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	Timor-LesteReviewed	MadagascarReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	Civil law	French civil law with customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Unitary semi-presidential republic	Semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste	Constitution of the Fourth Republic
In force since	1992	2002	2010
Capital	Asunción	Dili	Antananarivo
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	Tetum, Portuguese	Malagasy, French
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	United States dollar (USD)	Malagasy ariary (MGA)
Population	6,900,000	1,360,000	30,300,000
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 13 municipalities plus the Special Administrative Region of Oe-Cusse Ambeno, an exclave with its own administrative and fiscal regime under a 2014 law. A long-promised decentralisation to elected municipal assemblies remains only partly implemented.	Unitary with a decentralised structure of 23 regions and communes. Successive constitutions have promised fuller decentralisation, including provincial autonomy, which has not been implemented.
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 National Parliament in general and detailed debate and go to the President, who within a fixed period must promulgate, veto with reasons, or refer the text to the Court of Appeal for a constitutionality ruling. Parliament may override a political veto by an absolute majority, but a finding of unconstitutionality is binding. The Government also legislates by decree-law within limits set by enabling statutes.	Bills originate with the government or members of either chamber, are examined in committee, and must pass both the National Assembly and the Senate; the Assembly prevails on disagreement. The Haute Cour Constitutionnelle may review a law before promulgation, and organic laws must be referred to it as a matter of course.
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.	Regulated by the Law on Private Lawyers and administered through the Legal Training Centre, which runs the mandatory formation course for judges, prosecutors, public defenders and private lawyers alike. The profession is small and Portuguese-language competence is a practical barrier, so international advisers have long supplemented local capacity. Public defenders are a constitutionally provided service, not an ad hoc scheme, and appear in a large share of criminal matters.	Avocats admitted to the Ordre des avocats de Madagascar after a law degree and professional training, alongside notaires for authenticated instruments and huissiers for service and enforcement — the standard French division of functions.

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.