Vol. 16 No. 3 (March, 2006) pp.250-252

 

MEXICAN LAW, by Stephen Zamora, José Ramón Cossío, Leonel Pereznieto, José Roldán-Xopa, and David Lopez. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.  740pp. Hardback.  £70.00/$195.00.  ISBN: 0-19-826777-0.  Paperback.  £35.00/$65.00. ISBN: 0-19-928848-8.

 

Reviewed by Kif Augustine-Adams, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University.  E-mail: adamsk [at] lawgate.byu.edu

 

English-speaking lawyers, law students, and scholars have long and desperately needed a basic introduction to Mexico’s legal system and law.  This book, with the straight forward title, MEXICAN LAW, takes a great leap forward in filling that need.  Spanish speakers especially should be grateful to the authors for their massive tome.  It will save us lots of time.  Rather than trying to translate and explain the basics to our English-speaking colleagues – or suggesting they just learn Spanish, we now have an excellent initial resource to recommend.

 

MEXICAN LAW begins with a brief legal history, describes legal education and the profession, and then sets forth the structure of the legal system and law in Mexico through a discussion of sources of law, federalism and centrism, branches of government and their relationship to law.  Two chapters address the Constitution and judicial enforcement of the Constitution, including the uniquely Mexican form of amparo.  The book is oriented towards a United States audience with frequent comparisons between the common law foundations of the US legal system and the civil law influences on Mexican law and process.  For example, in explaining judicial procedures, the book highlights the special proceedings and sole jurisdiction of certain courts to enforce the Mexican Constitution in contrast to the judicial review available at all levels in the US system (p.257).  Rather than simply describing Mexican law, the authors correctly anticipate, and then answer, the sorts of questions thoughtful readers might raise on encountering a new subject. 

 

The bulk of the book is composed of fourteen chapters addressing specific substantive and procedural aspects of Mexican law:  administrative law, civil procedure, criminal law and procedure, labor law, family law, civil and commercial codes, intellectual property law, and so on.  Each of these topics could be the subject of a multi-volume treatise.  Each chapter does a remarkably good job of providing a succinct introduction to the basic laws and issues associated with the topic.  A reader with a question regarding, say, commercial law in Mexico could pick up the book and read a single chapter to achieve a basic familiarity with it, as the subject-specific chapters can largely be read independently.  This stand-alone quality is a benefit for the reader with a quick question or particular interest, but a weakness for other audiences such as those who want to understand the bigger picture and complexities of Mexican law in context.  To some degree, the initial chapters provide background and context.  Even there, however, the [*251] editing suggests that the authors or publisher did not expect someone to read the entire book rather than using it as a reference.  When I read the first several chapters straight through, the effect was choppy and less than fully coherent.  The sections could have spoken to and supported each other better.

 

Perhaps some choppiness is inevitable given the number of authors (five) who participated in writing the book and the number of languages (two) in which they wrote, although I have known a great editor or two who could whip anything into shape.  Some of the chapters were clearly written first in English; some were clearly translated from Spanish.  The respective role of the five authors is somewhat mysterious, although the Preface notes that each author “provided drafts of several chapters,” and they all read and commented on each others’ drafts.  I can only imagine the negotiation that went into ordering the authors’ names.

 

The one major substantive omission that limits the book is a consideration of Mexican nationality and citizenship.  There is some discussion of constitutional rights of foreign nationals (pp.253-254) and foreign ownership of real property (p.497), but none on what makes one Mexican or foreign.  On the one hand, it seems relatively obvious who is a Mexican national and who is not.  On the other, the legal question is not so simple, particularly given the significant migration of Mexican citizens to the United States and changing Mexican law regarding dual nationality.  Does Mexican law consider children born abroad to Mexican citizen parents to be Mexican citizens themselves?  Are all children born in Mexico, whatever the nationality of their parents, Mexican citizens?  Does Mexico allow dual nationality?  The current answers are yes, yes, and yes, but such has not always been the case.  A chapter on citizenship laws – the various amendments to Article 30 of the 1917 Constitution and nationality laws passed in 1934, 1993, and 1998 – could introduce the reader to the complexities of citizenship.  Such a discussion would also facilitate assessment of “Mexican legal culture,” which the authors cite as “virtually impossible to explain in a general treatise” (p.x).  Even if citizenship did not get a full chapter, some discourse would be helpful.  There is no entry in the index for either nationality or citizenship, even hinting at their minor inclusion anywhere in the book.    

 

All this brings me to my pet peeve regarding the current state of academic publishing: inattention to the index.  The value of a book is increased ten-fold with a thorough, detailed index.  It is simply a shame to put as much time, work, and bi-national cooperation into a book such as MEXICAN LAW and then leave the reader without a comprehensive index.  Maybe the publisher thought that the table of contents and basic index were sufficient.  If the book is meant to be a reference manual, they are not.  If the book is meant to be a textbook, they are less so.  Perhaps I am spoiled by searchable sources available on-line.  If publishers want to maintain the value of their product in the digital age, however, an easy way to do so is to provide an [*252] excellent index to facilitate the reader’s search in hard copy.

 

The authors acknowledge up front the monumental task they set for themselves, that summarizing “an entire legal system in one volume is an invitation to disappointment” (p.vii).  I am not disappointed; whatever my issues with it, the book is an excellent introductory source.  It cannot be everything to everyone, even at over 700 pages in smallish font.  I have thought about offering a law school seminar on Mexico’s law and legal system for a long time.  Next year, with MEXICAN LAW as the primary text, I will.

*************************************************

© Copyright 2006 by the author, Kif Augustine-Adams.