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	MonacoReviewed	ChadIndexed	SamoaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed (French civil law, customary and Islamic law)	Common law with customary law
System of government	Constitutional hereditary monarchy	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Principality of Monaco	Constitution of the Republic of Chad	Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa
In force since	1962	2023	1962
Capital	Monaco	N'Djamena	Apia
Official languages	French	French, Arabic	Samoan, English
Currency	Euro (EUR)	Central African CFA franc (XAF)	Samoan tālā (WST)
Population	39,000	18,300,000	220,000
Division of powers	A unitary state of about two square kilometres with a single commune. Legislative power is exercised jointly by the Prince and the National Council; executive power belongs to the Prince, exercised through the Minister of State and the Government Council; judicial power is delegated by the Prince to the courts, with the Tribunal Suprême acting as both constitutional and supreme administrative court.	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.	Unitary. Parliament legislates for the whole country. Below it, about 250 villages govern themselves through the village fono (council of matai) under the Village Fono Act 1990, which gives customary village authority statutory recognition — a genuine layer of local government rather than a delegation of central power.
How law is made	A bill may be initiated by the Prince or proposed by the National Council. Government bills are laid before the Council, examined in committee and voted; adoption requires the agreement of both the Prince and the Council. The Prince then promulgates the law by sovereign ordinance and it is published in the Journal de Monaco.	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 read three times in the Legislative Assembly, usually with parliamentary committee scrutiny, and are then assented to by the O le Ao o le Malo. Ordinary bills need a simple majority. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority of all members at the third reading, and any amendment affecting customary land or matai titles is politically entrenched by the strength of the fa'a Samoa consensus even where the two-thirds threshold is met.
Legal profession	A small bar of avocats-défenseurs, avocats and avocats stagiaires, organised as the Ordre des Avocats, with admission requiring Monegasque nationality preference, a law degree and a traineeship. French avocats may appear in specified circumstances. Notaries are appointed by sovereign ordinance and are few in number.	Avocats admitted through the Ordre des avocats du Tchad; the profession is concentrated in N'Djamena.	A fused profession under the Lawyers and Legal Practice Act 2014: lawyers are admitted by the Supreme Court and must hold a practising certificate from the Samoa Law Society. Most qualify at the University of the South Pacific or in New Zealand. Practice before the Land and Titles Court is different in character from ordinary litigation, because the issues are matai genealogy and customary entitlement rather than statutory or common-law rights.

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.