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	LesothoReviewed	GuineaIndexed	HaitiReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Civil law (French tradition)	Civil law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Republic under transitional military-led government	Unitary semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of Lesotho	Constitution of Guinea	Constitution de la République d'Haïti
In force since	1992	1993	2025	1987
Capital	Asunción	Maseru	Conakry	Port-au-Prince
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Sesotho, English	French, Pular, Maninka, Susu	French, Haitian Creole
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Lesotho loti (LSL)	Guinean Franc (GNF)	Haitian gourde (HTG)
Population	6,900,000	2,300,000	14,200,000	11,600,000
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 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.	Transitional arrangements have concentrated authority in the CNRD and an appointed government; the 2025 constitution provides for a presidential system with a legislature.	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.
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 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.	Transitional texts have been adopted by the Conseil national de la transition or issued as ordinances; the 2025 constitution provides for ordinary legislative passage and promulgation.	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 — 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.
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 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 through the Barreau de Guinée after a law degree and traineeship; notaires and huissiers are separate offices.	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.

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.