Author: William D Signet
Publisher:
Published: 2020-08-02
Total Pages: 172
ISBN-13:
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This book is intended to provide the foreign professional with a functional understanding of Mexican civil litigation, obviously not to litigate in Mexican courtrooms but to understand and deal effectively with local counsel and other professional counterparts.In doing so it tries to negotiate the opposing problems of being too general and too detailed. As the Mexican system owes much to the civil law tradition of Continental Europe, much can be gained from a knowledge of its overriding themes: for example, the basic schema of civil matters being regulated at the level of the states, of commercial matters at the federal; the weight still given to pleading "forms of action;" the extremely abbreviated phase in which evidence may be produced and presented, with very limited opportunities for discovery; the absence of a jury; and the relatively greater weight given to verbal versus oral testimony. In addition, the Mexican system has features of its own: among these, the looming presence of its famous (or infamous) amparo proceeding, which adds another layer of review (and delay, depending on one's point of view).At the same time, the book takes a close view at the fine print of procedures that may either involve, or puzzle, the foreign professional. It delves rather deeply into the types of evidence that are generally produced in Mexican litigation, with important distinctions made between party and non-party testimony; "public" versus "private" documents; and the great pressure brought on opposing experts to agree with each other, within certain tolerances. It emphasizes the importance placed on joining documentary evidence to the original pleadings; and the lack of sympathy for inconsistent or amended pleadings and theories. It takes the reader through what happens on the day of "trial" (that word is a misnomer). Some foreign counsel may be shocked to learn they may not witness the court's oral examination or opposing counsel's cross-examination of their own clients. The law is explained primarily through the lens of one code of civil procedure, that adopted in the Federal District, which has also served as a teaching model in Mexican law schools. While the basic template is an "ordinary" civil lawsuit, the book devotes several chapters to the distinctive summary process known as the juicio ejecutivo, or "executory lawsuit" (author's translation), which is often used to enforce secured claims, or claims based on negotiable instruments and other types of documents. Two chapters are devoted to ordinary appeals (which are relatively complicated) and the amparo proceeding, which is a direct attack on the lower court based on its alleged violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights. Finally, in the last chapter, the author summarizes and opines on Mexico's recent attempt to introduce "orality" into its court procedure, a process that over the past decade has achieved mixed results and differing reviews. The author concludes that its main benefit, and most lasting impact, will be in changing the culture of the courtroom, towards greater transparency.Rodolfo Rivera, a law professor, and a professional tasked with hiring local counsel around the world on behalf of a Fortune 500 company, has written: "Few U.S. lawyers understand the legal intricacies of Mexican litigation better than Bill [author]. Civil Litigation in Mexico is the first English language book that lays out the themes, nuances and the peculiarities of litigation in this very important country... It is long overdue!"William D. Signet has practiced many years in both U.S. and Mexican law firms, and taught Mexican law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of several treatises, books and law review articles on the subject, including the five-volume Mexican Law Library (West Group), and Introduction to the Mexican Real Estate System (Carolina Academic Press). He graduated from Columbia University Law School and the Parker School of Foreign & Comparative La
