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
Attribute	KuwaitReviewed	ChadIndexed	IraqReviewed
Legal family	Mixed (civil law and Islamic law)	Mixed (French civil law, customary and Islamic law)	Civil law with Islamic law influence
System of government	Unitary constitutional monarchy	Unitary presidential republic	Federal parliamentary republic
Constitution	Constitution of the State of Kuwait	Constitution of the Republic of Chad	Constitution of the Republic of Iraq
In force since	1962	2023	2005
Capital	Kuwait City	N'Djamena	Baghdad
Official languages	Arabic	French, Arabic	Arabic, Kurdish
Currency	Kuwaiti dinar (KWD)	Central African CFA franc (XAF)	Iraqi dinar (IQD)
Population	4,300,000	18,300,000	45,500,000
Division of powers	Unitary. Six governorates administered by appointed governors, with no legislative competence.	Presidential system with a Prime Minister, a bicameral Parliament of National Assembly and Senate under the 2023 text, and a judiciary headed by the Supreme Court.	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.
How law is made	Under the constitution as designed, bills passed by the National Assembly required Emiri sanction, and the Emir could return a bill for reconsideration which the Assembly could override by a two-thirds majority. With the Assembly dissolved and the relevant articles suspended since May 2024, legislation is made by Emiri decree on the proposal of the Council of Ministers and published in the Official Gazette (Kuwait Al-Youm).	Bills are examined in committee and plenary and passed by the legislature, then promulgated by the President. The Constitutional Council may be seised before promulgation.	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.
Legal profession	Advocacy is reserved to Kuwaiti nationals enrolled with the Ministry of Justice and the Kuwait Bar Association, with foreign lawyers acting as consultants and unable to appear; pleadings are in Arabic. Judges are appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council, and a significant proportion of the bench has historically been seconded from other Arab states. Notarial authentication at the Ministry of Justice is required for powers of attorney, property transfers and company formation documents.	Avocats admitted through the Ordre des avocats du Tchad; the profession is concentrated in N'Djamena.	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 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.