governor and their own assembly with substantial autonomy over local administration, while the Union handles defence, currency, foreign affairs and nationality.	Unitary. Parliament legislates for the whole country. Below it, about 250 villages govern themselves through the village fono (council of matai) under the Village Fono Act 1990, which gives customary village authority statutory recognition — a genuine layer of local government rather than a delegation of central power.
How law is made	Bills pass the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and are promulgated by the President, who may return a text for reconsideration.	Bills originate with the government or members of the Assembly of the Union, are examined in committee and passed by the Assembly, then promulgated by the President. Matters within island competence are legislated by the island assemblies, and disputes over the boundary between Union and island competence are a standing feature of Comorian constitutional practice.	Bills are read three times in the Legislative Assembly, usually with parliamentary committee scrutiny, and are then assented to by the O le Ao o le Malo. Ordinary bills need a simple majority. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority of all members at the third reading, and any amendment affecting customary land or matai titles is politically entrenched by the strength of the fa'a Samoa consensus even where the two-thirds threshold is met.
Legal profession	Abogados admitted through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados; practice requires competence in both Spanish codes and French-language OHADA texts.	A small bar of avocats admitted after French-model legal training, supplemented by qadis who require religious-law qualification for the personal-status jurisdiction; many practitioners train in France or Madagascar.	A fused profession under the Lawyers and Legal Practice Act 2014: lawyers are admitted by the Supreme Court and must hold a practising certificate from the Samoa Law Society. Most qualify at the University of the South Pacific or in New Zealand. Practice before the Land and Titles Court is different in character from ordinary litigation, because the issues are matai genealogy and customary entitlement rather than statutory or common-law rights.

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.