This presentation is prepared within the context of the
"Joint Venture. A Transnational Study and Training Program for
U.S. and Mexican Business Lawyers" and its main purpose is to
help as a written material to the same. Therefore, this paper
does not aim to become an original piece but only to summarize
what others have already written. Among those authors from which
we have received a more strong influence we must mention: Rene
David, l John Henry Merryman, and Rudolph Schlesinger
After all, as Adso of Melk stated in The Name of The
Rose
"Now, I realized that not infrequently books speak of
books: it is as if they spoke among themselves".
However, we must not forget what Brother William of
-Baskerville replied "Books are not made to be believed, but to
be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask
our selves what it says but what it means…In that sense this
presentation also aims to be a starting point to begin with the
study of the Civil Law Tradition. As we understand it,
Comparative Law is not one specific ~ranch of the Legal Science
but a method to approach the legal phenomenon.
Comparative Law intents to explain how the legal
phenomenon is understood in different times and places as well as
to suggest and provide, when possible, with adequate tools to
help and assist in the application of the law instead of the
differences from place to place.
Legal Systems around the world are classified in
Families,6 or Traditions,7 but both names make reference to the
same thing, that is, the aim of gathering the legal systems of
every country according to certain criteria which are analogous
ar at least similar among them.
Some of the criteria to gather the legal systems in
Families or Traditions are the following:
a.- Historical background,
6 DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Slstemas Jurfdicos
Contemporaneos (Derecho
Comparado), Loc. Cit. P.p. 10 to 14.
7 MERRYMAN, John Henry; CLARK, David S. Comparative Law:
Western European and Latin American Legal Systems, Loc. cit. P.p.
2 to 6.
4 b.- Conception about the role of law toward society
and about
the role of lawyers in that society.
c.- Concepts and terminology.
d.- Methods for legal research.
e.- Sources of Law and its hierarchical authority. f.-
Practices and techniques used by lawyers. g.- Legal
Education.
Among the most important Legal Traditions of our world
today
I we can mention the Common Law, the Socialist
Law and the Civil Law.
Mexico is considered as member of the Civil Law
Tradition. Therefore we deem necessary to explain the main
features, the master
j 5
lines, of this Tradition in order to understand what the
Law is in Mexico and what is the role of Lawyer in our
country.
a.- General Overview.
History is a permanent process and in such a process one
event
is necessarily linked to others which have already
occurred and to many others which will occur .
Therefore, when we need to cut a historical segment we
are always doing it with some amount of arbitrariness. That is
why we must explain why we are establishing the limits of that
segment in one or other point.
Speaking about the Civil Law Tradition we set its
beginning
around the V Century A.D. during the period of the Roman
Emperor
Justinian, we locate the next station of its historic
evolution around the XI and XII Centuries A.D. with the
development of the Middle Ages
7 Universities and with St. Thomas of Aquinas and the.
Scholastic School of Philosophy.
From the development of the University of Bologna up to
the XVI Century A.D. we found the Schools of the Glossators and
the Commentators.
Thenafter, from the XVI Century and ahead we can mention
the raising of rationalism, humanism and the appearance of the
Modern State and with that the new conceptions and developments
about Public Law.
In the XIX Century A.D. occurred the splendors of
Codification and in the XX Century A.D. we find a new feature,
the process of de- codification.
With that we will close the historical segment about the
evolution of the civil Law tradition, because with the proximity
in time we
8 lost perspective.
b.- The Work of Justinian.
We trace the origins of the Civil Law Tradition during
the time East Roman Emperor Justinian.8
Although Justinian was not a jurist himself he ordered
to compile the rules of the most important instruments of the
Roman Law in effect until his time.
The result was what is known as Justinian's Corpus Juris
Civilis which is divided in four parts:
a.- The lnstitutiones, four books written in
textbook style,
,
but given the force of Law.
8 Flavius Justinianus (Petrus Sabbatius). Born 483 A.D.
in Taresium. Died 565 A.D. in Constantinople.
