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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexico undergoes legal revolution |
| 2008-09-06 |
| Mexico is in the midst of a legal revolution, and Cristal Gonzalez is on the front lines. The U.S.-trained lawyer is one of a growing number of Mexican attorneys putting judges, lawyers, investigators and clerks through crash courses in justice, now that Mexico has amended its constitution to throw out its inept and corrupt legal system. Some of her lessons may seem blindingly obvious. Yet they drive home just how dysfunctional are Mexico's courts and police. On a recent evening, the 30-year-old lawyer explained Mexico's new rules of justice to a class of 200 professionals with the clarity of a preschool teacher: "The accused is IN-NO-CENT until proven guilty! Confessions cannot be coerced. Which means the person cannot be submitted to ...?" She paused for a response. "Torture," several students answered in unison. Under the constitutional amendment passed by the legislature, approved by all 32 states and signed by President Felipe Calderon, Mexico has eight years to replace its closed proceedings with public trials in which defendants are presumed innocent, legal authorities can be held more accountable and justice is equal. Calderon says Mexico's democratic and economic development depends on this judicial reform -- along with fiscal and electoral changes he has pushed through Congress. The country has tried to overhaul its major government institutions since 2000 when voters ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI -- notorious for using the electoral and legal systems to maintain its hold on power. Supporters of the change say Mexico has been missing out on millions in foreign investment because of its reputation as a lawless country where people are arrested randomly and criminals pay off judges -- problems Calderon says also hamper the fight against organized crime. Demands for reform of Mexico's police and courts have become much more vocal since Aug. 1, when a 14-year-old kidnap victim was found dead even after his businessman father paid a large ransom. The boy was abducted at a fake police checkpoint allegedly with help from detectives. At a national meeting in Mexico City, the boy's father, Alejandro Marti, demanded that police and judges improve the judicial system. "If you can't do that, then quit," Marti said. "But don't just keep holding a government job. Don't keep receiving a salary for doing nothing." Last weekend, more than 100,000 Mexicans took to the streets in cities nationwide to protest rampant crime and corruption. Since the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, Mexico has had an inquisitorial system adopted from Europe in which the accused is not presumed to be innocent and proceedings are largely carried out in writing and in secret. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #6 ANGLOS RULE! |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2008-09-06 22:41 |
| #5 English Common Law AMoose, Mexico had their own Common Law previous to Roman Law. It was not so good. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-09-06 21:12 |
| #4 I think their legal code predates Napoleon. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-09-06 18:39 |
| #3 My impression is that Louisiana State law is still based on Code Napoleon.... If true, perhaps Bobby J can add another notch to his gun. |
| Posted by: Hupomose Grundy7189 2008-09-06 17:51 |
| #2 Supporters of the change say Mexico has been missing out on millions in foreign investment because of its reputation as a lawless country where people are arrested randomly and criminals pay off judges -- problems Calderon says also hamper the fight against organized crime. That and the Constitutional ban on foreign ownership of land [anything within a 100 miles of the ocean] and non-due process expulsion of foreigners at the whim of the Executive. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-06 14:42 |
| #1 This could be astoundingly important for Mexico, as it sounds like they are giving up on the ponderous and awful Napoleonic Code Civil, based in Roman Law, and going for Common Law. The system of law in a country percolates through every tiny crack of society, and being on the Common Law system can utterly turn a society around. In a decade or two, it might turn Mexico into a first world country. Common Law is also the death knell for socialism, as it undermines any real reason for it, leaving only the hollow religion behind. Code Civil is why "old" Europe is such a basket case disaster today. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-06 13:38 |