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	ParaguayReviewed	EcuadorReviewed	BotswanaReviewed	BoliviaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Civil law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Civil law with indigenous jurisdiction
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary presidential republic	Parliamentary republic	Unitary presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador	Constitution of Botswana	Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
In force since	1992	2008	1966	2009
Capital	Asunción	Quito	Gaborone	Sucre
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Spanish, Quechua, Shuar	English, Setswana	Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	United States dollar (USD)	Botswana pula (BWP)	Bolivian boliviano (BOB)
Population	6,900,000	18,200,000	2,680,000	12,400,000
Division of powers	Unitary with seventeen departments and the capital district, each with an elected governor and departmental board holding administrative and limited fiscal competence. Legislative power is national.	Unitary and decentralised, with twenty-four provinces and autonomous decentralised governments at provincial, cantonal and parish level. Indigenous authorities exercise their own jurisdiction under Article 171, subject to constitutional review.	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.	Unitary with autonomies. Nine departments, municipalities, regions and indigenous territories each have elected assemblies and defined legislative competence under the Framework Law of Autonomies, which makes Bolivia substantially more decentralised than its unitary label suggests.
How law is made	Bills may start in either chamber and must pass both. The President may object in whole or part; Congress overcomes an objection by absolute majority in both chambers. Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of each chamber and ratification by referendum; wholesale reform requires a constituent assembly.	Bills go to the Assembly from members, the President, the Court, citizens or autonomous governments, and need two debates. The President may fully or partially object; a full objection can only be overcome after a year or by a two-thirds vote. Urgent economic bills become law by decree if the Assembly fails to act in thirty days. Amendment routes differ by depth, from Assembly vote to constituent assembly.	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.	Bills reach the Assembly from members, the executive, citizens or indigenous nations, and must pass both chambers. The President may observe a bill, and the Assembly insists by two-thirds. Total constitutional reform requires a constituent assembly activated by referendum; partial reform needs a two-thirds Assembly vote confirmed by referendum.
Legal profession	A law degree and registration of the title with the Supreme Court, which maintains the roll and exercises discipline. Bar membership is voluntary. Because both Spanish and Guaraní are official, courts must provide interpretation, and practitioners outside Asunción are commonly bilingual.	A law degree plus registration in the Forense registry of the Consejo de la Judicatura, and usually membership of a provincial colegio de abogados. The Judicature Council holds disciplinary power. Public defence is provided by the Defensoría Pública, a separate autonomous body.	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 law degree plus a national registration with the Ministry of Justice and membership of a departmental colegio de abogados. Practitioners in indigenous jurisdiction are not lawyers: those proceedings are conducted by the community's own authorities under its own norms, and a state lawyer has no right of audience there.

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.