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	PanamaReviewed	LesothoReviewed	MauritiusReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Mixed French civil law and English common law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Parliamentary republic
Constitution	Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama	Constitution of Lesotho	Constitution of Mauritius
In force since	1972	1993	1968
Capital	Panama City	Maseru	Port Louis
Official languages	Spanish	Sesotho, English	English, French, Mauritian Creole
Currency	Balboa (US dollar in circulation) (PAB)	Lesotho loti (LSL)	Mauritian rupee (MUR)
Population	4,400,000	2,300,000	1,260,000
Division of powers	Unitary, with ten provinces and five indigenous comarcas. The comarcas — Guna Yala, Emberá-Wounaan, Ngäbe-Buglé, Guna de Madugandí and Guna de Wargandí — hold recognised collective land title and internal authority.	Unitary with ten districts, and a recognised hierarchy of chiefs exercising customary functions over land allocation and local dispute resolution. The Senate includes the twenty-two principal chiefs ex officio.	Unitary, with Rodrigues holding a statutory autonomous status and its own Regional Assembly, and Agalega and St Brandon administered as outer islands.
How law is made	Bills receive three debates in the National Assembly. The President may object in whole or in part; the Assembly insists with a two-thirds vote, after which the President must promulgate unless the objection was constitutional, in which case the Supreme Court decides.	Bills pass three readings in the National Assembly, go to the Senate for review, and receive royal assent. The Senate can delay but not indefinitely block ordinary bills. Amendments to entrenched constitutional provisions require a two-thirds majority and, for the most protected clauses, a referendum.	Bills pass three readings in the National Assembly with committee scrutiny and receive presidential assent. Constitutional amendments require a three-quarters majority, and certain entrenched provisions — including the electoral and 'best loser' arrangements — require both a three-quarters majority and, for some, a referendum.
Legal profession	Practice requires a Panamanian law degree and a licence from the Supreme Court; the Colegio Nacional de Abogados is influential but membership is voluntary. Only Panamanian lawyers may appear in court, which is why offshore work is routinely structured through local counsel.	A split profession in form — advocates and attorneys are separately admitted under the Legal Practitioners Act — though in practice many practitioners hold both admissions; the Law Society of Lesotho regulates the attorneys' branch.	A three-branch profession unusual in the region: barristers hold rights of audience, attorneys handle procedure and instruct barristers, and notaries deal with conveyancing and authenticated instruments under the civil-law tradition.

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.