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	MaltaReviewed	TongaReviewed	MonacoReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed (civil and common law)	Common law with customary law	Civil law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary parliamentary republic	Constitutional monarchy	Constitutional hereditary monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of Malta	Act of Constitution of Tonga	Constitution of the Principality of Monaco
In force since	1992	1964	1875	1962
Capital	Asunción	Valletta	Nuku'alofa	Monaco
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Maltese, English	Tongan, English	French
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Euro (EUR)	Tongan paʻanga (TOP)	Euro (EUR)
Population	6,900,000	540,000	105,000	39,000
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.	A parliamentary republic with a ceremonial President, a Cabinet led by the Prime Minister answerable to the House of Representatives and an independent judiciary.	Unitary. The Legislative Assembly legislates for the whole kingdom, and the island divisions of Tongatapu, Vava'u, Ha'apai, 'Eua and the Niuas are administrative districts headed by governors. Below that, town and district officers are elected under the Fakafekau'aki and District and Town Officers Act.	A unitary state of about two square kilometres with a single commune. Legislative power is exercised jointly by the Prince and the National Council; executive power belongs to the Prince, exercised through the Minister of State and the Government Council; judicial power is delegated by the Prince to the courts, with the Tribunal Suprême acting as both constitutional and supreme administrative court.
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 are passed by the House of Representatives and assented to by the President before publication in the Government Gazette.	Bills pass three readings in the Legislative Assembly and require the King's assent, which is a real rather than purely formal step. Ordinary bills need a simple majority. Amendments to the Constitution require a majority in the Assembly at three separate readings and the consent of the King and Privy Council, and clause 79 forbids any amendment affecting the law of liberty, the succession to the throne or the titles and hereditary estates of the nobles.	A bill may be initiated by the Prince or proposed by the National Council. Government bills are laid before the Council, examined in committee and voted; adoption requires the agreement of both the Prince and the Council. The Prince then promulgates the law by sovereign ordinance and it is published in the Journal de Monaco.
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.	Advocates are admitted to the bar after a law degree and warrant; legal procurators and notaries handle procedural filing and authentication of deeds.	Law practitioners are admitted by the Chief Justice and licensed under the Law Practitioners Act, with the Tonga Law Society as the professional body. Most qualify overseas or at the University of the South Pacific. A practitioner working on land must know the Land Act's allotment system rather than general property law, because the constitutional bar on selling land means conveyancing in the ordinary sense does not exist.	A small bar of avocats-défenseurs, avocats and avocats stagiaires, organised as the Ordre des Avocats, with admission requiring Monegasque nationality preference, a law degree and a traineeship. French avocats may appear in specified circumstances. Notaries are appointed by sovereign ordinance and are few in number.

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.