These Mexican Secretariats compose the Presidential Cabinet (Gabinete Presidencial) and are the counterparts of the U.S. federal departments.
Turning now from the official, governmental portals, to the world of academia, the best and most complete information by a Mexican academic institution on Mexican law is available at: www.juridicas.unam.mx
This site is sponsored by the renowned Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas (Legal Research Institute or IIJ) of Mexico’s National Autonomous University (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México or UNAM) in Mexico City. This site makes available the texts of each of Mexico’s thirty-one State Constitutions, federal statutes, Jurisprudencias, and an International Legal Navigator (Navegador Jurídico Internacional), as well as academic books, law review articles, bibliographies, etc. A rich and varied section titled: “Virtual Law Library” (Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual) on Mexican law academic materials has been recently added.8
For those legal practitioners, judges and magistrates, government officials, academicians, law students and researchers who are fluent in Spanish and are familiar with Mexico’s legal and political system, these official electronic portals, as well as the IIJ’s web site, are a must and should be consulted first. Unquestionably, these are the best web sites on Mexican law today.
There are also resources online in the English language which provide information on Mexican law; however, the legal content of most of these sites tends to be severely limited with respect to, for example, the quality of the English translation, the accuracy and validity of the legal text, and the authoritativeness of the Mexican source.
Unfortunately for monolingual U.S. researchers, only a minimal number of Mexican legal materials are currently available in the English language, which may be considered current, reliable and authoritative. The best sites in English on Mexican law are listed in the corresponding sections of this Note.9
Thus, any Mexican law information in English which has been taken from an on line site (especially if the site is not officially sponsored by the Government of Mexico), should be handled with caution. If said information is to be utilized to prepare a legal opinion, for example, or used in relation with any judicial, criminal, or administrative proceedings; or if it is to be submitted to a U.S. authority; or be cited or analyzed in a law book, an academic work or a law review article, it is imperative to first ascertain its accuracy, validity and authoritativeness.
Mexican legal research differs drastically from U.S. research. In Mexico legal research is principally directed not at finding case law or analyzing the value of precedents (as it seems to be the rule in our country), but at determining the precise legal provision that is found in a given Mexican legislative enactment—whether a statute, a regulation or a code at a federal or state level – that applies to the legal issue in question or governs the case at bar.
In most cases, Mexican researchers do not search for case law. The reason is quite simple: since Mexico does not adhere to the Principle of stare decisis,10 the significance of case law in that country is secondary compared to the importance given to the legal principle, rule or norm found in the applicable provision of a given statute or code. Thus in Mexico – unlike the United States – rather than focusing on case law and the legal value of precedents, Mexican legal research focuses on identifying the specific provision in a statute or in a code that applies and controls the contested issue or governs the case at bar.
Whereas it is reasonable to speak of the common law as the law of the judges, according to Prof. John H. Merryman: “no one would think of using such terms in speaking of the civil law.” He writes:
Legislative positivism, the dogma of the separation of powers, the ideology of codification, the attitude toward the interpretation of statutes, the peculiar emphasis on certainty, the denial of inherent equitable power in the judge, and the rejection of the doctrine of stare decisis –all these tend to diminish the judge and to glorify the legislator.
…..Although it is now admitted that civil law courts have an interpretive function, the fiction is still maintained that in performing that function the judge does not create law, but merely seeks and follows the express or implied intent of the legislator.11
However, Mexico’s sound legal research principles dictate that it is always recommended to ascertain the tenor of the latest interpretation given to that specific legal provision by, a Federal Collegiate Circuit Court (Tribunal Colegiado de Circuito) or by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación) in their most recent Ejecutoria or Jurisprudencia.12
Although Mexico’s legal system does not strictly adhere to the dictates of stare decisis, it should be evident by now that when a Jurisprudencia is finally reached (and reaching this fifth decision may take not one but many years depending upon the subject), this immediately establishes an obligatory judicial precedent to be followed not only by all of the federal and state lower courts but also by Mexican authorities. Therefore, Jurisprudencia constitutes the only case under Mexican law where Mexican courts must abide by a given precedent and proceed to formulate their judicial decisions accordingly.
The decisions of the Supreme Court of Mexico and those of the Federal Collegiate Circuit Courts are published in the Semanario Judicial de la Federación (Judicial Weekly of the Federation). As noted earlier, the text of Jurisprudencias and other federal court decisions are available at the official portal of the Supreme Court of Justice and at the site of UNAM’s Legal Research Institute.
The bulk of business, investments and trade conducted in Mexico by foreign investors and U.S. companies (or by any other foreign legal entities), is governed by federal statutes (Leyes Federales), regulations (Reglamentos), and by federal codes (Códigos federales).
For example: the visa required to enter Mexico for business purposes, any type of foreign investment, the establishment of a Mexican company, company administrative and commercial activities, labor contracts and working conditions, environmental matters, the handling and disposal of toxic waste and hazardous materials, environmental impact statements, industrial property, technology transfers, civil aviation, radio and television, cellular phones and telecommunications, import-export activities, customs issues, Maquiladoras, transportation and communications, ports and marina activities, commercial and sport fishing, acquisition of real estate and Fideicomisos, government procurement, taxation, are controlled by federal statutes (Leyes Federales).
Accordingly, for practical and business reasons it is essential for any foreign investor, or for a legal practitioner with clients doing business in that country, or for law students interested in Mexican law, to be familiar with and to know where to find and how to access each of the federal statutes (and their corresponding regulations) which control and regulate the conduct of business and commercial activities by foreign investors and U.S. companies in Mexico.
