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	MicronesiaReviewed	MalawiReviewed	DR CongoReviewed
Legal family	Mixed common law with customary law	English common law with customary law	Civil law (Belgian tradition)
System of government	Federal republic in free association with the United States	Presidential republic	Unitary semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia	Constitution of the Republic of Malawi	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In force since	1979	1994	2006
Capital	Palikir	Lilongwe	Kinshasa
Official languages	English, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosraean	English, Chichewa	French, Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Currency	United States dollar (USD)	Malawian kwacha (MWK)	Congolese Franc (CDF)
Population	115,000	20,900,000	102,300,000
Division of powers	Genuine federalism. The national government holds foreign affairs, defence, immigration, currency and interstate commerce; everything else, including land tenure, is state or local. Each state has its own constitution and supreme court, and Yap's constitution creates Councils of Pilung and Tamol — traditional leaders' councils with power to disapprove state legislation affecting tradition and custom.	Unitary with three regions and 28 districts administered by local councils. Traditional authorities exercise recognised functions over customary land and local dispute resolution.	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 pass Congress and are signed by the President, who has a veto that Congress may override. Because the four at-large senators serve longer terms and are the pool from which the President is drawn, national politics is structured around balancing the states rather than around parties — there are no formal political parties. Constitutional amendments may be proposed by Congress, by a convention, or by popular initiative, and require ratification by three-quarters of the voters in three of the four states.	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.	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	Admission is to the FSM Supreme Court, with rules that recognise foreign qualifications, so many practitioners trained in the United States. A distinctive feature is the trial counselor: a non-lawyer licensed to appear in certain courts after examination, which is how most representation is delivered outside the main centres. Practitioners must often hold admission both nationally and in the relevant state.	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.	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.