Thelaw of Mexico is based upon theConstitution of Mexico and follows thecivil law tradition.[1]
The hierarchy of sources of law can be viewed as the Constitution, legislation, regulations, and then custom.[2] Alternatively, the hierarchy can be viewed as the Constitution, treaties, statutes, codes, doctrine, custom, and then general principles of law.[1]
TheConstitution of Mexico is the fundamental law (ley fundamental).[1]
Congress createslegislation in the form of regulatory laws (leyes reglamentarias) that implement the Constitution, organic acts (leyes orgánicas) that implement the organization, powers, and functions of governmental agencies, and ordinary laws (leyes ordinarias).[1] They are published in theOfficial Journal of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF).
ThePresident of Mexico creates regulations (reglamentos) for the purpose of interpreting, clarifying, expanding or supplementing the language of legislative enactments.[1] They are published in theOfficial Journal of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF).
Mexico utilizes a form ofjurisprudence constante. The decisions of theSupreme Court are binding on lower courts asjurisprudencias only upon five consecutive and uninterrupted decisions (ejecutorias) approved by at least eight justices when in plenary sessions (en banc) or by at least four justices when in chambers.[1] The decisions of the Collegiate Circuit Courts arejurisprudencias provided they are based upon five consecutive and uninterrupted decisions approved by unanimity of votes of the magistrates who compose each collegiate court.[1] Decisions are distilled into theses (tesis), of which thetesis jurisprudencial are binding (jurisprudencia obligatoria), thetesis aisladas are not binding, and thetesis sobresalientes are theses of note which are not binding but have persuasive value.[3][4]
Such decisions are published in theFederal Judicial Weekly (Semanario Judicial de la Federación) through its gazette (Gaceta del Semanario Judicial de la Federación).[1] Complete decisions are rarely published in theSemanario, though it is not unheard of if the Supreme Court, a collegiate circuit court, or the General Coordinator of Compilation and Systematization of Theses (Coordinación General de Compilación y Sistematización de Tesis) deems they should be published; instead, it mainly includestesis de jurisprudencia ortesis aisladas.[5] Moreover, theses that have acquired the character of binding criteria (tesis de jurisprudencia) are published every year in an appendix to theSemanario.[5]
In some jurisdictions, there may also exist executiveadministrative courts, which are not bound by thesejurisprudencias.[6][7]
The civil law tradition was developed by, and as such the "authorities" were and continue to be,legal scholars and not judges andlawyers as in the common law tradition.[8][9] The legal treatises produced by these scholars are called doctrine (doctrina), and are used much in the same waycase law is used in the common law tradition.[8] However, these scholarly contributions do not carry the force of law and are not legally binding.[1]
Mexican law recognizescustom, the rules, principles, and norms formed through a gradual but uniform passage of time, but only when this recognition is based upon an explicit provision of the applicable law allowing for such recognition.[1]
"General principles of law", expressly cited by Article 14 of the Constitution, have not been expressly defined by legislation, butlegal maxims such asequity,good faith,pacta sunt servanda, theright of self-defense, andsuum cuique tend to be cited by legal scholars.[1]
Each of Mexico's 31 states and Mexico City has its own constitution, known as a state or local constitution (Constitución del Estado orConstitutución local).[1] Each state's or Mexico City's laws and regulations are published in their respective Official State Gazettes (Gaceta Oficial del Estado).[1] At the state and local level, publication of complete binding court opinions (versustesis) is extremely limited or simply nonexistent.[5]
The civil law tradition (as developed by the legal scholars, i.e. doctrine) tends to treat the divisions of law in normative terms.[10] There are two major areas of law:private law, concerning the relationships between individuals, andpublic law, concerning the relationships between individuals and the government.[11][12] Thecivil code is the most important embodiment of law, based onRoman law. Other topics include those related tophilosophy of law, including the major schools of thought and the major disagreements; objective law and subjective rights; substantive law and procedural law; statutory law and customary law; federal law, state law and municipal law; and national law, international law and community law.
Mexico's majorcodes regardingpublic law are theFederal Criminal Code (thecriminal code) and theNational Criminal Procedure Code (the code ofcriminal procedure).[1][2] Other codes of importance include the Fiscal Code (Codigo Fiscal de la Federacion) (tax law) and the Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) (Mexican labor law).[13]
Mexico's majorcodes regardingprivate law are theFederal Civil Code (thecivil code),Federal Commercial Code (thecommercial code), and theFederal Civil Procedure Code (thecode of civil procedure).[1][2]
