NOTES ON MEXICAN LEGAL CULTURE

because the concept of ’legal culture ’ is rather vague and applies to a variety of phenomena (Rebuffa and Blankenburg, 1993); second, because legal culture is a difficult field to research as scarce basic information or studies exist. As Professor Friedman puts it: ’statements about legal culture rest on shaky evidence at best ’ (Friedman, 1975: 204). This is particularly true in Mexico where law professionals have generally remained within the boundaries of doctrinaire jurisprudence, while outside scholars rarely even tackle law issues. Other difficulties may arise. Culture, be it legal or not, is always dynamic; a synthesis of history, it is a present that contains the future. Mexican legal culture cannot be explained without looking into history. As Octavio Paz said ’the Mexican is not an essence but a history ’ (1985: 215). For this reason, I constantly have to make time ellipses in this paper to avoid a merely historical account. Finally, one can scarcely affirm that the territory now known as Mexico encompasses only one culture. From the outset, we must recognize a variety of ’legal cultures ’ determined by the social groups, regions and social stratification. Thus, the legal culture of major cities like Mexico or Monterrey differs from that of a rural area in Chiapas. Further distinctions can be made within the latter. The culture of breeders and landowners differs from that of Tzotzil or Lacandon groups. Few countries in the world contain such cultural diversity. My aim is not to take part in the debate on the concept of legal culture or discuss the different ways of approaching it; I simply use a very broad definition of legal culture as the ’public knowledge of and attitudes and behavior pattern