Law of Mexico
The law of Mexico is based upon the Constitution of Mexico and follows the civil law tradition. Sources. The hierarchy of sources of law can be viewed as the Constitution, legislation, regulations, and then custom. Alternatively, the hierarchy can be viewed as the Constitution, treaties, statutes, codes, doctrine, custom, and then general principles of law. Federal Constitution. The Constitution of Mexico is the fundamental law (). Legislation. The Mexican Congress creates legislation in the form of regulatory laws () that implement the Constitution, organic acts () that implement the organization, powers, and functions of governmental agencies, and ordinary laws (). They  are published in the Official Journal of the Federation (, DOF). Regulations. The President of Mexico creates regulations () for the purpose of interpreting, clarifying, expanding or supplementing the language of legislative enactments. They are published in the Official Journal of the Federation (, DOF). Case law. Mexico utilizes a form of . The decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on lower courts as only upon five consecutive and uninterrupted decisions () approved by at least eight justices when in plenary sessions () or by at least four justices when in chambers. The decisions of the Collegiate Circuit Courts are provided they are based upon  five consecutive and uninterrupted decisions approved by unanimity of votes of the magistrates who compose each collegiate court. Decisions are distilled into theses (), of which the are binding (), the are not binding, and the are theses of note which are not binding but have persuasive value. Such decisions are published in the Federal Judicial Weekly () through its gazette (). Complete decisions are rarely published in the , though it is not unheard of if the Supreme Court, a collegiate circuit court, or the General Coordinator of Compilation and Systematization of Theses () deems they should be published; instead, it mainly  includes or . Moreover, theses that have acquired the character of binding criteria () are published every year in an appendix to the . In some jurisdictions, there may also exist executive administrative courts, which are not bound by these . Doctrine. The civil law tradition was developed by, and as such the "authorities" were and continue to be, legal scholars and not judges and lawyers as in the common law tradition. The legal treatises produced by these scholars are called doctrine (), and are used much in the same way case law is used in the common law tradition. However, these scholarly contributions  do not carry the force of law and are not legally binding. Custom. Mexican law recognizes custom, 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. General principles of law. "General principles of law", expressly cited by Article 14 of the Constitution, have not been expressly defined by legislation, but legal maxims such as equity, good faith, , the right of self-defense, and tend to be cited by legal scholars. State constitutions and law. Each of  Mexico's 31 states and Mexico City has its own constitution, known as a state or local constitution ( or ). Each state's or Mexico City's laws and regulations are published in their respective Official State Gazettes (). At the state and local level, publication of complete binding court opinions (versus ) is extremely limited or simply nonexistent. Jurisprudence. The civil law tradition (as developed by the legal scholars, i.e. doctrine) tends to treat the divisions of law in normative terms. There are two major areas of law: private law, concerning the relationships between individuals, and public law, concerning the relationships between  individuals and the government. The civil code is the most important embodiment of law, based on Roman law. Other topics include those related to philosophy 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. Public law. Mexico's major codes regarding public law are the Federal Criminal Code (the criminal code) and the National Criminal Procedure Code (the code of criminal procedure). Other codes of importance include  the Fiscal Code () (tax law) and the Federal Labor Law () (Mexican labor law). Private law. Mexico's major codes regarding private law are the Federal Civil Code (the civil code), Federal Commercial Code (the commercial code), and the Federal Civil Procedure Code (the code of civil procedure).