Legal Consultancy for Foreign Investment in Mexico

 Another article of the 1917 Constitution that is important is Article 49 which established the organization and division of the powers of the federal government. The federal government is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Each branch is independent of the other, and two or more of the powers shall never be united in one single person or corporation. The executive is empowered to assume sole control of the government in case of emergencies. The emergencies and procedures for the executive to assume sole control of the government are defined and articulated in Article 29.

 Article 80 of the Constitution deals with the executive branch of government. The executive branch is the branch of government in Mexico with the most political power. The office of the presidency is "the most important political and constitutional office" in Mexico.[26] The president, elected to a six-year term with no re-election, has attained a position of supreme power through "long standing practice, statutory, and constitutional provisions, and a well-institutionalized tradition of near absolute political power."[27] The constitutional powers of the president include "broad power of appointment and removal, fiscal powers, the power to initiate and veto legislation, and control of the military."[28] Articles 81 through 93 of the 1917 Constitution delineate the president's powers and responsibilities.

 The legislative branch of the federal government is comprised of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. There are two senators per state and one deputy for every 250,000 people in a state. Senators are elected by direct popular vote to a 6-year term. Deputies are elected to a 3-year term. Three-fourths of the deputies are elected by direct popular vote, with the remaining one-fourth selected in proportion to the votes received by each political party. Senators and deputies cannot be reelected for an immediately succeeding term.

 Regular legislative sessions begin on September 1 and must end by December 31 of each year, although a special session may be called. The special session must be called by the Permanent Committee. The Permanent Committee is composed of 15 deputies and 14 senators. The members of the Permanent Committee are elected by their respective chambers at the end of each regular legislative session. During adjournment the Permanent Committee remains to handle housekeeping chores.

 The Mexican Constitution empowers both the executive and the legislative branches to initiate legislation, but only the Chamber of Deputies can initiate bills concerning loans, taxes, imposts, and the recruitment of troops. However, in practice the executive branch initiates almost all legislation and certainly all legislation of any consequence.[29] Each new bill must pass both Chambers by a majority vote. The president has the power of the veto, which the legislative branch can override by a two-thirds vote in each Chamber. Once a piece of legislation is passed by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, the bill is sent to the president for promulgation of the bill. Promulgation consists of the president "recognizing the authenticity and regularity of the legislation."[30] The president then has the new law published in the official government newspaper (Diario de la Federacion). The president also issues the "reglamento" for the new law-the rules and regulations that give effect to the more general provisions of the new law. The "reglamento" has the same force as the new law to which it refers.[31]

 The federal judiciary in Mexico is governed by Articles 94 through 107 of the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Federal Judiciary (Ley Organica del Poder Judicial de la Federacion). The Mexican Federal Judiciary is based on a three tier system similar to our own federal judiciary.49 There is a Supreme Court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion) which has final appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts. There are circuit courts (Tribunales de Circuito) which are the federal appellate courts. The circuit courts are divided into single judge courts (Tribunales Unitarios de Circuito) and collegiate courts (Tribunales Colegiados de Circuito). There are also district courts (Juzgados de Distrito) and jury courts (Jurados Populares Federales) which are the federal courts of first instance.

 The Supreme Court is composed of 11 Justices and 1 Chief Justice. The President nominates the candidates for the Supreme Court and the Senate can approve the nomination with a 2/3 majority. If the Senate does not act on the nominations within 30 days the approval becomes automatic. There are no elected judges in Mexico. Supreme Court justices are appointed with life tenure. The president also has the power to remove a Supreme Court justice with the approval of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Supreme Court meets in plenary session for cases involving jurisdictional issues, constitutional issues, and agrarian issues. The Supreme Court also divides and meets in panels (salas). There are four panels: criminal panel, civil panel, administrative panel, and labor panel. Circuit judges and district judges are appointed by the Supreme Court to four-year terms. Circuit judges and district judges may be reappointed or promoted to a higher position at the end of the four-year term, but they may be dismissed only for bad conduct.

 The Constitution (Article 94) gives federal courts jurisdiction over: controversies that arise out of laws or acts of state or federal authorities that violate individual guaranties, controversies between states or a state and federal authorities, all matters involving federal laws and treaties, all cases in which the federal government is a party, all matters involving maritime law, and all cases that involve members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps. The federal judiciary, vis-a-vis state judiciaries, "have a much larger share of the judicial power," in Mexico.

