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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
AttributeParaguayReviewedIndonesiaReviewedGrenadaReviewedBotswanaReviewed
Legal familyCivil lawMixed civil, customary and Islamic lawCommon lawMixed Roman-Dutch and English common law
System of governmentUnitary presidential republicPresidential republicConstitutional monarchyParliamentary republic
ConstitutionConstitution of the Republic of ParaguayConstitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945The Grenada ConstitutionConstitution of Botswana
In force since1992194519731966
CapitalAsunciรณnJakartaSaint George'sGaborone
Official languagesSpanish, GuaranรญIndonesianEnglishEnglish, Setswana
CurrencyParaguayan guaranรญ (PYG)Indonesian rupiah (IDR)East Caribbean dollar (XCD)Botswana pula (BWP)
Population6,900,000281,600,000126,0002,680,000
Division of powersUnitary 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 but heavily decentralised since the 1999 regional autonomy laws, which devolved most service delivery to some 500 regencies and cities rather than to the 38 provinces. Aceh, Papua and its successor provinces, Yogyakarta and Jakarta hold special autonomy statuses with distinct arrangements โ€” Aceh includes Sharia jurisdiction and its own political parties; Yogyakarta's governor is hereditary.Unitary. The state comprises Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique; Carriacou and Petite Martinique have a Ministry and local administration but no separate legislature.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.
How law is madeBills 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 may originate with the DPR, the President or the DPD on regional matters, and require the agreement of both the DPR and the President โ€” a genuine joint enactment rather than assent. Once approved the President promulgates; if he does not, the bill becomes law after 30 days. The Constitutional Court may then annul it. The 2020 Job Creation Law was found conditionally unconstitutional for defective process, which forced the enactment of a new law on legislative drafting.Bills pass three readings in both Houses and receive the Governor-General's assent. Constitutional amendments to entrenched provisions need a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and then approval by a referendum, a double lock that has defeated every reform package put to voters.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.
Legal professionA 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 under the Advocate Law 2003 after a law degree, a professional course, the bar examination and two years' apprenticeship, then sworn in by a High Court. PERADI is the principal bar association, though the profession has been divided by competing organisations, and the Constitutional Court has held that multiple bars may coexist while a single body administers admission. Notaries are a separate regulated profession with exclusive competence over deeds of incorporation and land transfers.A fused profession of legal practitioners admitted by the High Court under the Legal Profession Act, after a law degree and the Legal Education Certificate. The Grenada Bar Association represents practitioners.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 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.