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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
AttributeParaguayReviewedRomaniaReviewedChileReviewedMexicoReviewed
Legal familyIdenticalCivil lawCivil lawCivil lawCivil law
System of governmentUnitary presidential republicUnitary semi-presidential republicUnitary presidential republicFederal presidential republic
ConstitutionConstitution of the Republic of ParaguayConstitution of RomaniaPolitical Constitution of the Republic of ChilePolitical Constitution of the United Mexican States
In force since1992199119801917
CapitalAsunciรณnBucharestSantiagoMexico City
Official languagesSpanish, GuaranรญRomanianSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyParaguayan guaranรญ (PYG)Romanian leu (RON)Chilean peso (CLP)Mexican peso (MXN)
Population6,900,00019,000,00019,600,000130,000,000
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.Semi-presidential: a directly elected President shares executive power with a Government answerable to Parliament, and constitutional conflicts between them are themselves justiciable before the Constitutional Court.Unitary. Sixteen regions administer but do not legislate. Regional governors have been directly elected since 2021, which shifted real power away from the centrally appointed delegates, but legislative competence remains exclusively national.Federal. Powers not expressly granted to the union are reserved to the 32 states (Article 124). States run their own civil, family and criminal-enforcement codes, but criminal procedure, labour and commercial law were federalised to produce single national codes.
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.A bill goes to a first-notified chamber and then to the decisional chamber, whose vote is final. The President may return it once for reconsideration or refer it to the Constitutional Court before promulgation and publication in Monitorul Oficial.Bills originate with the President or in either chamber, though tax, budget and social-security bills are the President's exclusive initiative โ€” an unusually strong executive agenda power. Both chambers must approve; a mixed committee resolves conflict. The President may veto, overridden by two-thirds. Constitutional amendment needs four-sevenths of sitting members, with two-thirds for certain entrenched chapters.Bills may be introduced by the President, either chamber, state legislatures or by citizens with 0.13% of the electoral roll. Both chambers must pass an identical text; the President may veto, and Congress overrides with two-thirds of each chamber. Constitutional amendments need two-thirds of Congress plus a majority of state legislatures (Article 135).
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.Lawyers (avocaศ›i) are admitted through local bars affiliated to the UNBR after examination and a two-year traineeship; notaries and judicial enforcement officers are separate professions.A five-year degree, a supervised practice period, and admission by the Supreme Court itself, which is unusual โ€” the Court, not a bar, confers the title of abogado. Membership of the Colegio de Abogados has been voluntary since 1981, so the Court retains disciplinary jurisdiction over misconduct.A law degree plus a cรฉdula profesional from the Education Ministry licenses practice; there is no compulsory bar examination or single mandatory bar, which distinguishes Mexico from most of the region. Notaries public are a separate, strictly limited state-appointed profession with exclusive competence over real estate and company deeds.

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.