Poder Judicial del Estado de México, Escuela Judicial del Estado de México

THE EVOLUTION OF SUBSTANTIVE CRIMINAL LAW IN THE STATE OF MEXICO

Karla Martínez Guadarrama — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Since the establishment of the State of Mexico in 1824 up to the present day, various substantive criminal laws have governed the state. This study focuses on their compilation and brief analysis from a constitutional guarantees perspective. The analysis traces a historical path, examining the decrees issued separately to sanction crimes such as theft, possession of weapons, and tobacco smuggling, as well as those that penalized behaviors such as vagrancy, immoral conduct, and homosexuality.

The foregoing will provide a general overview of how guarantees in criminal law have evolved in the state, and ultimately, the reader will be able to address the following question: Has criminal law truly evolved?

To this end, the present study is divided into two parts: the first refers to substantive criminal legislation prior to codification, and the second to the study of the punitive codes that have governed the entity.

THE 2008 CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMS: TRANSFORMING JUSTICE IN THE STATE OF MEXICO

Gómez Flores Gómez Flores, Estephani Yazmín Sandoval Chacón — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Since the constitutional reform of June 18, 2008, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms have acquired the legal status of a fundamental component of the justice system, establishing a comprehensive and simple means of guaranteeing the right of access to justice. Through a general introductory overview of ADR mechanisms, this study seeks to contribute to its dissemination and understanding as restorative procedures essential to the proper functioning of the current justice system in the State of Mexico.

Based on a qualitative analysis with theoretical and descriptive components, this study identifies the interrelationship among the State, society, conflict and justice as concepts inherent to the establishment and evolution of the judicial system. It underscores the importance of governmental collaboration for the effective implementation of the current criminal justice system. It also highlights the discrepancy between the notion of justice envisioned in legal frameworks and that resulting from the practice of «traditional justice» which is generally limited to compliance with judicial mandates that often have negative interpersonal impact.

The analysis focuses on the positive effects of the restorative aspect of ADR, its social impact, and the family as a fundamental axis. It also identifies several challenges and obstacles that must be overcome to ensure the full implementation of self-composition in justice, offering general ideas for a more effective conflict resolution, the strengthening of ADR mechanisms, and the improvement of its implementation. Finally, the study invites the reader to engage with alternative justice and to recognize it as a priority within the legal practice of the State of Mexico.

LAWYERS FROM THE STATE OF MEXICO AT THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE (1867-1912)

Jessica Colín Martínez — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Between 1867 and 1912, the National School of Jurisprudence (ENJ) recorded the enrollment of 1,708 students, only one of whom was a woman. During this time, the institution served as an academic and professional benchmark for the legal profession in Mexico City and in the country as a whole, bringing together a socially and regionally diverse student body. This paper analyzes the academic records of 90 students originally from the State of Mexico enrolled at the ENJ during those years, with the aim to research the formative process of the legal profession in the State of Mexico. It also seeks to contribute insights to the fields of the history of law, the legal profession, and justice in Mexico.

LAND BOUNDARY DISPUTES. LAND SURVEY AND DEMARCATION PROCEDURES IN THE STATE OF MEXICO DURING THE PORFIRIATO

Nicolás Vázquez Ortega — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

The surveying and demarcation of land was a fundamental procedure of agrarian justice during the Porfiriato. Although they consisted of a set of voluntary jurisdiction proceedings, that is, diligences initiated at the request of an interested party and aimed at measuring, identifying, and delimiting the boundaries of a property in relation to neighboring lands, and which apparently did not involve litigation, once carried out, they often revealed disputes between towns or between towns and haciendas and ranches over ownership and possession of the land and, of course, the use of its resources, such as firewood, forests, and water.

Although these procedures were carried out throughout the country, this study examines two examples from the State of Mexico, whose analysis allows insight into the legal culture of the period through the petitions and arguments submitted by the parties and through the decisions issued by the District Judge and members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, as well as through the actions of authorities such as the “Jefe Politico” and the governor.

DRUNKENNESS AND HOMICIDE IN MALINALCO. A 17TH-CENTURY CRIME

Oscar Hernández Santiago — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This article contrasts the legal literature of the ius commune —theology and law— with a legal record in New Spain during the Seventeenth century in Malinalco, involving a case of negligent homicide committed while intoxicated. Consequently, it seeks to reveal the deep connections between the various sources of the medieval law and derecho indiano, including statute law, theology, arbitrium iudicis and communis opinio doctorum.

JAIL FOR JOURNALISTS AND SUSPENSIONS OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: FROM THE CADIZ REGULATIONS TO CITIZEN JURIES

Elba Chávez Lomelí — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Este ensayo analiza las diversas formas que adoptó la aplicación práctica de las normatividades, reglamentos y circulares, además de las adiciones o, en su caso, sustituciones de la primera legislación en la materia, creada por los diputados reunidos en Cádiz. Las principales acotaciones o limitaciones a esa libertad son prácticamente las mismas en la actualidad, aunque bajo conceptos distintos o mediante la evolución de los términos a lo largo de más de dos siglos.

JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION WORKSHOP

Marco Antonio Díaz Rodríguez — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This paper aims to provide a set of theoretical and methodological tools to strengthen the interpretative task of the judge in the exercise of their functions. This study is based on the premise that law is a dynamic system immersed in language and subject to the hermeneutical mediation of the person who applies it. Through the analysis of authors such as Hans Kelsen, Aharon Barak, Max Weber, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, the study reflects on judicial interpretation as an act of meaning-making, in which the norms, conscience, and social reality converge. The present paper also proposes the creation of a judicial interpretation workshop as a space for critical, ethical, and reasoned engagement, intended for judges who must accurately understand the norm through the rule of law and human rights. Conceptual and argumentative tools constitute the workshop as a method rather than as a set of ready-made formulas, for ultimately it is the interpreter mediates between the letter of the law and its meaning.

THE LAW OF LIBERATION: TOWARDS A JUSTICE EMBODIED IN HISTORY

José Ramón Mejía Bobadilla — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This paper sets out the foundations of the Law of Liberation, a legal perspective inspired by Liberation Theology and the thought of Ignacio Ellacuría. Both fields share a common purpose: to make justice a historical reality rather than an abstraction. Just as Liberation Theology recovered its original meaning, the Law of Liberation seeks to reorient the legal order toward its ethical root: human dignity.

Ellacuría grounds his philosophy in historical reality, understood as a dynamic construction transformed by human action. Recognizing this reality requires identifying the structures of injustice that produce exclusion and inequality, which in the legal field are expressed as structural crimes. In the face of this, the preferential option for the poor emerges as an essential ethical and legal principle for discerning the common good, historicizing human rights, and orienting justice from the standpoint of the victims.

From this perspective, law is conceived a liberating praxis at the service of a more just and compassionate society. The Law of Liberation thus transcends normative interpretation, rather it seeks to transform the structires that hinder the effective realization of justice and human dignity.

UPBRINGING RIGHTS: A SHARED DUTY

Reyna Barrón Gutiérrez — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Upbringing rights and duties constitute a set of prerogatives and responsibilities held by parents in relation to their sons and daughters. These rights both empower and oblige parents, first, to ensure their children’s survival, nourishment, and care; and second, to guide and educate them from birth until they reach biopsychosocial maturity, with the aim of guaranteeing their integral development.

Article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes the obligation of the Mexican State to ensure the principle of shared parental responsibility, which holds that both parents have common obligations in the upbringing of their children and that the State must provide them with assistance in fulfilling these duties.

This article examines the general and legal concepts of upbringing in order to conceptualize them and, for the first time, proposes a comprehensive framework of these duties. It analyzes their regulation at international, national, and local levels; offers a current overview of child-rearing; reviews the consequences arising from non-compliance or improper exercise of these duties; and proposes corresponding reforms to the legislation of the State of Mexico to ensure adherence to these conventional obligations and guarantee their effective implementation. These proposals are framed within a broader reform of parental relations.

MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION AS SUPPORT MEASURES FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, CHALLENGES AND IMPACT OF THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN THE CODHEM

Nestor Manuel Jiménez Calderón, Nazario Tola Reyes — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This article examines the influence and impact of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (ADRM) on the protection of human rights. To that end, the analysis begins with a brief overview of the emergence of human rights as a field of study, their core features, and the rationale behind their applicability. It also reviews the development of ADRM within international legal frameworks and institutions—such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)— that seek to promote a comprehensive approach to safeguarding fundamental rights.

Subsequently, the article examines the national and state legal frameworks that recognize the existence and applicability of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (ADRM), with particular emphasis on the Human Rights Commission of the State of Mexico (CODHEM). It analyzes the institution’s organizational structure and highlights mediation and conciliation as mechanisms that contribute meaningfully to the protection of human rights. Within the context of CODHEM’s current administration, the article argues that the promotion of ADRM by both the general and specialized ombudsperson offices has been limited. Accordingly, it proposes the creation of dedicated ADRM units within each ombudsperson office, staffed by professionals trained in the field, as a way to strengthen a culture of respect for human rights and to foster a culture of peace through the effective implementation of these mechanisms.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND FORMS OF EXPLOITATION IN THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Roberto Borges Zurita — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

The Mexican legal system is currently immersed in a close relationship with international law, particularly following the 2011 constitutional reform and various rulings of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.^[1] Consequently, the phenomenon of human trafficking must be examined in light of the evolving jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, especially regarding which forms of exploitation the Court has identified, which it has overlooked and the extent to which poverty operates as a factor of vulnerability. This approach is justified because in all the cases analyzed throughout this study, poverty appears as a common denominator among the victims, and the inaction of the state institutions plays a significant role in enabling the forms of exploitation.

[1] Such as the various file 489/2010, 912/2010, contradiction of thesis 293/2011, as well as recently the protection under review 315/2021.

THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE AS A FORM OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND CONVENTIONAL REVIEW

Francisco Rubén Quiñónez Huízar — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This paper analyzes the evolution of constitutional review in Mexico in light of the case law criteria established by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, with the aim of reflecting on the significant role that the Court’s case law plays within the Mexican legal system. Jurisprudence not only establishes binding interpretative guidelines for judicial bodies, but also constitutes a doctrinal mechanism that has shaped the development of constitutional review—although not always in the most favorable manner. Certain precedents place the Constitution above international treaties and human rights standards, while others impose limits or restrictions on the exercise of diffuse constitutional review.