This chapter analyzes the unprecedented legislative changes brought about by the 1988 amendments that Mexican courts are now interpreting and applying to cases involving international litigation. Comprised of some 18 international conventions as well as detailed and, in the cases of "Libro Cuarto," lengthy amendments, these legislative changes modernized Mexico’s international and domestic law.

The amendments affected four areas of Mexican Law: (1) the Federal Code, dealing with international conventional law and domestic law; (2) the Civil Code of the Federal District, on substantive conflict of law matters; (3) the Code of Civil Procedure of the Federal District, on Procedural international cooperation questions; and (4) the Code of Commerce, regarding international arbitration issues. Collectively, these changes signaled the end of approximately half a century of strict isolationism by Mexico in regard to the application of foreign law.

The amendments, virtually copied from their corresponding conventions, provided an avenue for Mexican judges to respect the law of other countries, while reinforcing reciprocal provisions of their own. They also included provisions regarding: (1) Letters Rogatory; (2) the Taking of Evidence Abroad; (3) General Rules of Private International Law; and (4) the Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards. Thus, Mexican judges are empowered to enforce foreign judgments, or deny them, based on grounds inherent in the foreign law itself or in local law.

These changes are perhaps the most detailed, modern and pragmatic in Mexican legal history and very much in step with parallel trends at the international level.