9
b.- The Digesta or pandecta , the longest
and most important part of the whole work, arranged in 50 books
and constituting a compilation of excerpts (edited and sometimes
revised by Justinian's commission) from the opinions and writings
of the 38 most famous Roman Jurists of prior centuries,
especially Ulpianus, Paulus, Papinianus, Gaius and
Modestinus.
c.- The Codex, a compilation of prior imperial
decrees, again edited and in part revised by Justinian ' s
commission under the chairmanship of Tribonianus.
d.- The Novellae, a collection of decrees and
rescripts issued by Justinian after 534, A.D., i.e. after the
three original parts of the work were completed.9
Later on, with the fall of the Roman Empire the lower
middle ages meant chaos and disorder due to the invasions of the
Barbarian invaders from northern and central Europe.
During that time the monasteries and abies preserved
knowledge for mankind and it came to existence some kind of
barbarized
9 Wenger, Die auellen de romischen Recht 576-679 (1953).
Cited by SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W .; DAMASKA,
Mirjan R.; HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law,
cases-text-materlals, Loc. Cit. P. 248 Footnote
(e).
10 Roman Law such as the Lex Romana Visigothorum
and the Lex Romana Burgundionum.} 0
c.- The development of the European universities and the
restoration of the idea of Law.
Rene David has stated that "the Civil Law tradition has
been always based over a community of culture."}}
In this order of ideas the first event we have to
mention is the developing of the Middle Ages European
universities,}2 beginning with
10 H. COING, "The Roman Law as Ius Commune on the
Continent", 89, Law Quarterly Review, 505, 1973. Cited by
SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W.; DAMASKA, Mirjan R.;
HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law, Loc. Cit. P. 256 Footnote
b.
11 DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Slstemas Jurldlcos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P.
28.
' 12 About the development of the Middle Ages
Universities and the study of Law it is important to make
reference to the book of Rolando T AMA YO SALMORAL on that
specific matter . TAMAYO SALMORAL, Rolando, La unlversldad
epopeya medieval (notas para un estudio sobre el surgimlento de
la unlversldad en el alto medlevo), Mexico, Universidad
Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico-Uni6n de Universidades de America
Latina. (1987. (Instituto de Investigaciones
Jurfdicas. serie C: Estudios Hist6ricos, num. 22)
1 1 Bologna (1100 A.D.), Padua (1222), Perugia (1308)
and Pisa (1343).13
To this event we can also associate the starting of what
is known as the school of Glossators which developed in Bologna,
and "was an integral part of the tremendous revival of
intellectual life that began
Iaround the end of the eleventh century and
characterized the entire late middle ages. This cultural revival
is marked by the rediscovery of Aristotle and the development of
scholastic philosophy …"14
.-Now, along with the ph~nomena of
the developing of the Middle Ages universities, we must mention
the figure of St. Thomas
I Aquinas who is the most outstanding representative of
the School of
I Scholastic Philosophy.
By means of St. Thomas Aquinas the work of Aristotle is
,
13 Cfr. CAPPELETI, Mauro; MERRYMAN, John Henry; PERILLO,
Joseph M.; The Italian Legal System: an Introductiort;:;tanford
University Press, cited by MERRYMAN, John Henry; CLARK, David S.
Comparative law: Western European and latln American legal
Systems, Loc. Cit.P. 89.
14 Ibidem.
12 .enewed and also it was demonstrated that
pre-Christian philosophy, )ased upon reason is adapted in good
measure to divine Law, bringing as a ~onsequence an "exculpation"
of Roman Law .15
The influence of the Scholastic school of philosophy is
notorious if we consider that among the most important literary
forms employed the School of the Glossators were the
following:
(1) The dissentiones, the opposing and
irreconcilable opinions that had been expressed by various
Glossators.
(2) The queaestiones, or disputes concerning
controversial situation-types about which the argument on all
sides of the questions were expounded and resolved pursuant to
the author's solutio.
(3) The casus, glosses on hypothetical and,
later, actual cases to which a rule of law was applied (a form
used only infrequently).
(4) The brocarda or aphorismata, maxims or
definitions of I general applicability, expressed
succinctly for easy memorization.
15 Cfr. DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Sistemas
Jurfdlcos Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P.
30.
