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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
AttributeEquatorial GuineaIndexedLesothoReviewedMonacoReviewed
Legal familyCivil law (Spanish tradition)Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common lawCivil law
System of governmentUnitary presidential republicParliamentary constitutional monarchyConstitutional hereditary monarchy
ConstitutionFundamental Law of Equatorial GuineaConstitution of LesothoConstitution of the Principality of Monaco
In force since199119931962
CapitalMalaboMaseruMonaco
Official languagesSpanish, French, PortugueseSesotho, EnglishFrench
CurrencyCentral African CFA franc (XAF)Lesotho loti (LSL)Euro (EUR)
Population1,700,0002,300,00039,000
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 with ten districts, and a recognised hierarchy of chiefs exercising customary functions over land allocation and local dispute resolution. The Senate includes the twenty-two principal chiefs ex officio.A unitary state of about two square kilometres with a single commune. Legislative power is exercised jointly by the Prince and the National Council; executive power belongs to the Prince, exercised through the Minister of State and the Government Council; judicial power is delegated by the Prince to the courts, with the Tribunal Suprรชme acting as both constitutional and supreme administrative court.
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 pass three readings in the National Assembly, go to the Senate for review, and receive royal assent. The Senate can delay but not indefinitely block ordinary bills. Amendments to entrenched constitutional provisions require a two-thirds majority and, for the most protected clauses, a referendum.A bill may be initiated by the Prince or proposed by the National Council. Government bills are laid before the Council, examined in committee and voted; adoption requires the agreement of both the Prince and the Council. The Prince then promulgates the law by sovereign ordinance and it is published in the Journal de Monaco.
Legal professionAbogados admitted through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados; practice requires competence in both Spanish codes and French-language OHADA texts.A split profession in form โ€” advocates and attorneys are separately admitted under the Legal Practitioners Act โ€” though in practice many practitioners hold both admissions; the Law Society of Lesotho regulates the attorneys' branch.A small bar of avocats-dรฉfenseurs, avocats and avocats stagiaires, organised as the Ordre des Avocats, with admission requiring Monegasque nationality preference, a law degree and a traineeship. French avocats may appear in specified circumstances. Notaries are appointed by sovereign ordinance and are few in number.

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 โ€” the constitutional detail behind a one-line summary is often the part that governs the outcome.