Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857
Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States | ||
---|---|---|
Executive President | | |
Electoral college | Yes, presidential elections are validated by the Deputies. | |
History | ||
First legislature | 7 September 1857 | |
Repealed | 5 February 1917 | |
Amendments | 32 | |
Last amended | 7 November 1911 | |
Location | Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones | |
Author(s) | 1857 Constituent Congress | |
Supersedes | 1824 Constitution of Mexico |
The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 (
A number of articles were contrary to the traditional powers of the Catholic Church, such as the ending of
Background
Having overthrown the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1855, liberals sought to implement their ideology in new laws and briefly had Juan Álvarez in the presidency. As established in Plan of Ayutla, he convened the Constituent Congress on October 16 to establish headquarters in Dolores Hidalgo and to draft a new constitution embodying liberalism. The following year, the incumbent president, Ignacio Comonfort, endorsed the call to move the headquarters to Mexico City.[4]
The Congress was divided between two main factions. Most members were moderate liberals and planned to restore the Constitution of 1824 with some changes. Some of the prominent figures were Mariano Arizcorreta, Marcelino Castañeda, Joaquín Cardoso, and Pedro Escudero y Echánove. Their opponents the pure liberals,[5] who wanted to make a completely-new constitution. Among them were Ponciano Arriaga, Guillermo Prieto, Francisco Zarco, José María Mata, and Santos Degollado. The discussions were heated and lasted over a year.[4]
President Comonfort interfered through its ministers for the moderate faction, which he preferred.
Those reforms were contrary to the interests of the Catholic Church. During the sessions of Congress, an insurrection for the clergy supported by conservatives, the staunchest opponents of the liberals, gathered force in Zacapoaxtla and Puebla. Comonfort sent federal troops and defeated the rebels.[7]
The Constitution was promulgated on February 5, 1857,[8] but the clergy threatened that whoever swore the Constitution would be excommunicated.[9]
Major provisions
The Constitution of 1857, with 8 titles and 128 articles, was similar to the
- 2. Abolition of slavery. It was ratified by the Decree of Abolition of Slavery on September 15, 1829, by President Vicente Guerrero.[10]
- 3. Free public, secular education.
- 5. Freedom of vocation, with a ban on contracts with loss of freedom for the sake of work, education, or religious vows.
- 7. Freedom of speech.
- 10. Right to bear arms.
- 12. Abolition of titles of nobility.
- 13. Prohibition of privileges to individuals or institutions or of special courts (Juárez Law).
- 22. Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment or the confiscation of property.
- 23. Abolition of death penalty for political prisoners, (later modified to permit the execution of traitors under the law of 12 April 1869).[11]
- 27. No civil or ecclesiastical corporation allowed to hold or manage real estate except buildings for services or for the purpose of the institution (Lerdo Law).
- 30. Definition of Mexican nationality.
- 31. Obligations of Mexicans.
- 36. Obligations of citizens.
- 39. The sovereignty of the nation comes from the people.
- 40. Mexico is constituted as a representative, democratic, federal Republic, composed of free and sovereign States in everything concerning its internal regime.
- 50. Division of powers: executive, legislative, and judicial.
- 76. On the election of the president through indirect suffrage in the first degree and secret ballot.
- 77. Requirements to be elected president.
- 101 & 102. Amparo
- 123. Regulation of religion.
- 124. Prohibition on internal customs checkpoints.
- 128. Inviolability of the Constitution.
