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	ZimbabweReviewed	BruneiReviewed	IranReviewed
Legal family	Mixed Roman-Dutch and English common law	Mixed common law and Islamic law	Islamic law with civil law codification
System of government	Presidential republic	Absolute monarchy	Islamic republic
Constitution	Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20)	Constitution of Brunei Darussalam	Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
In force since	2013	1959	1979
Capital	Harare	Bandar Seri Begawan	Tehran
Official languages	English, Shona, Ndebele	Malay, English	Persian
Currency	Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)	Brunei dollar (BND)	Rial (IRR)
Population	16,300,000	450,000	89,000,000
Division of powers	Constitutionally devolved to ten provinces with provincial and metropolitan councils, but implementation has lagged and central government retains effective control of provincial administration and revenue.	Unitary, with four districts administered by district officers reporting to the Ministry of Home Affairs. No federal or devolved tier; village and mukim headmen have recognised consultative functions.	Unitary, with 31 provinces headed by governors-general appointed by the Interior Ministry, alongside elected city and village councils created by the Constitution and operating since 1999 with limited competences.
How law is made	Bills are gazetted, then pass both the National Assembly and the Senate with committee scrutiny, and the Parliamentary Legal Committee reports on whether a bill or statutory instrument is consistent with the constitution — a step with no direct equivalent in the region. The President assents; constitutional amendments require two-thirds of the membership of each chamber, and some provisions additionally require a referendum.	In form, bills are introduced in the Legislative Council and assented to by the Sultan. In practice the significant instruments are Orders made by the Sultan under the emergency proclamation, which take effect on publication in the Government Gazette without Council passage. The Syariah Penal Code Order 2013 was enacted this way.	A bill is introduced by the Government or by at least fifteen deputies, passes the Majlis, and goes to the Guardian Council, which has ten days, extendable, to find it consistent with Islam and the Constitution. If the Council objects, the bill returns for amendment; persistent disagreement goes to the Expediency Discernment Council, whose decision is final. Only then does the President sign and publish.
Legal profession	A fused profession of legal practitioners registered under the Legal Practitioners Act after a law degree and practical training, regulated by the Law Society of Zimbabwe; senior practitioners may be appointed Senior Counsel.	Advocates and solicitors are admitted by the High Court under the Legal Profession Act, generally after qualifying in England, Malaysia, Singapore or Australia and completing local requirements. The profession is small — a few hundred practitioners — and foreign counsel may be admitted ad hoc for particular cases. Syariah practice is a separate track: Syariah lawyers are certified under the Syariah Courts Act and appear only in the Syariah hierarchy, so a matter that crosses both systems needs two sets of representation.	Two parallel routes to practice, which is unusual and consequential: attorneys licensed by the Iranian Bar Association (Kanoon-e Vokala), a self-governing body dating to 1953, and attorneys licensed under Article 187 of the Third Development Plan directly by the judiciary. The two groups have contested each other's standing for two decades. Notaries operate licensed offices under the registration organisation, and their authentication is required for property transfers, marriage contracts and powers of attorney.

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.