It should also be evident that, although the overall activities of foreign investors and foreign companies in the Republic of Mexico are controlled by specific federal statutes, the local day-to-day activities of a given U.S. company, factory, Maquiladora, are governed by municipal and state laws and regulations, depending upon their physical location.13 Some of these state laws and regulations may be available in the respective web site of the State in question.14
Mexican Corporate LawCurrently, there are no Internet sites that provide English translations of the totality of the Mexican federal statutes that control and regulate the commercial activities of foreign investors in Mexico. There are, however, a number of web sites that make available the text in English of one or more Mexican statutes.
In the alternative, there are commercial companies that sell English translations of solicited statutes (and their regulations) for a fee, or as a service to paying subscribers. The listing of these commercial companies is outside the scope of this Note.
In the absence of comprehensive Internet sites with English texts of Mexican federal statutes and regulations, possibly the best single source of these legal materials is the bilingual (English/Spanish) collection of Mexican federal statutes published in the series titled: MEXICAN LAW LIBRARY: COMMERCIAL CODES:
Vol. 1: Business and Commercial (Seven statutes): (1) Commercial Companies Act; (2) Foreign Investment Act; (3) Foreign Investment Regulations; (4) Economic Competition Act; (5) Federal Labor Act; (6) Industrial Property Act; and (7) Bankruptcy Act, already repealed;
Vol. 2: Tax (Three statutes): (1) Income Tax Act; (2) Value Added Tax Act; and (3) Asset Tax Act;
Vol. 3: Financial Services (Five statutes): (1) Credit Institutions Act; (2) Negotiable Instruments Act; (3) Securities Market Act; (4) Act regulating Financial Groups; and (5) Insurance Institutions and Mutual Insurance Companies Act;
Vol. 4: Foreign Trade (Six statutes): (1) Customs Act; (2) Maquiladora Decree; (3) Car Industry Decree; (4) Oil Act; (5) Natural Gas Regulations; and (6) Federal Telecommunications Act;
Vol. 4: Foreign Trade (Six statutes): (1) Customs Act; (2) Maquiladora Decree; (3) Car Industry Decree; (4) Oil Act; (5) Natural Gas Regulations; and (6) Federal Telecommunications Act;
Vol. 5: Environment and Natural Resources (Seven statutes): (1) Environmental Act; (2) Hazardous Wastes Regulations; (3) Atmospheric Pollution Regulations; (4) Environmental Impact Regulations; (5) National Waters Act; and (7) National Waters Regulations.15
However, the text of these materials is now outdated considering that the statutes and regulations included in this series have been amended after publication in this series in 1997-1998.
The volume of information on Mexican law in Spanish available on the Internet is plentiful. In particular, the official electronic portal titled: Legislación Federal de México (Mexico’s Federal Legislation), provides the most complete and current text of 229 federal statutes and the most important federal codes, as well as local enactments that only apply to the Federal District (Mexico City). All of the federal statutes included in this site govern the commercial activities of foreign investors and foreign companies in Mexico.
This website is sponsored by the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico’s Federal Congress (Cámara de Diputados del Hon. Congreso de la Unión). Legislación Federal de México (Mexico’s Federal Legislation). The texts are in Adobe Acrobat Reader format.
This site contains the complete text of Mexico’s Federal Constitution of 1917, as amended, as well as the texts of the following federal codes: (1) the Federal Civil Code; (2) the Code of Commerce; (3) the Federal Code of Civil Procedure; (4) the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure; (5) the Federal Criminal Code; (6) the Code of Military Justice; (7) the Federal Code of Electoral Institutions and Procedures; (8) the Fiscal Code of the Federation.
All the texts are current, updated and in force. The complete list of these federal statutes, regulations and codes (and an informal English translation of their titles) appears in Appendix I of this Note.
(1) Act Against Organized Delinquency; (2) Airports Acts; (3) Civil Aviation Act; (4) Consumer Protection Act; (5) Copyright Act; (6) Credit Instruments Act; (7) Customs Act; (8) Environmental Protection Act; (9) Expropriation Act; (10) Federal Labor Act; (11) Firearms and Explosives Act; (12) Gambling and Lottery Act; (13) Fishing Act; (14) Foreign Investment Act; (15) Foreign Trade Act; (16) General Means of Communications Act; (17) Immigration Act; (18) Industrial Property Act; (19) Insurance Contracts Act; (20) International Extradition Act; (21) Investments Companies Act; (22) Mercantile Bankruptcy Act; (23) Mercantile Companies Act; (24) Mining Act; (25) Navigation and Maritime Commerce; (26) Nuclear Energy Regulatory Act; (27) Oil Regulatory Act; (28) Ports Act; (29) Radio and Television Act; (30) Stock Market Act; (31) Telecommunications Act; and (32) Tourism Act.
The same website: www.cddhcu.gob.mx/leyinfo, also reproduces the texts of these eight federal codes: (1) the Federal Civil Code; (2) the Code of Commerce; (3) the Federal Code of Civil Procedure; (4) the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure; (5) the Federal Criminal Code; (6) the Code of Military Justice; (7) the Federal Code of Electoral Institutions and Procedures; (8) the Fiscal Code of the Federation. All the texts are current, updated, and in force.
Mexico is a civil law country. Accordingly, codes in Mexico play a primary role in defining the relative legal rights and obligations of parties. As legislative enactments, codes are unitary works that integrate all norms in a given branch of Mexican law in a systematic, comprehensive, organized and logical manner.