Despite problems in Texas, some deputies unsuccessfully proposed a law granting certain rights to foreign colonization by arguing that the country needed to be settled.[4]
Articles 101 & 102
In 1841, Mexican justice
Amparo is the Spanish word for "protection"[22] (literally also "favor", "aid",[23] "defence",[24] "shelter" or "help"[25]). The generic legal concept of "amparo" is the annunciation of individual guarantees, and the judicial proceedings to protect those rights. Section 101 of the 1857 constitution established that the amparo will lie only against violations of individual rights. The conscious division of Amparo into two sections in the 1857 Mexican Constitution, as opposed to the United States Constitution, meant that, although it protects against violation of constitutional privileges, it may not issue an order to maintain respect for treaties and laws.[26]
The 1857 Constitution provided that a special law relating to the procedure and regulation of an amparo suit should be enacted subsequently.[27] This law of Amparo was divided into four sections: 1) violations of individual rights; 2) violations of state sovereignty; 3) violations of the Power of the Union; and 4) decisions and sentences.[28] The first Amparo Law had little effect due to the French intervention,[29] first by the war in which the nation was then engaged, and later by the establishment of the Empire under Maxmilian of Austria which suspended constitutional government.[30] The Secretary of Justice drafted and presented a new law at the end of the year 1868, which was approved by Congress and promulgated on 20 January 1869.[31] This law was more simple in its procedure, establishing a single suit to be judged in a summary proceeding by the district courts of the federal judiciary.[32] This was likewise also superseded by an Amparo law in 1882.,[29] promulgated on 14 December 1882 and effective the following year.[33] The use of the legislative writ of Apmaro increased significantly during the life span of the 1857 constitution, for example in 1869 only 123 suits were decided, in 1880, only a little more than a decade later, the number of cases had risen to 2,108, and in a three-month period from June 1901 to August 1901 there were 957 amparo suits heard and decided.[34] In 1897, the first Federal Code of Civil Procedure was enacted, which included an Amparo suit, thus effectively repealing the 1882 law,[35] followed by a similar Federal Code of Civil Procedure provision in 1908,[36] which reflected the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. The writ of Amparo legislation transformed Amparo from "an instrument lacking precise contours to a true proceeding directed at violative official acts, with a particular emphasis placed on the protection of life and liberty of the citizens."[37]
The 1857 Constitution served as an important model for the subsequent current 1917 constitution, establishing a firm foundation for the amparo.[38] The 1917 constitution largely tracks the 1857 constitution in order of article and text, only argumenting and clarifying certain clauses.[39] Therefore, both of these amaro provisions featured in the subsequent 1917 Mexican constitution, i.e. article 101 (1857 version) was identical to article 103 (1917 version); and article 102 (1857 version) corresponded to article 107 (1917), with amendments[40] Currently, amparo exists in 17 other countries, however, there is no comparable mechanism in the common law.[41][42]
Federation
During the promulgation of the constitution, the nation was composed of 23 states and one federal territory. Nuevo León merged with Coahuila with the latter name being adopted. The creation of a new state and the admission of three of the four territories as free states of the federation also occurred.
Map of Mexico under the Constitution of 1857 | The 23 states of the federation were: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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States admitted by the Constitution of 1824 were::[43]
New state created:
States admitted in 1857:
|
The only federal territory was Baja California. Also, Mexico City was called the State of Valley of Mexico but only if the powers of the Federation moved to another site. On February 26, 1864, Nuevo León was separated from Coahuila and regained its status as a free state.[49]
Opposition
In December 1856, Pope
Justice Minister Ezequiel Montes met in the Holy See with the Cardinal Secretary of State. The Pope accepted the Juárez Law and the disposals of the Lerdo Law but demanded the ability to acquire political rights. The negotiations were interrupted by the resignation of President Comonfort.[4]
In Mexico, the Congress presided over by Valentín Gómez Farías and the head of the Executive Comonfort swore the Constitution on 5 February 1857, which was promulgated on 11 March. Despite the fact that Comonfort won the elections, and that in December he should extend his mandate for a new presidential term, he considered that his popularity was seriously affected by the constitutional reforms in religious matters. In December he expressed his intention to reverse the reforms achieved by the Legislative branch.
Conservatives began planning a coup. A conservative general,
On December 19,
Immediate impact
Conservatives refused to recognize the new constitution or the liberal government. Conservative Félix Zuloaga established a Conservative Government in Mexico City; through the promulgation of Five Laws repealed the liberal reforms. Liberal were forced to move the seat of government to Guanajuato. Armies of the two opposing governments clashed in the Reform War.
