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	ParaguayReviewed	FijiReviewed	GuatemalaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Common law with customary law	Civil law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary republic	Unitary presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Republic of Fiji	Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala
In force since	1992	2013	1985
Capital	Asunción	Suva	Guatemala City
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	English, Fijian, Fiji Hindi	Spanish, K'iche', Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel, Mam
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Fijian dollar (FJD)	Guatemalan quetzal (GTQ)
Population	6,900,000	930,000	17,600,000
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 deliberately centralised. Section 1 declares Fiji a sovereign state whose Parliament legislates for the whole country; there are no provinces with legislative power. The 14 provincial councils and the iTaukei Affairs Board administer indigenous affairs under the iTaukei Affairs Act. Rotuma has a distinct status under the Rotuma Act.	Unitary, with 22 departments run by governors the President appoints, and 340 autonomous municipalities. Indigenous authorities exercise recognised customary functions, and ILO Convention 169 has been ratified.
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 are introduced in the unicameral Parliament, referred to a standing committee, and pass through second reading, committee and third reading before assent by the President. There is no upper house. A constitutional amendment requires the support of three-quarters of all members of Parliament and then approval by three-quarters of registered voters at a referendum, a threshold that has never been met.	Bills go through three readings and article-by-article approval in Congress. The President may veto within 15 days; Congress overrides with two-thirds. Bills touching constitutional matters must be sent to the Corte de Constitucionalidad for a prior opinion.
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 fused profession under the Legal Practitioners Act 2009: practitioners are admitted by the Chief Justice as barristers and solicitors. Most qualify through the University of the South Pacific law degree followed by the Professional Diploma in Legal Practice. Admission and discipline are handled by the Chief Registrar and the Independent Legal Services Commission rather than by the Fiji Law Society, which is a voluntary professional body.	Practice requires membership of the Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala, which also votes in the commissions that nominate senior judges — a link that has drawn sustained criticism. Lawyers are qualified as both abogado and notario.

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.