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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
AttributeIndonesiaReviewedSpainReviewedLesothoReviewed
Legal familyMixed civil, customary and Islamic lawCivil lawMixed Roman-Dutch and English common law
System of governmentPresidential republicUnitary parliamentary constitutional monarchyParliamentary constitutional monarchy
ConstitutionConstitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945Spanish ConstitutionConstitution of Lesotho
In force since194519781993
CapitalJakartaMadridMaseru
Official languagesIndonesianSpanishSesotho, English
CurrencyIndonesian rupiah (IDR)Euro (EUR)Lesotho loti (LSL)
Population281,600,00048,400,0002,300,000
Division of powersUnitary but heavily decentralised since the 1999 regional autonomy laws, which devolved most service delivery to some 500 regencies and cities rather than to the 38 provinces. Aceh, Papua and its successor provinces, Yogyakarta and Jakarta hold special autonomy statuses with distinct arrangements — Aceh includes Sharia jurisdiction and its own political parties; Yogyakarta's governor is hereditary.A constitutional monarchy with the King as head of state, an executive led by the President of the Government, a bicameral parliament and an independent judiciary, overlaid by extensive regional self-government.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.
How law is madeBills may originate with the DPR, the President or the DPD on regional matters, and require the agreement of both the DPR and the President — a genuine joint enactment rather than assent. Once approved the President promulgates; if he does not, the bill becomes law after 30 days. The Constitutional Court may then annul it. The 2020 Job Creation Law was found conditionally unconstitutional for defective process, which forced the enactment of a new law on legislative drafting.Bills pass both chambers of the Cortes Generales, with the Congress of Deputies able to override the Senate, and receive royal assent.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.
Legal professionAdvocates are admitted under the Advocate Law 2003 after a law degree, a professional course, the bar examination and two years' apprenticeship, then sworn in by a High Court. PERADI is the principal bar association, though the profession has been divided by competing organisations, and the Constitutional Court has held that multiple bars may coexist while a single body administers admission. Notaries are a separate regulated profession with exclusive competence over deeds of incorporation and land transfers.Abogados belong to local bar associations (colegios de abogados); procuradores represent parties procedurally and notaries authenticate deeds and company acts.A split profession in form — advocates and attorneys are separately admitted under the Legal Practitioners Act — though in practice many practitioners hold both admissions; the Law Society of Lesotho regulates the attorneys' branch.

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.