States of
After the Liberal government won the Reform War, President Juárez and his government added to the Constitution of 1857, the Reform Laws that had been enacted in Veracruz. Because of the civil war, the Constitution remained without effect on almost all the country until January, 1861, when the Liberals returned to the capital. In 1862, as a result of Franco-Mexican War and the establishment of Second Mexican Empire, the Constitution was suspended. In 1867 the liberal, republican forces succeeded in ousting the monarchy, and restored the Republic and bringing the constitution into effect.[52]
Replacement by the Constitution of 1917
The winning faction of the
See also
- Liberal Reform
- Reform War
- Reform laws
- French intervention in Mexico
- Second Mexican Empire
- Constitutions of Mexico
- Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824
- Political Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1917(currently in force)
- Politics of Mexico
- History of democracy in Mexico
Notes
- ^a The fueros were privileges that kept the military and clergy to forbade members of these two groups were judged by the law, which effectively put them above the law and that no matter what kind of crime they committed, could not be judged, or in the best cases judged by special courts.
References
- ^ "Día de la Constitución Mexicana" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2003-08-11.
- ^ Arroyo García, Israel. "Constitution of 1857" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, 332
- ^ Martin Quirarte. "Visión panorámica de la historia de México". Librería Porrúa Hnos y Cia, S. A. 27a. edición 1995. México, D. F. Pág. 170-171.
- ^ a b c d e f Tena Ramírez, Felipe, op. cit., capítulo "La Constitución de 1857"
- ^ Reyes Heroles, Jesús, op.cit., p.200 : "On December 14, 1838 a popular movement emerged in Mexico City that invaded the National Palace acting against the constituted authorities and according to Bocanegra, under the slogan of We want tailless Constitution and pure Federation!. From that came, by the same author, the title of pure, which met the radical sector of the Mexican liberals (according to the book in 1858, a popular slogan was that pure went forward, the moderate did not move and conservative went backward)".
- ISBN 9789683659996.
- ^ Valadés, Diego; Carbonell, Miguel, op. cit., "Fernado Zertuche Muñoz" p.865-867
- ^ "El Congreso Constituyente a la Nación al proclamar la nueva Constitución Federal" (in Spanish).
- ^ "El clero, intolerante, amenaza a quienes juren la constitución" (in Spanish).
- ^ "El presidente Vicente Guerrero expide un decreto para abolir la esclavitud" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- ^ Perry, Juárez and Díaz: Machine Politics in Mexico, p. 10
- ISBN 0-19-170051-7. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
Amparo had its origin in the early nineteenth century, when the state of Yucatan adopted a procedure to strengthen the judicial enforcement of individual rights in the state constitution of 1841.
- ^ "El Juicio de Amparo" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- S2CID 247475612. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 154:
Rejón was then instrumental in placing the inaugural amparo in the Political Constitution of the State of Yucatán in 1841.
- ^ Fix-Zamudio, Hector (1979). "A Brief Introduction to the Mexican Writ of Amparo". California Western International Law Journal. 9 (2): 306–348. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 313:
The Act of Reforms undoubtedly derived from a proposal drafted by another distinguished Mexican jurist and politician, Mariano Otero, who is considered to be the second Father of the amparo.
- ^ Hellen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexcian Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 33 (4): 418437. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 418:
In 1847 a committee of six members was appointed to draw up a draft for a new Federal Constitution. Rej6n, from Yucatan, was appointed as a member; and Mariano Otero, who vies with Rej6n for the title of the creator of the amparo action, was another member.
- ^ Acta de Reformas, art. 25 (1847)
- S2CID 247475612. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
Borrowing the Yucatán's Constitution, Mariano Otero's proposed inclusion of Amparo on the federal level was almost universally approved in the 1847 Acta Constitutiva de Reformas.
- ^ Fix-Zamudio, Hector (1979). "A Brief Introduction to the Mexican Writ of Amparo". California Western International Law Journal. 9 (2): 306–348. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 313:
Article 25 of the new constitutional document contained a provision known as the "Otero Formula" which provided that the protection granted by the amparo judgment should contain no general declarations about the law or act complained of; that is, an amparo judgment holding a law unconstitutional shall have no effect beyond preventing the application of the constitutionally defective law to the immediate party complainant. This aspect of the amparo proceeding persists to the present day.
