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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| Attribute | Equatorial GuineaIndexed | LaosReviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Legal family | Civil law (Spanish tradition) | Socialist civil law |
| System of government | Unitary presidential republic | Socialist one-party republic |
| Constitution | Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea | Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic |
| In force sinceIdentical | 1991 | 1991 |
| Capital | Malabo | Vientiane |
| Official languages | Spanish, French, Portuguese | Lao |
| Currency | Central African CFA franc (XAF) | Kip (LAK) |
| Population | 1,700,000 | 7,600,000 |
| 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 17 provinces and the Vientiane capital. The 2015 constitutional amendment introduced Provincial People's Assemblies with limited local legislative and supervisory functions, but appointment of governors and fiscal control remain central. |
| 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. | Draft laws are prepared by ministries, reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and the Assembly's committees, and passed by the National Assembly, which meets in ordinary session twice a year. The President promulgates by decree. Because sessions are short and infrequent, a great deal of binding detail is issued as government decrees and ministerial instructions between sittings. |
| Legal profession | Abogados admitted through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados; practice requires competence in both Spanish codes and French-language OHADA texts. | The Lao Bar Association, established under the Law on Lawyers, licenses practitioners after a law degree and a period of supervised practice; the profession remains very small relative to population. Village mediation units handle a large share of civil and family disputes before any court becomes involved, and are formally recognised as part of the justice system rather than an informal alternative to it. Foreign lawyers advise on commercial and investment matters but cannot appear in court. |
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.