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	MalawiReviewed	LesothoReviewed	MicronesiaReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	English common law with customary law	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Mixed common law with customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Presidential republic	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Federal republic in free association with the United States
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Republic of Malawi	Constitution of Lesotho	Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia
In force since	1992	1994	1993	1979
Capital	Asunción	Lilongwe	Maseru	Palikir
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	English, Chichewa	Sesotho, English	English, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosraean
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Malawian kwacha (MWK)	Lesotho loti (LSL)	United States dollar (USD)
Population	6,900,000	20,900,000	2,300,000	115,000
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 three regions and 28 districts administered by local councils. Traditional authorities exercise recognised functions over customary land and local dispute resolution.	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.	Genuine federalism. The national government holds foreign affairs, defence, immigration, currency and interstate commerce; everything else, including land tenure, is state or local. Each state has its own constitution and supreme court, and Yap's constitution creates Councils of Pilung and Tamol — traditional leaders' councils with power to disapprove state legislation affecting tradition and custom.
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 with committee scrutiny and are presented for presidential assent, which must be given or withheld within 21 days. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority, and amendments affecting entrenched provisions additionally require a referendum.	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 Congress and are signed by the President, who has a veto that Congress may override. Because the four at-large senators serve longer terms and are the pool from which the President is drawn, national politics is structured around balancing the states rather than around parties — there are no formal political parties. Constitutional amendments may be proposed by Congress, by a convention, or by popular initiative, and require ratification by three-quarters of the voters in three of the four states.
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 fused profession of legal practitioners admitted by the High Court after a law degree, regulated by the Malawi Law Society under the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act.	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.	Admission is to the FSM Supreme Court, with rules that recognise foreign qualifications, so many practitioners trained in the United States. A distinctive feature is the trial counselor: a non-lawyer licensed to appear in certain courts after examination, which is how most representation is delivered outside the main centres. Practitioners must often hold admission both nationally and in the relevant state.

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.