- ^ a b Hellen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexcian Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 33 (4): 418437. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 418:
The ampara is found definitely established and clearly described for the first time in the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1857. No mention of it was made in the first Constitution of the new nation in 1824.
- ^ Fix-Zamudio, Hector (1979). "A Brief Introduction to the Mexican Writ of Amparo". California Western International Law Journal. 9 (2): 306–348. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 309:
It was translated into Spanish in 1855, the same year that the Constituent Congress produced the Federal Constitution of 1857, Mexico's first "constitutionalization" of the writ of amparo.
- ^ Barker, Robert S. (Spring 1988). "Constitutionalism in the Americas: A Bicentennial Perspective". University of Pittsburgh Law Review. 49 (3): 891–. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 906:
The proceeding by which the judicial protection is extended is called amparo, the Spanish word for protection.
- from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 61:
The word amparo literally means protection, favor, or aid.
- ^ Hellen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexcian Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 33 (4): 418437. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 418:
It is known as amparo, a term literally signifying protection, favor, aid, or defense.
- ^ "Amparo". Google Translate. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 434:
According to Judge Rabasa, the authors of the [Mexican] Constitution of 1857 divided into two parts the article on the jurisdiction of the judicial power, which corresponds to the single provision on the same subject in our own [United States] Constitution. This separation of jurisdiction was not an oversight but a deliberate act on the part of the drafters. ... It stipulates that, although provision is made that the amparo may be petitioned for protection against the violation of privileges granted by the Constitution, it may not issue in order to maintain respect for the treaties and laws. ... These problems, then, would not be approached through an amparo suit.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 422:
The Constitution of 1857 also provided that a special law relating to the procedure and regulation of an amparo suit should be enacted subsequently.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
This law of Amparo was divided into four sections dealing respectively with: (1) violations of the rights of individuals; (2) federal laws and acts violating the sovereignty of the states; (3) laws and acts of the states infringing upon the power of the Union; and (4) decisions and sentences.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-170051-7. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 25:
The first Amparo Law had little effect, due to the French intervention, and was eventually superseded by later Amparo Laws of 1869 and 1882.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 422-423:
No procedural law regulating the suit was adopted, however, until 1861;16 and its application was further delayed for several years, first by the war in which the nation was then engaged, and later by the establishment of the Empire, under Maxmilian of Austria, which suspended the constitutional government.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 422-423:
No procedural law regulating the suit was adopted, however, until 1861; and its application was further delayed for several years, first by the war in which the nation was then engaged, and later by the establishment of the Empire, under Maxmilian of Austria, which suspended the constitutional government.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
This law was more simple in its procedure, establishing a single suit to be judged in a summary proceeding by the district courts of the federal judiciary.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
The third regulatory law on amparo procedure was promulgated on December 14, 1882,19 effective the following year.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
It may be taken as an indication of the attitude of the Government toward the individual and also as a justification of the need for such a remedy that, whereas in 1869 only 123 such suits were decided, in 1880, only a little more than a decade later, the number of cases 'had risen to 2,108. These figures are given by Isidro Rojas, who also states that in a three-month period from June to August, 1901, there were heard and decided 957 amparo suits.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
When, in 1897, the Federal Code of Civil Procedure was enacted, it included among its contents provisions on the amparo suit, thus effectively repealing the special law of 1882.
- ^ Helen L., Clagett (1945). "The Mexican Suit of "Amparo"". Georgetown Law Journal. 30 (4): 437–418. Retrieved 18 December 2022. p. 423:
Similar provisions were also included in the Federal Code of Civil Procedure of 1908.
- ^ Fix-Zamudio, Hector (1979). "A Brief Introduction to the Mexican Writ of Amparo". California Western International Law Journal. 9 (2): 306–348. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 313:
These laws were subsequently incorporated into the Federal Codes of Civil Procedure of 1897 and 1908 which reflected the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. The writ of amparo was thus transformed from an instrument lacking precise contours to a true proceeding directed against violative official acts, with particular emphasis placed on the protection of life and liberty of the citizens.
