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	GhanaReviewed	LesothoReviewed	DR CongoReviewed	BelizeReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed (common law and customary law)	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Civil law (Belgian tradition)	Common law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary presidential republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Unitary semi-presidential republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Republic of Ghana	Constitution of Lesotho	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo	Belize Constitution
In force since	1992	1992	1993	2006	1981
Capital	Asunción	Accra	Maseru	Kinshasa	Belmopan
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	English, Akan, Ewe, Dagbani	Sesotho, English	French, Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba	English, Spanish, Belize Kriol, Q'eqchi', Mopan
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Ghanaian Cedi (GHS)	Lesotho loti (LSL)	Congolese Franc (CDF)	Belize dollar (BZD)
Population	6,900,000	34,100,000	2,300,000	102,300,000	410,000
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.	Executive president with a Cabinet drawn substantially from Parliament, a unicameral legislature, and a judiciary whose independence is protected by security of tenure and a charged-on-consolidated-fund salary.	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.	Semi-presidential: a directly elected President, a Prime Minister from the parliamentary majority, and a bicameral Parliament. The 2006 constitution split the former Supreme Court into three separate apex courts.	Unitary, with six districts and elected town and village councils. Maya communal land rights in Toledo are recognised through the courts rather than by statute, and implementation is supervised by the CCJ.
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.	A bill is gazetted, read three times, considered by committee and passed by simple majority. Bills with financial implications need presidential consent to be introduced. The President assents; refusal returns the bill with reasons.	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 both chambers; persistent disagreement is resolved by a joint commission or a final National Assembly vote. The President promulgates within the constitutional period, and the Constitutional Court may be seised beforehand.	A bill passes three readings in the House of Representatives, then the Senate, and receives the Governor-General's assent. Money bills originate in the House. Constitutional amendments need a two-thirds majority of all House members, and certain entrenched provisions require three-quarters.
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.	Fused: an LLB, the Ghana School of Law professional course and enrolment admit a lawyer who may both solicit and advocate.	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.	Avocats admitted to provincial bars under the national Ordre des avocats after a law degree and traineeship; défenseurs judiciaires assist in lower courts.	A fused profession of attorneys-at-law admitted by the High Court under the Legal Profession Act, with the Bar Association of Belize exercising disciplinary functions. Commonwealth qualifications are recognised on application, which keeps a small bar workable.

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.