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	MexicoReviewed	NamibiaReviewed	LithuaniaReviewed	IranReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Civil law	Islamic law with civil law codification
System of government	Federal presidential republic	Semi-presidential republic	Unitary semi-presidential republic	Islamic republic
Constitution	Political Constitution of the United Mexican States	Constitution of the Republic of Namibia	Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania	Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
In force since	1917	1990	1992	1979
Capital	Mexico City	Windhoek	Vilnius	Tehran
Official languages	Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya	English	Lithuanian	Persian
Currency	Mexican peso (MXN)	Namibian dollar (NAD)	Euro (EUR)	Rial (IRR)
Population	130,000,000	2,600,000	2,860,000	89,000,000
Division of powers	Federal. Powers not expressly granted to the union are reserved to the 32 states (Article 124). States run their own civil, family and criminal-enforcement codes, but criminal procedure, labour and commercial law were federalised to produce single national codes.	Unitary with 14 administrative regions and elected regional councils, which also constitute the National Council, the upper chamber. Traditional authorities exercise recognised functions over communal land and customary law.	Semi-presidential government with a directly elected President focused on foreign and security policy, a Government answerable to the Seimas, and a separate Constitutional Court.	Unitary, with 31 provinces headed by governors-general appointed by the Interior Ministry, alongside elected city and village councils created by the Constitution and operating since 1999 with limited competences.
How law is made	Bills may be introduced by the President, either chamber, state legislatures or by citizens with 0.13% of the electoral roll. Both chambers must pass an identical text; the President may veto, and Congress overrides with two-thirds of each chamber. Constitutional amendments need two-thirds of Congress plus a majority of state legislatures (Article 135).	Bills pass the National Assembly through three readings, then go to the National Council for review. The Council may confirm, propose amendments, or object; the Assembly can override an objection by a two-thirds majority. The President then assents, and constitutional amendments require two-thirds of both chambers and may never diminish the rights chapter.	Bills are adopted by the Seimas and signed by the President, who may veto and return a bill for reconsideration.	A bill is introduced by the Government or by at least fifteen deputies, passes the Majlis, and goes to the Guardian Council, which has ten days, extendable, to find it consistent with Islam and the Constitution. If the Council objects, the bill returns for amendment; persistent disagreement goes to the Expediency Discernment Council, whose decision is final. Only then does the President sign and publish.
Legal profession	A law degree plus a cédula profesional from the Education Ministry licenses practice; there is no compulsory bar examination or single mandatory bar, which distinguishes Mexico from most of the region. Notaries public are a separate, strictly limited state-appointed profession with exclusive competence over real estate and company deeds.	A fused profession under the Legal Practitioners Act: a single class of legal practitioner is admitted after a law degree and the Justice Training Centre's postgraduate course, and the Law Society of Namibia regulates practice.	Advocates belong to the Lithuanian Bar Association; notaries handle property, company and succession formalities.	Two parallel routes to practice, which is unusual and consequential: attorneys licensed by the Iranian Bar Association (Kanoon-e Vokala), a self-governing body dating to 1953, and attorneys licensed under Article 187 of the Third Development Plan directly by the judiciary. The two groups have contested each other's standing for two decades. Notaries operate licensed offices under the registration organisation, and their authentication is required for property transfers, marriage contracts and powers of attorney.

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.