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	MonacoReviewed	MadagascarReviewed	JapanReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	French civil law with customary law	Civil law with common-law influence
System of government	Constitutional hereditary monarchy	Semi-presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of the Principality of Monaco	Constitution of the Fourth Republic	Constitution of Japan
In force since	1962	2010	1947
Capital	Monaco	Antananarivo	Tokyo
Official languages	French	Malagasy, French	Japanese
Currency	Euro (EUR)	Malagasy ariary (MGA)	Japanese Yen (JPY)
Population	39,000	30,300,000	123,500,000
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.	Unitary with a decentralised structure of 23 regions and communes. Successive constitutions have promised fuller decentralisation, including provincial autonomy, which has not been implemented.	Parliamentary government with the Cabinet collectively responsible to the Diet, and a Supreme Court holding the final power of constitutional review.
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 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.	Most bills are Cabinet-sponsored, drafted by ministries and reviewed by the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, then passed by both houses; the lower house can override the upper by a two-thirds majority.
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 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.	Candidates pass the national bar examination, then complete a year at the Legal Training and Research Institute before qualifying as bengoshi, judge or prosecutor.

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.