 One of the most important type of cases the federal courts hear in Mexico are "amparo" suits (juicio de amparo).[32] The "amparo" suit is an original Mexican institution with no exact equivalent in the common law tradition.58 The word "amparo" literally means favor, aid, protection, or shelter. Legally the word encompasses elements of several legal actions of the common law tradition: writ of habeas corpus, injunction, error, mandamus, and certiorari.59 There are five types of "amparo" suits: (1) "amparo" as a defense of individual rights such as life, liberty, and personal dignity; (2) "amparo" against laws (defending the individual against un-constitutional laws); (3) "amparo" in judicial matters (examine the legality of judicial decisions); (4) administrative "amparo" (providing jurisdiction against administrative enactments affecting the individual); (5) "amparo" in agrarian matters (protecting the communal ejidal rights of the peasants).60The "amparo" suit may be either direct, initiated in the Supreme Court or collegiate circuit courts, or indirect, initiated in a district court and brought on appeal to the previously mentioned courts.

 There are several federal judicial bodies in Mexico that are not part of the regular federal court structure. The most important are the Tax Court (Tribunal Fiscal de la Federacion) Labor Courts (Juntas de Conciliacion y Arbitraje) and Military courts (Tribunales Militares). The Tax Court is an administrative court "with jurisdiction over controversies arising in fiscal matters between an individual and the government."[33] The Tax Court's responsibilities and structure are covered by the Fiscal Code (Codigo Fiscal de la Federacion) and the Organic Law of the Tax Court (Ley Organica del Tribunal Fiscal de la Federacion). The Labor Courts have jurisdiction over claims by workers that allege that their rights under the Federal Labor Code have been violated, disputes over collective bargaining, and strike-related matters. Labor courts' responsibilities and structure are covered by the Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo). The Military Courts deal with military matters.63 The Military Courts' responsibilities and structure are covered by the Organic Law of the Military Courts (Ley Organica de Los Tribunales Militares).

 The official reporter of the federal courts is named the “Semanario Judicial de la Federacion” (Judicial Weekly of the Federation). The “Semanario” is broken down into series called “Epocas.” There have been 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). The “jurisprudencia historica” has no binding force and is used only for historical legal studies. The reason that “jurisprudencia historica” has no binding force is that the current Mexican Constitution was not adopted until 1917, and anything not based on the 1917 Constitution has no legal force. The “jurisprudencia applicable” (applicable jurisprudence) starts with the fifth “Epoca” in 1918.

 The structure of the Mexican legal system can be viewed as a pyramid with the constitution at the ape of the pyramid. At the next level are the five major codes of the Civil Law Tradition to which Mexico’s legal system belongs. These codes are the civil code, the commercial code, the criminal code, the civil procedures code, and the criminal procedures code. Other codes, laws, and statutes follow at the next level. These codes, laws, and statutes have derived in some manner or fashion from the constitution and five major codes. The hierarchy of sources of law in the civil tradition to which Mexico’s legal system belongs are, “constitution, legislation, regulation, and custom.”[34] The constitution will override all legislation, legislation will override all regulation, and regulation will override all custom.

 Codes in the civil law tradition have been written through the years on the assumption that using a rational scholarly process, rules and laws can be formulated to apply to most all situations that may arise. As a result, codes tend to be very detailed and vast in size. The Mexican codes, like most Latin American codes, borrowed greatly from the European codes of the late 19th century. Individual articles in the codes are not regarded as narrow rules. If no applicable article is found for a given situation, several articles may be viewed in combination, and a general rule may be deduced from the articles to reach a solution. Ideally, the code article or articles that are relevant are found and applied in an almost mechanical fashion to the given situation with no need for any legal interpretation.

 Of course, in practice in our modern complex world all situations of possible legal conflict cannot be foreseen and provided for. Many situations occur where legal interpretation is required. In these situations the fact that the civil law tradition had its origins in the universities and not in the courts is significant. The civil law tradition was developed by legal scholars and not by judges and lawyers, as is the case with the common law tradition. Thus, the "authorities" of the civil law tradition were, and continue to be, legal scholars and not judges and lawyers. The legal scholars of the civil law tradition produce legal treaties that are referred to as doctrine ("doctrina" in Mexico). Civil law tradition judges, lawyers, and law students will refer to the doctrine of the leading legal scholars as common law tradition judges, lawyers, and law students will refer to case law. According to John H. Merryman, "the law in a civil jurisdiction is what the scholars say it is."[35]

 The civil code in Mexico exists at three levels. There is the Federal Civil Code that applies to all of Mexico in federal matters. The Federal District of Mexico where Mexico City is located has its own civil code, Civil Code for the Federal District. Each of the states in Mexico has its own civil code which rule in state matters. Because Mexico’s legal system belongs to the Civil Law Tradition, the different codes are very much alike. As a matter of fact, all civil codes of the Civil Law Tradition countries of the world will be very similar in their content and vocabulary.

