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.
Select up to six documented jurisdictions
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| Attribute | ParaguayReviewed | HaitiReviewed | South SudanIndexed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal family | Civil law | Civil law | Common law with customary law |
| System of government | Unitary presidential republic | Unitary semi-presidential republic | Transitional government of national unity |
| Constitution | Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay | Constitution de la Rรฉpublique d'Haรฏti | Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan |
| In force since | 1992 | 1987 | 2011 |
| Capital | Asunciรณn | Port-au-Prince | Juba |
| Official languages | Spanish, Guaranรญ | French, Haitian Creole | English, Arabic, Dinka, Nuer |
| Currency | Paraguayan guaranรญ (PYG) | Haitian gourde (HTG) | South Sudanese pound (SSP) |
| Population | 6,900,000 | 11,600,000 | 11,100,000 |
| 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 constitutionally recognised decentralisation to 10 departments, arrondissements and communes, and to the communal section as the smallest territorial unit. In practice the elected local bodies are largely unfilled and replaced by appointed interim commissions. | Decentralised in form, with states and administrative areas whose number has changed repeatedly โ from ten at independence to twenty-eight, then thirty-two, and back to ten plus administrative areas under the 2018 agreement. Local government includes county and payam tiers and statutory customary authorities. |
| 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. | Under the 1987 Constitution bills pass both chambers and are promulgated by the President, who may return a text once for reconsideration. With Parliament not sitting, measures have been issued as executive decrees since 2020 โ a practice widely criticised as lacking constitutional foundation, and a key reason to check the current status of any recent instrument before relying on it. | Bills are introduced by ministers or members, considered in committee and passed by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, with the Council of States participating on matters affecting the states. The President assents. Because the legislature is constituted by power-sharing quota rather than election, and because several key bills including the permanent constitutional process have stalled, the process is transitional rather than settled. |
| 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 Guaranรญ are official, courts must provide interpretation, and practitioners outside Asunciรณn are commonly bilingual. | Advocates are admitted to one of the departmental bars (Ordre des avocats), most prominently the Port-au-Prince bar, after a law degree and a period of pupillage. Notaries hold a separate public office with exclusive competence over authentic acts including land transfers, which matters greatly given widespread informality in land title. | Advocates are admitted through the Ministry of Justice and represented by the South Sudan Bar Association, and the profession is small relative to need, with many practitioners trained in Uganda, Kenya or Sudan. Judicial numbers are low and vacancies persistent, which is a large part of why customary courts carry most of the dispute-resolution load. |
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 โ the constitutional detail behind a one-line summary is often the part that governs the outcome.