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	GuatemalaReviewed	Sri LankaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Civil law	Mixed civil, common and customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary presidential republic	Semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala	Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
In force since	1992	1985	1978
Capital	Asunción	Guatemala City	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Spanish, K'iche', Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel, Mam	Sinhala, Tamil, English
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Guatemalan quetzal (GTQ)	Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)
Population	6,900,000	17,600,000	22,200,000
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, 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.	Unitary with a devolved provincial layer created by the Thirteenth Amendment of 1987, which established nine provincial councils with legislative competence over a devolved list. Devolution has been contested and uneven; provincial councils have operated without elections since 2018, and the Northern and Eastern provinces' status was central to the conflict that ended in 2009.
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 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.	Bills are published in the Gazette at least seven days before first reading, which is the trigger for the one-week window to petition the Supreme Court. A bill inconsistent with the Constitution needs a two-thirds majority, and in some cases a referendum. After enactment the Speaker's certificate is conclusive and the Act is immune from challenge.
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.	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 single fused profession: attorneys-at-law are admitted and enrolled by the Supreme Court after the Sri Lanka Law College course and examinations, or a recognised law degree plus the final examination. The historic split between advocates and proctors was abolished in 1974. President's Counsel is a distinction conferred by the President. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka represents the profession, and attorneys have rights of audience in all courts from admission.

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.