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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Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia DR Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See (Vatican City)Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand The Bahamas Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Comparison of selected legal systems
Attribute	United KingdomReviewed	GermanyReviewed	New ZealandReviewed
Legal family	Common law	Civil law	Common law
System of government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Federal parliamentary republic	Constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Uncodified constitution	Grundgesetz (Basic Law)	Uncodified — principally the Constitution Act 1986
In force since	1215	1949	1986
Capital	London	Berlin	Wellington
Official languages	English, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic	German	English, Māori, New Zealand Sign Language
Currency	Pound Sterling (GBP)	Euro (EUR)	New Zealand dollar (NZD)
Population	68,500,000	84,400,000	5,200,000
Division of powers	The executive sits inside the legislature. Judicial independence was strengthened in 2005 when the Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.	Rechtsstaat separation of powers with an unusually strong Federal Constitutional Court that can annul statutes and hear individual constitutional complaints.	Unitary. Parliament legislates for the whole country and there are no states or provinces. Regional and territorial authorities exist only under the Local Government Act 2002 and exercise delegated statutory powers. Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory, while the Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing in free association with New Zealand and have their own legal systems.
How law is made	First reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading in each House, then ping-pong on amendments, then Royal Assent.	Bills originate with the government, Bundestag or Bundesrat, pass three readings in the Bundestag, then require Bundesrat consent or non-objection; a mediation committee resolves deadlock.	A bill has a first reading, select committee scrutiny (usually with public submissions), second reading, committee of the whole House, and third reading, followed by Royal assent. There is no upper house, so the select committee stage carries the weight that a second chamber would elsewhere. The Attorney-General must report to the House under section 7 of the Bill of Rights Act on any bill that appears inconsistent with protected rights, but the House may pass it anyway. Reserved provisions of the Electoral Act 1993 require either 75% of all members or a majority at referendum.
Legal profession	A split profession: solicitors (regulated by the SRA) advise and conduct litigation; barristers (Bar Standards Board) hold rights of audience in the higher courts.	Two state examinations plus a two-year Referendariat produce the unified jurist qualified as Rechtsanwalt, judge, prosecutor or notary.	A fused profession under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006: a lawyer is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court, and may then practise as a barrister sole or in a firm. Admission requires an approved law degree, the Professional Legal Studies Course and a certificate of character. The New Zealand Law Society \| Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa regulates the profession, and King's Counsel are appointed from senior practitioners.

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.