The Mexican legal system derives from the tradition of civil law. This happened because of Mexico`s long historical relationship with Spain. It is important to know some of the most important concepts in the civil law tradition in order to formulate research strategies when researching Mexican law. The civil law tradition is today the oldest and most widespread legal tradition in the world. Its foundations were developed in Italian universities of the Renaissance, when Roman law was rediscovered. The Canadian government will work to ensure that you are not punished for being a foreigner and that you are not discriminated against or denied justice because you are Canadian. However, they cannot claim preferential treatment for you or attempt to exempt you from due process under local law. The Canadian government cannot interfere in another country`s judicial system, just as Canadians would not tolerate another government interfering in Canadian judicial proceedings. The codes of the civil law tradition have been drafted over the years on the premise that rules and laws can be formulated using a rational scientific process to apply to almost any situation that may arise. Therefore, codes tend to be very detailed and extensive. Mexican codes, like most Latin American codes, were heavily based on European codes of the late 19th century.
Individual articles of the codes are not considered narrow rules. If no applicable article is found for a particular situation, several articles can be considered in combination, and a general rule can be deduced from the articles to arrive at a solution. Ideally, the relevant section(s) of the code are found and applied almost mechanically to the given situation, without the need for legal interpretation. The original authors of the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1917 borrowed the structure and powers of governance from the Constitution of the United States. Section 41 is one of the longest sections and deals with the question of federal powers and state authority over each individual and the procedures and remedies available in the event of a conflict. [17] The starting point for almost all Mexican legal research is a code or law. The many codes and laws of the Mexican legal system are thematic. Civil matters will be in the Civil Code, just as criminal matters will be in the Criminal Code. Environmental issues will be included in the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, just as agrarian reform issues will be included in the Agricultural Law. Codes and laws are organized by titles, chapters, and articles, similar to the laws of the United States. Once the relevant code is determined, the specific article of the code or articles that apply to the specific situation must be found.
Keyword research, as used in most legal searches, is not applicable in Mexican legal research. Mexican codes do not have indexes; Instead, the codes provide a short, high-level table of contents. The table of contents is located at the beginning or end of the code. In Mexican legal research, research is done by thinking in general and general legal terms, and then working down to the specific. For example, searching for articles on divorce in the Mexican Civil Code would not begin with “divorce” but with “of persons”, since divorce is a relationship of persons. Under the heading “persons” would be divorce, marriage, adoption, birth registration, death certificates and other matters relating to a person as a corporation. A person becomes a legal person at birth and loses this ability with death. With regard to contract law, according to the Mexican legal system, a valid contract requires that one party receive something of value or that the other party assume liability or renounce an opportunity in return, but in Mexico, the validity of a contract depends only on an agreement that exists between the parties. While the systems are different, there are also many similarities that lawyers will recognize from country to country. Below, we will compare and contrast the systems to help Mexican lawyers better understand them, as well as the role of practitioners in each system.
Section II of article 27 contains clauses restricting the ownership of immovable property by religious organizations. Religious organizations “may not acquire, hold or manage real estate or mortgages; This asset, currently held directly or through an intermediary, reverts to the nation. Not only did all churches become the property of the nation, but the federal government had the power to “determine which of them could continue to be consecrated for their present purposes.” In addition, all “dioceses, presbyteries, seminaries, institutions and schools immediately become the property of the nation by inherent right.” In addition, “all public places of worship” that will be built in the future will become the property of the state. Article 27(II) also restricts the immovable property that private and public non-profit institutions and commercial joint-stock companies may acquire. All this changed with the constitutional amendments and the reform of the Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship, which began around 1992. One of the most important changes that accompanied the 1992 reforms was the granting of legal status to religious organizations. There are still some restrictions on the church, such as restrictions on the amount of property the church can own, and it is excluded from political action and education. Mexico has recently completed a comprehensive reform of its judicial system in all Mexican states with the introduction of the adversarial system instead of the inquisitorial system. Key changes include the presumption of innocence, due process and new trials.
Hearings must now be held in public and are based on equality between victim and accused, in which both parties present evidence (oral arguments) directly to a judge who renders a judgment based on the evidence presented to the court. In this respect, the new system is much more similar to Canadian criminal procedures. The official rapporteur of the federal courts is called “Semanario Judicial de la Federacion” (weekly of the Federation). The “Semanario” is divided into series called “Epocas”. There were nine “Epocas”: first “Epoca”, 1871-1874, second “Epoca”, 1881-1889, third “Epoca”, 1890-1897, fourth “Epoca”, 1898-1910, fifth “Epoca”, 1918-1957, sixth “Epoca”, 1957-1968, seventh “Epoca”, 1968-1988, eighth “Epoca” 1988-1995 and ninth “Epoca” 1995-. The first four “Epocas” (1871-1910) are called “jurisprudencia historica” (historical jurisprudence). “Jurisprudencia historica” is not binding and is used only for historical jurisprudence. The reason why the “jurisprudencia historica” has no binding force is that the current Mexican constitution was only adopted in 1917 and anything that is not based on the 1917 constitution has no legal value. The applicable jurisprudence begins with the fifth “Epoca” in 1918.
In contrast, a Mexican lawyer can obtain a law degree (a Licenciatura En Derecho or LED) after a five-year bachelor`s degree program and does not need to pass a bar exam afterwards to obtain a license to practice law. Instead, a Mexican attorney can become a licensed attorney upon registration as an LED graduate. After your arrest, you have the right to an appropriate legal defence (legal assistance) at any stage of the criminal proceedings, either by a public defender or by a private lawyer you have chosen to assert your rights. If you are a victim or victim of a crime, you have the right to the assistance of a lawyer at any stage of the criminal proceedings to assert your rights. As many lawyers already know, the Mexican and American legal systems have a number of differences. The American legal system is a common law system derived from the English legal tradition. This means that legal notices published and collected in the United States are considered binding legal authority. In the Mexican civil law system, on the other hand, codified law is of paramount importance.
