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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
AttributeMyanmarReviewedSpainReviewedBotswanaReviewed
Legal familyCommon law with codified statutesCivil lawMixed Roman-Dutch and English common law
System of governmentMilitary administration; constitutional order suspendedUnitary parliamentary constitutional monarchyParliamentary republic
ConstitutionConstitution of the Republic of the Union of MyanmarSpanish ConstitutionConstitution of Botswana
In force since200819781966
CapitalNaypyidawMadridGaborone
Official languagesBurmeseSpanishEnglish, Setswana
CurrencyKyat (MMK)Euro (EUR)Botswana pula (BWP)
Population54,500,00048,400,0002,680,000
Division of powersNominally a union of seven regions, seven states, one union territory and six self-administered zones and divisions, each with its own legislature under the 2008 Constitution. In practice the region and state legislatures are suspended or subordinated to the military administration, and chief ministers are appointed centrally.A constitutional monarchy with the King as head of state, an executive led by the President of the Government, a bicameral parliament and an independent judiciary, overlaid by extensive regional self-government.Unitary. Districts and sub-districts administer central policy, and the House of Chiefs (Ntlo ya Dikgosi) is an advisory chamber that must be consulted on bills affecting customary law, tribal organisation and tribal property.
How law is madeUnder the 2008 Constitution, bills passed both chambers and went to the President, with disagreements resolved in joint sitting. Since February 2021 legislation is made by the State Administration Council as law or order, published in the Gazette without legislative passage, and a series of such instruments has amended the Penal Code, the electronic communications law and the criminal procedure code.Bills pass both chambers of the Cortes Generales, with the Congress of Deputies able to override the Senate, and receive royal assent.Bills are introduced in the National Assembly, take three readings with committee scrutiny between the second and third, and go to the President for assent. Bills affecting customary law, tribal property or the organisation of the tribes must first be referred to the Ntlo ya Dikgosi for its opinion, though that opinion does not bind the Assembly.
Legal professionAdvocates and higher-grade pleaders are admitted under the Legal Practitioners Act 1879 and the Bar Council Act 1929, an inherited colonial framework, with the Supreme Court controlling the roll. Independent bar associations formed after 2011 but the Bar Council has long been closely supervised, and lawyers acting in political cases have themselves faced prosecution and disbarment since 2021. Legal aid exists under the Legal Aid Law 2016 but is thinly resourced.Abogados belong to local bar associations (colegios de abogados); procuradores represent parties procedurally and notaries authenticate deeds and company acts.A fused profession of attorneys admitted by the High Court after a recognised law degree and articles of pupillage; there is no split between advocates and attorneys, and the Law Society of Botswana regulates practice.

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.