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	MadagascarReviewed	RomaniaReviewed	MoldovaReviewed
Legal family	French civil law with customary law	Civil law	Civil law
System of government	Semi-presidential republic	Unitary semi-presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Fourth Republic	Constitution of Romania	Constitution of the Republic of Moldova
In force since	2010	1991	1994
Capital	Antananarivo	Bucharest	Chișinău
Official languages	Malagasy, French	Romanian	Romanian
Currency	Malagasy ariary (MGA)	Romanian leu (RON)	Moldovan leu (MDL)
Population	30,300,000	19,000,000	2,400,000
Division of powers	Unitary with a decentralised structure of 23 regions and communes. Successive constitutions have promised fuller decentralisation, including provincial autonomy, which has not been implemented.	Semi-presidential: a directly elected President shares executive power with a Government answerable to Parliament, and constitutional conflicts between them are themselves justiciable before the Constitutional Court.	Parliamentary, though the President has been directly elected since 2016; the Constitutional Court arbitrates between the two.
How law is made	Bills originate with the government or members of either chamber, are examined in committee, and must pass both the National Assembly and the Senate; the Assembly prevails on disagreement. The Haute Cour Constitutionnelle may review a law before promulgation, and organic laws must be referred to it as a matter of course.	A bill goes to a first-notified chamber and then to the decisional chamber, whose vote is final. The President may return it once for reconsideration or refer it to the Constitutional Court before promulgation and publication in Monitorul Oficial.	Bills are adopted by Parliament, usually in two readings, and promulgated by the President, who may return a bill once for reconsideration. Publication in Monitorul Oficial is a condition of entry into force.
Legal profession	Avocats admitted to the Ordre des avocats de Madagascar after a law degree and professional training, alongside notaires for authenticated instruments and huissiers for service and enforcement — the standard French division of functions.	Lawyers (avocați) are admitted through local bars affiliated to the UNBR after examination and a two-year traineeship; notaries and judicial enforcement officers are separate professions.	Lawyers are licensed by the Union of Advocates after examination and traineeship; notaries, bailiffs and authorised administrators are separate licensed professions.

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.