- ISBN 0-19-170051-7. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 25:
The 1857 Constitution served as an important model for the current 1917 Constitution. Among other elements, it established a firm foundation for the amparo procedure that has become a major feature of Mexican judicial process.
- S2CID 247475612. Retrieved 14 December 2022. p. 159:
The current constitution, largely known as the 1917 Constitution, did not begin from tabula rasa, as it largely tracks the 1857 constitution in order of articles and text although, at times, it augments and clarifies certain clauses.
- JSTOR 1013370. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- S2CID 247475612. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 152:
Despite difficulty in defining the scope of amparo, other nascent hemispheric democracies adopted it and amparo now exists in 17 other countries. It serves as an extraordinary remedy and no comparable mechanism exists in the common law tradition.
- from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022. p. 61:
Amparo is an extraordinary recourse in the Mexican justice system, with no equivalent in the common law tradition.
- ^ "Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos" (in Spanish).
- ^ "Portal Estado de Guerrero" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- ^ "Portal Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2009-12-27.
- ^ "Portal Ciudadano de Baja California" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- ^ "el Comentario" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2010-08-10.
- ^ "Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2010-04-11.
- ^ "Información turística INEGI" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2011-07-22.
- ^ Paul Vanderwood, "Betterment for Whom? The Reform Period: 1855-1875" in The Oxford History of Mexico, Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley, eds. New York: Oxford University Press 2000, p. 373.
- ^ a b El Colegio de México, Op.cit. p.597-598
- ^ "La República Restaurada. Una década en busca de un nuevo Estado" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
Further reading
- Hale, Charles A. The Transformation of Liberalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1989.
- Hamnett, Brian. "The Comonfort presidency, 1855-1857," Bulletin of Latin American Research (1996) 15#1 pp 81–100 in JSTOR
- Knapp, Frank A, Jr., "Parliamentary Government and the Mexican Constitution of 1857: A Forgotten Phase of Mexican Political History," Hispanic American Historical Review (1953) 33#1 pp. 65–87 in JSTOR
- Knowlton, Robert J. "Some practical effects of clerical opposition to the Mexican Reform, 1856-1860." The Hispanic American Historical Review 45.2 (1965): 246–256.
- Perry, Laurens Ballard. Juárez and Díaz: Machine Politics in Mexico. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press 1978.
- Scholes, Walter V. "Church and State at the Mexican Constitutional Convention, 1856-1857" The Americas, vol. 5, no. 1.
- Scholes, Walter V. Mexican Politics during the Juárez Regime 1855-1872 (University of Missouri Press, 1957)
- Sinkin, Richard N. The Mexican Reform, 1856-1876:A Study in Liberal Nation-Building (University of Texas Press, 1979)
In Spanish
- Cosío Villegas, Daniel. La constitución de 1857 y sus críticos. Mexico City: SepSetentas 98, 1973.
- García Granados, Ricardo. La constitución de 1857 y los leyes en México. Mexico City: Tipografía Económica 1906.
- Guerra, François-Xavier, México: del antiguo régimen a la revolución. Vol. 1. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1988.
- ISBN 968-12-0969-9
- consultado 3 de noviembre de 2009
- Rabasa, Emilio. La constitución y la dictadura: Estudio sobre la organización política de México. Mexico City: Porrúa 1974.
- Ruiz Castañeda, María del Carmen. La prensa periódicoa en torno a la Constitución de 1857. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM 1959.
- Tena Ramírez, Felipe (1997) Leyes fundamentales de México 1808-1992 México, ed.Porrúa consultado el 23 de octubre de 2009
- Valadés, Diego; Carbonell, Miguel (2007) El proceso constituyente mexicano: a 150 años de la Constitución de 1857 y 90 de la Constitución de 1917, "El congreso constituyente de 1856-1857: el decenio de su entorno" Fernando Zertuche Muñoz, México, ed.Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, consultado el 23 de octubre de 2009
External links
- Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM Constitución Política de la República Mexicana de 1857 accessed October 23, 2009
- Archivo General de la Nación Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857 accessed October 23, 2009
- Instituto de Investigaciones Legislativas del Senado de la República, El federalismo mexicano (elementos para su estudio) accessed November 22, 2009