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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Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia DR Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See (Vatican City)Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand The Bahamas Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Comparison of selected legal systems
Attribute	IraqReviewed	BelizeReviewed	DR CongoReviewed
Legal family	Civil law with Islamic law influence	Common law	Civil law (Belgian tradition)
System of government	Federal parliamentary republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Unitary semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Iraq	Belize Constitution	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In force since	2005	1981	2006
Capital	Baghdad	Belmopan	Kinshasa
Official languages	Arabic, Kurdish	English, Spanish, Belize Kriol, Q'eqchi', Mopan	French, Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Currency	Iraqi dinar (IQD)	Belize dollar (BZD)	Congolese Franc (CDF)
Population	45,500,000	410,000	102,300,000
Division of powers	Genuinely federal in form: 15 governorates not organised into a region, plus the Kurdistan Region, which has its own Parliament, government, judiciary and security forces. Governorates may petition to form new regions. Residual powers lie with the regions and governorates rather than the centre, and regional law prevails over federal law outside the exclusive federal competences — the reverse of the usual federal rule.	Unitary, with six districts and elected town and village councils. Maya communal land rights in Toledo are recognised through the courts rather than by statute, and implementation is supervised by the CCJ.	Semi-presidential: a directly elected President, a Prime Minister from the parliamentary majority, and a bicameral Parliament. The 2006 constitution split the former Supreme Court into three separate apex courts.
How law is made	Bills are proposed by the President with the Council of Ministers, or by ten members or a committee of the Council of Representatives. They pass two readings and a vote, and the President ratifies within fifteen days, after which they are published and take effect. The Federation Council envisaged by the Constitution has never been created, so there is no second chamber in practice.	A bill passes three readings in the House of Representatives, then the Senate, and receives the Governor-General's assent. Money bills originate in the House. Constitutional amendments need a two-thirds majority of all House members, and certain entrenched provisions require three-quarters.	Bills pass both chambers; persistent disagreement is resolved by a joint commission or a final National Assembly vote. The President promulgates within the constitutional period, and the Constitutional Court may be seised beforehand.
Legal profession	Lawyers are admitted by the Iraqi Bar Association under the Advocacy Law, with grades of practice determining which courts a member may appear in — a seniority ladder rather than a single right of audience. The Bar is self-governing and its licence is required for court work. The Kurdistan Region has its own bar association, and the two are administratively distinct, so practitioners generally hold the licence appropriate to where they appear.	A fused profession of attorneys-at-law admitted by the High Court under the Legal Profession Act, with the Bar Association of Belize exercising disciplinary functions. Commonwealth qualifications are recognised on application, which keeps a small bar workable.	Avocats admitted to provincial bars under the national Ordre des avocats after a law degree and traineeship; défenseurs judiciaires assist in lower courts.

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.