13
(5) The summae, which were treaties (like the
summae of the theologians) on particular areas or institutions of
the law .16
After the Glossators there is another school which
developed its work in the scholastic environment of the
universities, that is the school of the Post-Glossators or
Commentators.
This school "was born and developed in complete harmony
with the contemporary dialectical methods of inquiry of
scholastic philosophy. Legal study no longer rested on a literal
reading and exegesis, as it had during the time of the
Glossators. It was now based upon a search, through a process of
synthesis and abstraction, for the principles running through the
law and the rationale of legal rules. Thus there was a change
from the literal interpretation of the law to the building of an
analytic structure (or, as it is still called in Italy, a
"dogmatic ,
16 .CAPPELETI, Mauro; MERRYMAN, John Henry; PERILLO,
Joseph M.; The Italian Legal System: an IntroductlQrt3tanford
University Press, cited by MERRYMAN, John Henry; CLARK, David S.
Comparative Law: Western European and Latin American Legal
Systems, Loc. Cit.P. 92.
14 construction") of the law within the legal system.
With this method, the Commentators created a good part of the
dogmatic or analytic structure that still differentiates the
style of modern continental legal systems from their Roman
antecedent. "17
Thus, in the continental Europe during the Middle Ages
the Law was understood not as a body of rules to be in effect to
resolve any particular controversy, but as an area of knowledge
in the context of moral
sciences, much more in connection philosophy, theology or
religion.18
The lawyers, were much more the juristae type, a
university- trained lawyer, a uniform professional group having
the same scientific background.19 This common scientific
background is what is known as the Ius Commune.
.17 Ibidem. P. 93
18 DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Sistemas Jurldicos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P. 28.
19 H. COING, "The Roman Law as Ius Commune on the
Continent", 89, Law Quarterly Review, 505, 1973. Cited by
SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W.; DAMASKA, Mirjan R.;
HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law, cases-text-materials, Loc.
Cit. P. 262.
15
What happened was that the Roman Law taught by
universities every day became more distant from the original
Roman Law and also became some kind of modern Roman Law
applicable to the new realities, that is known as the usus
modernus Pandectarum.20
The above mentioned features still remain as
characteristics of the Civil Lawyers:
1.- They are university-trained.
2.- They are educated in a cultural
environment.
3.- They have an scholastic attitude toward legal
problems.
' 4.- According to their view of the world the law is
a
20 Cfr. DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Slstemas Jurfdlcos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. p, 31 I
16 fundamental element for social peace and
order.
d.- Rationalism and Humanism.
Between the XVI and XVIII centuries A.D. we can identify
two ideological trends which reshaped the world of that time and
our own contemporary world, we are speaking about the Humanism
and Rationalism.
With the Renaissance it came a revalorization of the
human dignity as entitled to certain rights due to their own
human nature.
The humanism is also the philof.;('phical explanation of
what we know as Human Rights a notion which 1cquired more
relevance with development of the Modern State.
The other philosophical trend on our historical journey
is the Rationalism which sustains that the world and the their
phenomena can be
17 understood and explained by means of human
rationale.
The attitude of the thinkers of the era of rationalism
was oriented to the use of the deductive method and was
characterized by a constant effort to systematize human
knowledge.
The following ideas are of great assistance to determine
the profound influence of rationalism in the development of the
Civil Law Tradition:
"…the legal thinkers of the natural law period
revolutionized the methods of systematization. Prior to the 17th
century, the civil law had been far less systematic that is
commonly believed. The spirit of classical Roman law was
pragmatic and casuistic, and even the sophisticated compilers of
the Corpus Juris excelled more in practical wisdom than in
system-
–buitding~ The medieval sci1-oiars, especially the
commentators improved the systematic treatment of certain
subjects; but like the Roman jurists, they though primarily in
terms of specific
.problems or topics rather than in terms of an overall
system. It was not until the natural law era that scholars began
to build coherent and comprehensive systems of private law. The
method of system-building used during the 17th and
18th
18 centuries was deductive."21
e.- The emergence of the Modern State and the
development Public Law.
