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	LibyaIndexed	MalawiReviewed	BruneiReviewed
Legal family	Civil law with Islamic law as a source	English common law with customary law	Mixed common law and Islamic law
System of government	Provisional government with contested authority	Presidential republic	Absolute monarchy
Constitution	Constitutional Declaration (interim)	Constitution of the Republic of Malawi	Constitution of Brunei Darussalam
In force since	2011	1994	1959
Capital	Tripoli	Lilongwe	Bandar Seri Begawan
Official languages	Arabic	English, Chichewa	Malay, English
Currency	Libyan dinar (LYD)	Malawian kwacha (MWK)	Brunei dollar (BND)
Population	6,900,000	20,900,000	450,000
Division of powers	Nominally unitary with governorates and municipalities. In practice authority is divided between competing administrations and local armed actors, and municipal councils have in many places become the most functional layer of government.	Unitary with three regions and 28 districts administered by local councils. Traditional authorities exercise recognised functions over customary land and local dispute resolution.	Unitary, with four districts administered by district officers reporting to the Ministry of Home Affairs. No federal or devolved tier; village and mukim headmen have recognised consultative functions.
How law is made	There is no single functioning legislative process. The House of Representatives passes laws that the High Council of State contests, and the rival administrations issue decrees within their areas of control. Whether a given instrument is law therefore depends on which authority is recognised, which is exactly why this profile is marked as requiring research rather than described as settled.	Bills pass three readings in the National Assembly with committee scrutiny and are presented for presidential assent, which must be given or withheld within 21 days. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority, and amendments affecting entrenched provisions additionally require a referendum.	In form, bills are introduced in the Legislative Council and assented to by the Sultan. In practice the significant instruments are Orders made by the Sultan under the emergency proclamation, which take effect on publication in the Government Gazette without Council passage. The Syariah Penal Code Order 2013 was enacted this way.
Legal profession	Advocates are admitted through the Libyan Bar Association, and the profession has continued to function, including in human-rights litigation, despite serious risks to practitioners. Judicial appointments run through the Supreme Judicial Council. Reliable current information on admission requirements and numbers is limited, which is reflected in the verification status of this entry.	A fused profession of legal practitioners admitted by the High Court after a law degree, regulated by the Malawi Law Society under the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act.	Advocates and solicitors are admitted by the High Court under the Legal Profession Act, generally after qualifying in England, Malaysia, Singapore or Australia and completing local requirements. The profession is small — a few hundred practitioners — and foreign counsel may be admitted ad hoc for particular cases. Syariah practice is a separate track: Syariah lawyers are certified under the Syariah Courts Act and appear only in the Syariah hierarchy, so a matter that crosses both systems needs two sets of representation.

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.