 In private law matters, the Civil Code is at the core of the Mexican legal system. Leading scholar of Mexican law Jorge A. Vargas states that the civil code is “present at each and every step of the life of Mexicans, as well as that of foreigners when they are present in Mexico and engage in certain acts or transactions.”[36] The Mexican Federal Civil Code is composed of 3,074 articles divided into four sections (Books), and preceded by some preliminary provisions. Book 1 covers Persons (De las Personas). They are individuals (Personas Fisicas) and corporate entities (Personas Morales). Book 1 goes on to detail all the rights, obligations and relationships that these two entities can legally enjoy. This section of the Civil Code can be classified as family law and corporations law. Book 2, Property (De los Bienes) deal with property matters. The Civil Code classifies property into two types. They are non-moveable property (Bienes Inmuebles) and movable property (Bienes Muebles). Non-movable property is real estate property and movable property is personal property. This section deals with all rights and obligations associated with property. Book 3, Succession (De las Sucesiones) defines the type of successions that are legal in Mexico and all of the formal requirements. Book 4, Obligations (De las Obligaciones) deals with the legal capacity and the different types of obligations that an individual or a corporation may enter into. Book 4 ends with the subject of public registries. The section details the type of registries that exist, what documents/transaction have to be registered, time requirements, the organization of the registries, and administration of the registries.

 The legal principle of "stare decisis," of the common law tradition is not recognized in the civil law tradition. There are several reasons for the rejection of the legal principle of "stare decisis" by the civil law tradition. One reason is the fact that the civil law tradition was developed by legal scholars in the universities and not by judges in the courtroom. Another reason is the post French Revolutionary influence on the civil law tradition. The post French Revolution legislature sought to reform the judiciary to prevent previous abuses. The role of the judge was reduced "to that of a minor bureaucrat who had no power to go beyond the letter of the law."[37] Judicial review of legislation was not within the legal powers of judges. No one but the elected legislature had the power to create law.

 Although the principle of "stare decisis" is not recognized in the civil law tradition, the Mexican judiciary does create case law to some extent.[38] The Supreme Court and federal collegiate courts may establish formally binding precedent called "jurisprudencia." "Jurisprudencia" is established by having five consecutive and consistent decisions on a point of law. "Jurisprudencia" is binding on the court that established it and on all lower federal and state courts. Many of the legal treatises listed in the guide have the word "jurisprudencia" in their title. It is important to remember that in these instances "jurisprudencia" means case law and not the general study of law.

 Before going into the Mexican codes, it is important to mention some introductory material on the Mexican legal system. The most complete introduction is An Introduction to the Mexican Legal System by James E. Herget and Jorge Camil (1978). A reprint of this work appears in volume I of Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia, edited by Kenneth Robert Redden (1984-). Compendium of the Laws of Mexico by Joseph Wheles (1938), is dated but is still useful to someone unfamiliar with the Mexican legal system. Although they are not true introductions to the legal system of Mexico, the following sources also should be considered: An Introduction to the History of Mexican Law by Guillermo Floris Margadant (1983); Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World by Thomas H. Reynolds and Arturo A. Flores (1989-2007); A Revised Guide to the Law and Legal Literature of Mexico by Helen L. Clagett and David M. Valderrama (1973); Guide to the Law and Legal Literature of Mexican States (1979) by Helen L. Clagett, a reprint of a 1947 edition. Also the “Miscellaneous Materials” section of this work should be reviewed for further research aides.

Mexican Corporate Law

 The starting point for nearly all Mexican legal research is a code or a law. The many codes and laws of the Mexican legal system are by subject. Civil matters will be found in the civil code, as criminal matters will be found in the criminal code. Environmental matters will be found in the General Law for Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection, as agrarian reform matters will be found in the Agrarian Law. The codes and laws are arranged by titles, chapters and articles, much like the laws of the United States. Once the relevant code is determined, the specific code article or articles that apply to the specific situation must be located. Keyword searching, as used in most legal research, is not applicable in Mexican legal research. Mexican codes do not have indexes; instead codes provide a short, general table of contents. The table of contents can be located either at the front of the code or at the back of the code. In Mexican legal research, the search is done by thinking in broad, general legal concepts and then working down to the specific. As an example, the search in the Mexican civil code for the divorce articles would not start with "divorce" but with "of persons" since divorce deals with a relationship of persons. Under the "of Persons" heading one would find divorce, marriage, adoptions, birth registration, death registration, and other matters relating to a person as a legal entity. A person becomes a legal entity at birth and loses this capacity at death.