The distinction between Private and Public Law features
the first classification which the Civil Lawyer makes about the
legal discipline, and it has been widely accepted among
juristae, at least since the development of the Schools of
the Glossators and the Commentators.22
However, legal studies until the Modern Age were mostly
oriented to Private Law matters. Therefore, the emergence of the
Modern State and the Age of Revolutions implied to the Civil Law
world an open space for the development Public Law.
21 DEAK and RHEINSTEI, "The Development of French and
German Law", 24 Georgia Law Journal 551 (1966) cited by
SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W.; DAMASKA, Mirjan R.;
HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law, cases-text-materials, Loc.
Cit. P. 274.
22 MERRYMAN, John Henry; CLARK, David S. Comparative
Law: Western European and Latin American Legal Systems, Loc. Cit.
P. 801.
19 Public Law is that branch of the Legal discipline
dealing with
the problems of the legal framework of the powers and
fields of action of the State as well as with the limits of that
powers before private individuals.
Now, although the very important differences which exist
from country to country in the field of Public Law, the common
scientific background of Civil Lawyers make them to approach that
reality with similar criteria and methods.23
f.- The Period of Codification.
It frequently happens that the Civil Law tradit'on is
identified
with the world of codes, although the codification is a
relatively recent in
the history of the Civil Law tradition.
23 Cfr. DA VID, Rene, Los Grandes Sistemas Jurldicos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P. 67.
20
We agree that codification was only possible thanks to
the foundations laid by the system building scholars in the sense
that codification is itself a product of the Age of
Reason.24
For that reason the codes were intended to be
authoritative, systematic and comprehensive statements of the law
in each of the areas of the same.25
The codes which are most frequently found in the Civil
Law countries are the Civil Code, the Commercial Code, the
Criminal Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of
Criminal Procedure.26
O r~~ of the first intents of Codification is the
Prussian
, 24 Cfr. SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W .;
DAMASKA, Mirjan R.; HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law,
cases-text-materials, Loc. Cit. P. 274. Footnote 19a.
25 Cfr. Ibidem. P. 291.
26 Cfr. MERRYMAN, John Henry, La tradlci6n jurfdlca
romano-can6nlca, Mexico, 1a. reimpresi6n, Fondo de Cultura
Econ6mica, 1979. P.34.
21 Allgemeines Landrecht of 1794,27 this code
.was in effect under Frederick the Great and had about sixteen
thousand articles. This intent did not transcended.28
Now, the code which really became a landmark for the
development of the Civil Law tradition was the Napoleon Civil
Code of 1804, "which provisions were considered as principles or
maxims feconds en consequences to be developed and applied
by judges and jurists."29
Rene David says that the tremendous influence of the
Napoleon Civil Code can be attributed basically because it was
the work of an illustrated sovere}gn and due to the tremendous
influence of France throughout the world at that time.3
0
27 Cfr. DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Sistemas Jurldicos
Contemporaneos , (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P. 48
28 Cfr. MERRYMAN, John Henry, La tradici6n juridica
romano-can6nica, Loc. Cit. P. 60.
29 Idem.
30 Cfr. DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Sistemas Jurldicos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P. 48
22
In the case of Mexico we received the influence of the
French Civil Code as it has been extensively documented by
Professor Rodolfo Batiza.31
At this point, it must be said that if the Napoleon
Civil Code is only one of the two most important trends during
the period of codification. The other landmark is the German
Civil Code {Burgerliches Gesetbuch -BGB-) of 1896, which
came into effect on January 1, 1900.32
The German Civil Code of 1900 is the result of the work
of School of the Pandectistics, the German scholars of the XIX
century ,for whom their ideal "was to develop a legal system in
which all particular rules were derived form and classified under
certain basic conceptions."33
, 3' BA TIZA, Rodolfo, Los Orlgenes de la Codlficacl6n
Civil y su Influencia en el Derecho Mexicano, 1 a. ed., Editorial
Porrua, S.A. 1982.
32 Cfr. SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W .;
DAMASKA, Mirjan R.; HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law,
cases-text-materials, Loc. Cit. P. 533.
33 Cfr. K.W. RYAN, An introduction to the civil Law,
cited by MERRYMAN, John Henry; CLARK, David S. Comparative Law:
Western European and Latin American Legal Systems, Loc. Cit. P.
221.
23
Finally, we must add that if the studies on Roman Law
made by the School of the Glossators and Commentators during the
Middle Ages
was known as the usus modernus pandectarum, it
has been said that the results of codification were some kind of
usus modernissimus pandectarum.34
g.- The period of de-codification.
After World War I, it began a process in which some
Statutes were developed out from the original codes. This process
is known as de- codification.35
In our oppinion this process does not means a
fundamental , change in the orientation of the Civil Law
tradition, mainly because of the
34 Cfr. DAVID, Rene, Los Grandes Slstemas Jurrdlcos
Contemporaneos (Derecho Comparado), Loc. Cit. P. 50
35 About this process we make reference to the article
of Dr. Miguel ACOSTA ROMERO on
this matter. ACOSTA ROMERO, Miguel, "El fen6meno de la
descodlflcacl6n en el derecho civil",
Madrid,
Revista de
Derecho Privado, Diciembre 1988. Pp. 611-628.
24 important supplemental role which is played by the
~odes in constructing those Statutes developed out from the
original codes.
h.- Collateral influences.
In this section we want only to make a brief mention to
the important influence of Lex Mercatoria (Commercial Law)
and Canon Law (the Law of the Roman catholic Church) in the
historical development of
the Civil Law tradition.
In the case of Mexico we can mention as a very important
collateral influence the one of the United States of America
which transcended in shaping our constitutional system and our
system of judicial precedents.
11.- The conceptualization of Law and the basic
classifications of
the legal discipline.
25 For Civil Lawyers the Law is a cultural phenomenon
which
aims to rule and coordinate social life in order to
fulfill, among others, certain values such as justice peace and
legal certitude, and to which purpose the government should
provide the proper system to enforce the legal
mandates.
This is the wide conception of the legal phenomenon.
That is the Law (Derecho -lato sesu- , what in latin is
known as Ius), but the concrete and effective expression
of the Law are the legal provisions. (Derecho -strictu
sensu-, what in latin is known as lex).
.In that sense the law (lex) is made of
provisions containing general, abstract and impersonal principles
from which more legal consequences are to be
developed.
According to their view, strongly influenced by
their
rationalistic and scholastic education, the Civil Lawyer
explains and constructs the legal discipline in a logic and
coherent manner, as if it were
" , ,
26 any other field of knowledge.
Therefore, as we have said before, for them the basic
classification of the legal discipline is that which
distinguishes between Private and Public Law.
Private Law makes reference to such areas as Civil Law
(strictu sensu, including rules on persons, real estate,
successions, obligations, contracts, etc.) and Commercial Law.36
Private Law makes
I reference to the relations between private
individuals.
Public Law makes reference to study of Constitutional
and Administrative Law. Public Law concerns to the organization
of the State, the Government and the relations between the
Government and private individuals as well as between the
Government an other sovereign States.
36 These criteria of classification make reference to
those areas of the legal discipline which are "autonomous".
However the specific subject matters included in one ore other
field are as relative as the person who is making the
classification and the context of the system which is being
classified.
27
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a new
classification arose, that is the Social Interest Law.
This classification of the legal discipline set the
principles to organize and protect the rights of the different
groups and classes of social interest such as workers, peasants
and under-protected low income groups.
The Social Interest Law also provides rules to govern
the relations between social interest groups and private
individuals, as well as the relations between social interest
groups and the State.
This new classification of the Legal Discipline arose as
an
answer to social changes. .
At this moment, we would like to mention that in our
days such recent developments as the globalization of the world
economies, the
28 environmental problems and the increasing interest in
protecting human rights, among other aspects, have placed
humankind in a new historical dimension.
Therefore, in our opinionwe are observing the emerging
of a new field in the Legal Discipline.
One in which the law is not determined by the interest
of private individuals, not by the interest of the State or
Government, or for the protection of social interest groups, but
to preserve the basic an lundamental rights of
humankind.
'We will call that classification the Humanitarian
Interest Law.
This topic shall be furtherly developed in the
presentation devoted tho the Legal Framework in Mexico and the
sources of the law in
29 our country, then, at this moment we shall make just
as a general reference to the subject mentioning those sources to
which a Civil Lawyer will occur when making legal research or
facing an actual problem.
a.- Legal doctrine.
Legal doctrine makes reference to the work of scholars.
It may contain note, commentaries and discussions on the
fundamental principles, concepts, terms and institutions of any
branch of law.
Its authority depends on the prestige of the scholars
involved. from time to time, foreign scholars are cited in areas
which influence is referred to the country of that
scholfl;".
b.- Legislation. ,
In its broadest sense it makes reference to statutes and
regulations, as well as to any other set of rules issued by
governmental
30 agencies. Its authority will depend on several
criteria dealing mainly with its hierarchical value an the
jurisdiction of the issuing agency.
c.- Judicial precedents.
Judicial rulings generally only have a recommendatory
authority, although certain decisions can be mandatory or have
such a !>restige as to determine future
controversies.
d.- Other documentary sources.
This includes all kinds of legal documents, such as
contracts, permits, etc. They can give the researcher more
information about the matter but they do not have any legal
authority.
,
e.- Customary practices.
Customary practices are a source of law when the
public
31 Dpinion deems that certain practice is legally
mandatory. The customary practices are usually classified as
secundum legem, praetra legem and contra
legem.
This topic makes reference to one of the fundamental and
more pragmatic problems in Comparative Law and in the
international practice of Law. It goes to the question of how are
our colleges focusing to one
-' specific problem and how are they elaborating the
same.
At this point we realize that one can not understand the
legal world of today without looking at the cultural and
historical antecedents that we have been presenting in this work,
because as Justice Cardozo pointed out "history, in illuminating
the past, illuminates the present, and
in illuminating the present, illuminates the future."}
7
37 CARDOZO, Benjamin N., The Nature of the Judicial
Process, New Haven, Yale University Press. P. 53
32
Therefore, studying the historical developments of the
Civil Law tradition it is obvious that the attitude of the Civil
Lawyer toward the legal discipline and legal problems is
rationalistic orientated, scholastic and deductive.
DEAK and RHEINSTEIN explained legal reasoning in the
Civil Law tradition in one way which seem to be illustrative,
commenting that beginning from a small number of very general
concepts and precepts at the starting point, Civil Lawyers
deductibly develop successive ranges of less and less general
abstractions, categories and principles until finally, on the
lower level of abstraction, they laid out the specific rules
governing concrete fact situation.38
Again we share expectations with Justice Homes when he
.
38 Cfr. DEAK and RHEINSTEI, "The Development of French
and German Law", 24 Georgia Law Journal 551 (1966) cited by
SCHLESINGER, Rudolph B.; BAADE, Hans W .; DAMASKA, Mirjan R.;
HERZOG, Peter E.; Comparative Law, cases-text-materlals, Loc.
Cit. P. 274.
33 wrote: "1 have little hope that I shall be able to
state the formula which will rationalize this process for myself
,…" 39 And we continue thinking with him that this is also "an
attempt to uncover the nature of the process by one who is
himself an active agent."4 O
We have tried to reconstruct the process of legal
reasoning followed by a Civil Lawyer, and we have identified the
following steps:
a.- Once the problem is identified in its facts, the
lawyer make an abstraction in order to determine the fundamental
notes and the nature of the legal institutions involved in the
problem.
b.- Once the legal nature of the problew is determined,
the lawyer goes to the legal doctrine and once again checl.~s the
nature of the
, problem. At this point the lawyer shall try through
the deductive method to focus the specific legal status of the
problem at hand.
39 CARDOZO, Benjamin N., The Nature of the Judicial
Process, Lac. Cit. P. 13 40 Idem .
34
c.- Having the doctrinal legal status of the problem,
the lawyer will look after the principles and rules contained in
the legislation. Further commentaries will come out from the
confrontation of legal doctrine and statutory law.
d.- The following step shall be to look after how those
principles have been interpreted or constructed by judicial
decisions.
e.- Only at this point, the lawyer will look after other
documentary sources.
f.- Finally, the researcher will arrive to the
conclusions of the investigation and will produce a proper
document containing the same.
Octavio Paz, the Mexican writer who won the Nobel Prize
for
Profesor
Carlos A. Gabuardi
ITESM Campus Monterrey