MEXICAN LAW

PROFESSOR

Professor Vargas joined the University of San Diego School of Law as a Professor of Law in 1983 where he teaches in the areas of international and comparative law. From 1983 through 1987, Professor Vargas was the founder and Director of USD's Mexico-United States Law Institute.

Prof. Vargas' courses include Mexican Law, Comparative Law, NAFTA Law, International Environmental Law, Law of the Sea, International Law, Japanese Law, Immigration Law and International Human Rights.

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Given his expertise in the academic and practical aspects of Mexican Law, Prof. Vargas has served as Expert Witness on Mexican Law before Federal and State courts in cases pertaining to foreign investment, civil aviation, contracts, environmental law, family law, insurance law, intellectual property, real estate, TV and films, and tort law.

A Summa cum laude LL.B. graduate (Licenciado en Derecho) of Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) School of Law in Mexico City, Prof. Vargas received an LL.M. degree from Yale Law School and later became a J.S.D. candidate in the doctoral program at the same school. After graduating from Yale, Prof. Vargas joined the prestgious Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) at the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D.C., as a Ocean Affairs Fellow on Latin American Law of the Sea.

While in Mexico, Prof. Vargas' professional activities embraced three avenues: private legal practice, government official and academician. As a Mexican attorney, he practiced Mexican Law in the areas of foreign investment, corporations, Amparo, and environmental law in prestigious law firms in Mexico City. As a government official, he served the Government of Mexico as Legal Advisor to the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, the Fishing Department and the National Science ad Technology Council, and as a Legal Counsel to the President of the International Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in Paris. He was a member of the Mexican delegation to multilateral conferences, in particular the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. He was chosen as an "Adlai E. Stevenson Fellow" at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research at the United Nations Headquarters where he specialized on international law and the U.N. Specialized Agencies. As an academician, Prof. Vargas taught at UNAM, Iberoamericana and Anáhuac Universities, and lectured throughout the country.

Prof. Vargas has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School and a Lecturer on Mexican Law at New York University School of Law. He has also been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego at La Jolla, California, and as a Fulbright Fellow in the Border Lectureship Program. Prof. Vargas has also taught at USD's Institute of International and Comparative Law at Barcelona, Dublin, Oxford and Paris and served as Director of the Mexico City Program.

Prof. Vargas has published eleven books in Mexico (in Spanish) on international law, constitutional law, law of the sea, diplomacy and science and technology. Since he joined USD, he has published nearly fifty law review articles on topics ranging from Mexican Law, Comparative Law, Dual Nationality, Immigration Law and Foreign Investment to Law of the Sea, International Boundaries, NAFTA Law and International Human Rights.

Prof. Vargas serves as Legal Correspondent for Mexico to the International Legal Materials, published by the American Society of International Law. He is a member of numerous academic, professional and international associations.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AUTHORED BY PROF. VARGAS:

Books:

* Mexican Legal Dictionary and Desk Reference. Thomson/West, 2003 Edition.

Over 3,000 Legal Terms, Definitions, Rules and Legal Principles taken from Federal Codes, Federal Statutes, Regulations, Bilateral Treaties and International Agreements between the United States and Mexico.

* Mexican Law. A Treatise for Legal Practitioners and International Investors. 4 volumes. West Group, 1998 and 2001.

This multi-volume work is formed by forty-two chapters written by legal specialists in current areas of Mexican law from Mexico and the United States. As an Editor, General Coordinator and Co-Author of this Treatise, Prof. Vargas wrote the chapters on Tort Law in Mexico, Conflict of Laws, Enforcement of Judgments and Arbitral Awards, Real Estate Trusts in Mexico*s Restricted Zone ( Fideicomisos), Contrasting Legal Differences between the U.S. and Mexico, Mexico*s Foreign Investment Act of 1993 and Its Regulations, The Immigration Law of Mexico and Fishing Law in Mexico.

Law Review Articles on Mexican Law:

* Privacy Rights under Mexican Law. Emergence and Legal Configuration of a Panoply of New Rights (Forthcoming, Summer 2004).

* Moral Damages under the Civil Law of Mexico. Are These Damages Equivalent to U.S. Punitive Damages? Inter-American Law Review, Winter 2003-2004 ( Forthcoming, Summer 2004).

* Mexico*s Legal System 2004. Description, Appraisal and Prospects. San Diego International Law Journal (Commemorative Issue of the 50 th Anniversary of the University of San Diego School of Law) ( Forthcoming, Fall 2004).

* Electronic Guide to the Best Mexican Law Web Sites. The International Journal of Legal Information (The official publication of the International Association of Law Libraries) ( Forthcoming, Summer 2004).

* Family Law in Mexico. A Detailed Look into Marriage and Divorce. Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas. No. 1, Vol. IX at 5-88 (2002-2003) .

* U.S. Border Patrol Abuses, Undocumented Mexican Workers and International Human Rights. San Diego International Law Journal. Vol.. 2, at 1-92 (2001).

* The Other Side of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Texas Hispanic Journal of Law & Policy. Vol. 5, No. 1 at 42-53 (Spring 2001).

* Mexico*s Fishing Law. The Transnational Lawyer. Vol. 14, No. 1 at 1-71 (Spring 2001).

* Is the International Boundary between the United States and Mexico Wrongly Demarcated? California Western International Law Journal. Vol. 3, No. 2 at 215-275 (Spring 2000).

* The Pantoja Map of 1782 and the Port of San Diego. Some Answers Regarding the International Boundary in the San Diego-Tijuana Region. The Journal of San Diego History. Vol. 46, Nos. 2-3 (Spring-Summer 2000).

* Mexico*s Foreign Investment Regulations of 1998. Houston Journal of International Law. Vol. 23, No.1 at 1-47 (Fall 2000).

Last updated: 4/1/04

Author & General Coordinator:
JORGE A. VARGAS
Professor of Law,
University of San Diego School of Law


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	The Seven Appendices
	Synopsis 1 thru 20
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	Volume 1 Table of Contents
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	Volume 3 Table of Contents
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	Volume 3 Introduction
	Volume 4 Table of Contents
	Volume 4 Introduction

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	1. Introduction
	1.1 Overview of Mexico's Legal System
	1.2 Mexican Law Information in Spanish
	1.3 Mexican Law Information in English

	2. Legislative Enactments
	2.1 No Mexican Federal Statutes in English
	2.2 Mexican Federal Statutes in Spanish
	2.3 Mexico's Major Codes in Spanish
	a. Federal Civil Code
	b. Code of Commerce
	c. Code of Civil Procedure
	d. Federal Code of Criminal Procedure
	e. Federal Criminal Code
	f. Fiscal Code of the Federation
	2.4 Mexico's Diario Oficial de la Federación
	2.5 The Federal Constitution of 1917
	a. Mexico: A Federal Republic
	b. The Executive Power
	c. The Legislative Power
	d. The Judicial Power

	3. International Treaties and Conventions
	3.1 Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE)
	3.2 List of International Treaties and Conventions on conflict of laws, business and environmental questions to which Mexico is a party
	3.3 International Judicial Cooperation

	4. Mexico's Federal Government

	5. State Governments
	5.1 Specific State legislation (i.e, State Constitution, codes, laws, etc.)

	6. Legal Background and History of Mexico

	APPENDIX I Mexico's Federal Legislation
	APPENDIX II Mexico's 18 Secretariats of State Web Sites
	APPENDIX III Web Sites of Mexico's 31 States
	APPENDIX IV Compendium of the Best Mexican Law Web Sites (5 in English and 6 in Spanish)