 The second step in Mexican legal research involves finding the doctrine that applies to the situation under study. Most of the doctrine is organized by code and articles chronologically, which makes for easy access. As is the case with codes, the doctrinal treatises do not have indexes with few exceptions, but provide only a short, general table of contents.

 The third step in Mexican legal research is the most difficult step. This step involves searching for Supreme Court “jurisprudencia” and “tesis sobresalientes” “Tesis sobresalientes” are case decisions of note that have persuasive value, but are not binding on lower courts as is the case with “jurisprudencia.”

 The three steps in Mexican legal research are: finding the relevant article or articles in the appropriate code, finding the relevant "doctrina," and finding the relevant "jurisprudencia." The most important step is the first. The research process could stop at this step if the researcher felt confident enough to assume that the correct article or articles had been found and their correct interpretation achieved. However, my own experience is that the majority of people who work with Mexican law do not stop after the first step; rather they go on to step two. Finding the appropriate "doctrina" is really essential to good Mexican legal research. Step three seems to vary in importance according to the researcher's legal background. Mexican-trained lawyers do not consider step three essential; American-trained lawyers do believe that step three is essential. Mexican lawyers are trained in the civil law tradition, and American lawyers are trained in the common law tradition. But also important is the fact that "jurisprudencia" research is so difficult because of the lack of finding tools. More and more finding tools are being published in Mexico to provide easier access to "jurisprudencia." The importance of step three will thus increase as more and more finding tools are published in Mexico.

 Surrogacy is a complex and evolving practice, and understanding the legal framework, regulations, and cultural perspectives surrounding surrogacy in Mexico is crucial for intended parents, surrogates, and professionals involved in the process. This comprehensive guide provides detailed information on the various aspects of surrogacy in Mexico, including legal considerations, regulatory frameworks, and cultural perspectives that shape the practice.

 This section provides an overview of surrogacy, including its definition and different types. It explains the distinction between traditional and gestational surrogacy and highlights the legal implications and requirements associated with each type in Mexico.

 In this section, we delve into the legal landscape of surrogacy in Mexico. We discuss the specific laws and regulations that govern surrogacy arrangements, including the rights and obligations of intended parents and surrogates. We also explore the role of legal contracts and the importance of working with experienced surrogacy attorneys to ensure compliance with the law.

 In this section, we delve into the legal landscape of surrogacy in Mexico. We discuss the specific laws and regulations that govern surrogacy arrangements, including the rights and obligations of intended parents and surrogates. We also explore the role of legal contracts and the importance of working with experienced surrogacy attorneys to ensure compliance with the law.

 Here, we outline the eligibility criteria and requirements for intended parents in Mexico. We cover aspects such as age restrictions, marital status, medical evaluations, and psychological assessments. We also discuss the importance of preparing the necessary documentation and fulfilling the requirements set by the Mexican authorities.

 This section explores the different options available for finding a surrogate in Mexico. We discuss the role of surrogacy agencies, their services, and the benefits of working with a reputable agency. We also provide insights into independent surrogacy arrangements, highlighting the considerations and challenges associated with this approach.

 Here, we delve into the medical process involved in surrogacy in Mexico. We explain the various stages, including the screening of both intended parents and surrogates, the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, and the pregnancy itself. We also discuss the importance of medical professionals and clinics experienced in reproductive medicine.

 This section provides an in-depth analysis of the financial considerations involved in surrogacy in Mexico. We discuss the average costs associated with surrogacy, including legal fees, medical expenses, compensation for the surrogate, and other related costs. Additionally, we touch upon the importance of insurance coverage to mitigate financial risks.

 In this section, we explore the cultural perspectives and ethical considerations surrounding surrogacy in Mexico. We examine how cultural values, beliefs, and societal attitudes shape the perception of surrogacy within the country. We also address the ethical implications and potential challenges, emphasizing the importance of respectful and culturally sensitive practices.

 Support and counseling are crucial components of the surrogacy journey. In this section, we highlight the importance of emotional and psychological support for intended parents and surrogates. We discuss the role of surrogacy support groups, counseling services, and the benefits of professional guidance throughout the process.

 In conclusion, surrogacy in Mexico involves navigating a complex landscape of laws, regulations, cultural perspectives, and ethical considerations. This comprehensive guide has provided valuable insights into the legal, cultural, and practical aspects of surrogacy in Mexico. By understanding these factors, intended parents and surrogates can make informed decisions and navigate the surrogacy process with confidence.

 Today, there are literally hundreds of online resources which contain information on Mexican law (and related subjects) with varying degrees of authoritativeness, accuracy and accessibility.

 The prolific and varied universe of Mexican law freely available on the Internet may fall into these major categories: