How to read legal citations in Mexico

Mexican law is codified, with a federal system. The Supreme Court's decisions are cited by their file number, and their binding rules are published as numbered theses (tesis) in the Semanario Judicial.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Style guide: Citation practice of the Supreme Court (Semanario Judicial de la Federación). Mexican courts publish their own decisions and binding 'jurisprudencia' in the Semanario Judicial de la Federación. There is no single mandatory citation style for scholars.

Real citations, decoded

Click or hover over any underlined piece to see what it means.

A Supreme Court decision Case

File type Expediente Varios
'Expediente' is the court file. 'Varios' is the Supreme Court's file category for miscellaneous proceedings, used here to decide how to carry out an international court's judgment.
Number 912
The running number of the file.
Year 2010
The year the file was opened.

This 2011 decision set out how Mexican judges must apply human-rights treaties and the rulings of the Inter-American Court.

A binding thesis Jurisprudence

Document type Tesis
A thesis is a short, numbered statement of the legal rule a court decided.
Thesis code P./J. 20/2014
P. means the full Plenary of the Supreme Court. J. means jurisprudencia, that is, binding. 20 is the running number and 2014 the year.
Epoch (10a.)
The 'tenth epoch' of the Semanario Judicial, which started in 2011. Each epoch has its own numbering.

A code article Code

Code Código Civil Federal
The Federal Civil Code.
Article artículo 1910
Article 1910 says that a person who unlawfully causes harm to another must repair it.

Things to remember

Mexico's federal Constitution is cited as Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, with the article. Article 1 is the one on human rights.
Mexican states have their own constitutions and codes, so check whether a citation is federal or state.
The 'amparo' is Mexico's protection of rights: its cases are cited as 'Amparo en revisión', 'Amparo directo' and so on, followed by number and year.
Jurisprudence from a plenary or chamber of the Supreme Court is binding on lower courts.

Where to find the text, free

To understand how courts and law fit together in Mexico, read the Mexico profile in the Legal Families Atlas.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s citation guide is an educational overview of standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so check the style guide before submitting or publishing. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.