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.
Select up to six documented jurisdictions
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| Attribute | Equatorial GuineaIndexed | EgyptReviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Legal family | Civil law (Spanish tradition) | Civil law with Islamic law as principal source |
| System of government | Unitary presidential republic | Semi-presidential republic |
| Constitution | Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea | Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt |
| In force since | 1991 | 2014 |
| Capital | Malabo | Cairo |
| Official languages | Spanish, French, Portuguese | Arabic |
| Currency | Central African CFA franc (XAF) | Egyptian pound (EGP) |
| Population | 1,700,000 | 105,000,000 |
| 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. | Unitary, with 27 governorates headed by governors appointed by the President. There is no legislative devolution — governorates administer central policy, and local popular councils have been without elections for over a decade. |
| 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, the President or members of the House of Representatives. They are examined in committee and passed by the House; the President may return a bill once, which the House can override by a two-thirds majority. Where the House is not in session the President may issue decree-laws that have the force of law but lapse unless ratified at the next session. Bills touching the judiciary must be put to the relevant judicial body for its opinion first. |
| Legal profession | Abogados admitted through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados; practice requires competence in both Spanish codes and French-language OHADA texts. | A single fused profession of advocates enrolled with the Egyptian Bar Association, with rights of audience tiered by seniority — appearance before the Court of Cassation requires years of practice and separate admission. Judges are career appointments recruited largely from the prosecution service and trained through the National Centre for Judicial Studies; the Council of State maintains a separate judicial career for administrative judges. |
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.