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	South SudanIndexed	IraqReviewed
Legal family	Common law with customary law	Civil law with Islamic law influence
System of government	Transitional government of national unity	Federal parliamentary republic
Constitution	Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan	Constitution of the Republic of Iraq
In force since	2011	2005
Capital	Juba	Baghdad
Official languages	English, Arabic, Dinka, Nuer	Arabic, Kurdish
Currency	South Sudanese pound (SSP)	Iraqi dinar (IQD)
Population	11,100,000	45,500,000
Division of powers	Decentralised in form, with states and administrative areas whose number has changed repeatedly — from ten at independence to twenty-eight, then thirty-two, and back to ten plus administrative areas under the 2018 agreement. Local government includes county and payam tiers and statutory customary authorities.	Genuinely federal in form: 15 governorates not organised into a region, plus the Kurdistan Region, which has its own Parliament, government, judiciary and security forces. Governorates may petition to form new regions. Residual powers lie with the regions and governorates rather than the centre, and regional law prevails over federal law outside the exclusive federal competences — the reverse of the usual federal rule.
How law is made	Bills are introduced by ministers or members, considered in committee and passed by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, with the Council of States participating on matters affecting the states. The President assents. Because the legislature is constituted by power-sharing quota rather than election, and because several key bills including the permanent constitutional process have stalled, the process is transitional rather than settled.	Bills are proposed by the President with the Council of Ministers, or by ten members or a committee of the Council of Representatives. They pass two readings and a vote, and the President ratifies within fifteen days, after which they are published and take effect. The Federation Council envisaged by the Constitution has never been created, so there is no second chamber in practice.
Legal profession	Advocates are admitted through the Ministry of Justice and represented by the South Sudan Bar Association, and the profession is small relative to need, with many practitioners trained in Uganda, Kenya or Sudan. Judicial numbers are low and vacancies persistent, which is a large part of why customary courts carry most of the dispute-resolution load.	Lawyers are admitted by the Iraqi Bar Association under the Advocacy Law, with grades of practice determining which courts a member may appear in — a seniority ladder rather than a single right of audience. The Bar is self-governing and its licence is required for court work. The Kurdistan Region has its own bar association, and the two are administratively distinct, so practitioners generally hold the licence appropriate to where they appear.

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.