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
Attribute	EswatiniReviewed	BotswanaReviewed	MicronesiaReviewed
Legal family	Mixed Roman-Dutch, English common law and Swazi customary law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Mixed common law with customary law
System of government	Absolute monarchy	Parliamentary republic	Federal republic in free association with the United States
Constitution	Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini	Constitution of Botswana	Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia
In force since	2005	1966	1979
Capital	Mbabane	Gaborone	Palikir
Official languages	siSwati, English	English, Setswana	English, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosraean
Currency	Swazi lilangeni (SZL)	Botswana pula (BWP)	United States dollar (USD)
Population	1,200,000	2,680,000	115,000
Division of powers	Unitary with four regions and 55 tinkhundla constituencies that combine electoral and administrative functions. Chiefs administer Swazi Nation Land under the King as trustee.	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.	Genuine federalism. The national government holds foreign affairs, defence, immigration, currency and interstate commerce; everything else, including land tenure, is state or local. Each state has its own constitution and supreme court, and Yap's constitution creates Councils of Pilung and Tamol — traditional leaders' councils with power to disapprove state legislation affecting tradition and custom.
How law is made	Bills pass the House of Assembly and Senate and require royal assent, which the King may withhold. The King may also legislate by decree in defined circumstances, and bills touching Swazi law and custom are referred to traditional structures. Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority of both chambers sitting jointly, and for entrenched provisions a referendum.	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 pass Congress and are signed by the President, who has a veto that Congress may override. Because the four at-large senators serve longer terms and are the pool from which the President is drawn, national politics is structured around balancing the states rather than around parties — there are no formal political parties. Constitutional amendments may be proposed by Congress, by a convention, or by popular initiative, and require ratification by three-quarters of the voters in three of the four states.
Legal profession	A fused profession of attorneys admitted by the High Court after a law degree and articles, regulated by the Law Society of Eswatini; advocates may be admitted separately for higher-court work.	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.	Admission is to the FSM Supreme Court, with rules that recognise foreign qualifications, so many practitioners trained in the United States. A distinctive feature is the trial counselor: a non-lawyer licensed to appear in certain courts after examination, which is how most representation is delivered outside the main centres. Practitioners must often hold admission both nationally and in the relevant state.

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.