Mexican and American legal system comparison
As we know, the Mexican and American legal systems treasure many differences. On the one hand, the legal system of the United States is the "Common Law" which is the same used by other Anglo-Saxon countries such as, of course, the United Kingdom. On the other hand, Mexico uses the "civil legal system" which is shared with many other Hispanic countries as a consequence of the Spanish colonization. Thanks to these and many more differences, we have a clear contrast on efficiency between these two governments.
Civil Law originates from the Romans and is constituted by codes that seek to order the rights of citizenship through a written law (The Constitution). Therefore, the role of the judges is precisely to apply the norms approved by the parliament of the constitution.
Common-Law lacks a written law but is developed through the courts of law which are made up of judges who decide based on jurisprudence. Jurisprudence is the resolution of legal problems through customs or statutes that have been empirically generated over several centuries and that function as fundamental laws. In addition, jurisprudence is also handled by juries who are ordinary citizens and help to evaluate the facts together with the judge. Jurors can even make verdicts that find a defendant either innocent or guilty.
It is noteworthy that there are several convergences between both systems. In other words, both in Common Law there might be written laws and in Civil Law, jurisprudence might be used.
As far as I am concerned, there are many shortcomings as well as advantages in both systems.
In the civil legal system, citizens have free access to know their rights, which makes corruption by the authorities more impossible. However, thanks to the fact that the laws are reformed by the government. They may be not fair enough, greatly favoring the political arena.
In Common Law, citizens are not at the mercy of pre-established legislative decisions. On the contrary, the application of the law could be ambiguous which generates inequality and disagreements.