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
Attribute	ParaguayReviewed	Marshall IslandsReviewed	MalawiReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Mixed common law with customary law	English common law with customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Parliamentary republic in free association with the United States	Presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Marshall Islands	Constitution of the Republic of Malawi
In force since	1992	1979	1994
Capital	Asunción	Majuro	Lilongwe
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Marshallese, English	English, Chichewa
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	United States dollar (USD)	Malawian kwacha (MWK)
Population	6,900,000	42,000	20,900,000
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 strong local government. Each inhabited atoll has an elected local council with substantial authority over land use and local services, and the Council of Iroij, a body of twelve traditional leaders, reviews legislation affecting custom and land and may express its opinion to the Nitijela.	Unitary with three regions and 28 districts administered by local councils. Traditional authorities exercise recognised functions over customary land and local dispute resolution.
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 the Nitijela and are signed by the President. Legislation affecting customary law, land tenure or traditional practice must be referred to the Council of Iroij, which may return its opinion to the chamber; the Nitijela may proceed regardless, but the referral is a required step. Constitutional amendments require either a two-thirds vote of the Nitijela followed by a referendum, or a constitutional convention.	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.
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.	Practitioners are admitted by the Supreme Court, and admission rules recognise United States legal qualifications, so much of the bar trained in the US. The Traditional Rights Court works differently: its judges are selected for knowledge of custom and traditional title rather than legal qualification, and proceedings there are conducted in Marshallese.	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 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.