Abstract^Dr. Carlos A. Gabuardi, Lic. Jur., LL.M., Ph.D., is a private attorney and founding partner of Gabuardi Abogados. He received his Law Degree from the University of Monterrey; Tulane University School of Law awarded him a Master of Laws, with distinction; and obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws (Ph.D.) from the same university. He is currently a Professor of Law and an Honorary Legal Researcher and at the Independent School of Law of Monterrey and was a member of the National System of Researchers of Mexico. Dr. Gabuardi was a lawyer in the Legal Department of the World Bank, Washington, DC; Corporate Legal Manager and Alternate Secretary of the Board of Directors of Grupo Gamesa (currently Pepsico); he was a Professor of Law at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Dean of the Department of Law at the University of Monterrey; Visiting Professor of Law, St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio, Texas; He represented the Tecnológico de Monterrey before the Justice Consortium of the Eurosocial Program of the European Union, is Co-Secretary General of the Group of 100 of the Center for Legal Innovation, Development and Research for Latin America, and member of that organization with number 63, is a member of the Mexican Academy of Private and Comparative International Law and of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He was a member of the Arbitration Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, of the Mexican Committee before the International Association of Legal Science of UNESCO and of the Mexican section of the Association Henri-Capitant des amis de la culture juridique français. Certified Arbitrator of the Nuevo León State Center for Alternative Methods of Conflict Resolution, was a member of the Arbitration Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.

1^The use of the names for the academic degree required for entering into practice law or to apply for the license required for the practice law, can be called by several names depending on the country or jurisdiction concerned; in some cases, it is called bachelor's degree, in others, bachelor's degree, and sometimes master's degree or even doctorate. However, it seems that regardless of the name used in each country (at least in the Romano-Germanic tradition, and to a certain extent also in that of the Common Law), the contents required to obtain such degree are not necessarily so different. For example, in Mexico the term "licensee" (licenciado) in law or juridical sciences is generally used to identify the academic degree that enables the new professional to obtain the professional license that allows such person to practice law, which implies studying between nine or ten academic semesters or its equivalent in academic quarters, that is, four and a half to five years when studying by semesters or years or around three years or a little more when studying by academic quarters. In other countries of the Romano-Germanic tradition, this same academic degree is called by other names, as is the case with the Bachelor of Laws degree in Peru, the Doctor of Laws in Uruguay, or the Master's degree in France and perhaps also in other European countries where the bachelor's degree is considered as an intermediate degree that is awarded after three years, but does not qualify for entering into the practice of law, since in these countries a Master's degree is required to apply for the license for being admitted into the practice of law. On the other hand, as a general rule in Common Law countries the degree required to apply for the examination that enables entry into the practice of law is a second bachelor's degree, which originally was called Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), but on or about the second half of the 1960s beginning in the Unites States changed its name for that of Juris Doctor (J.D.), a change that was later adopted in many other countries of the Common Law.

2^ In the mid-1970s, the illustrious American comparatist John Henry Merryman wrote : “The examination of legal education in a society provides a window on its legal system. Here one sees the expression of basic attitudes about the law: what law is, what lawyers do, how the system operates or how it should operate. Through legal education the legal culture is transferred from generation to generation. Legal education allows us to glimpse the future of the society. Those who will man the legal system and will fill those positions of leadership in government and the private sector that seem to fall more frequently to lawyers, at least in Western societies, come out of the law schools. What they are taught and how it is taught to them profoundly affect their objectives and attitudes and the ways in which they will fill these social roles.” Merryman, John Henry, "Legal Education There and Here: A Comparison." Stanford Law Review , vol. 27, no. 3, February 1975, p. 859. HeinOnline. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stflr27&div=49&id=&page= (Last accessed December 12, 2023) . In this sense, even though Merryman's commentary seems extremely accurate and revealing to me, I have the impression that in more than one way it fell short, because, although he indicates that “Legal education allows us to glimpse into the future of society,” I believe he falls short in his comment. I explain myself: I agree that by reviewing legal education we will actually find ourselves in a privileged position to understand the fundamental attitudes of those who will occupy the functions of operators of the legal system and of those lawyers who will occupy leadership positions in the government and the private sector. I also agree that what is taught in law schools, as well as the manner in which the law is taught, profoundly affects the attitudes and goals of lawyers themselves with respect to how they will perform these societal leadership roles. However, I would like to explain why I think that Merryman's opinion seems to fall short in his observations since reviewing the current state of legal education also shows that most law schools are training legal professionals without providing them with adequate tools to face the challenges of the global present and the future to come. Indeed, as I have stated on more than one occasion, in my opinion the Law – and by extension legal education – suffers from a constant and systematic outdatedness with respect to the dynamics of the reality of life, which, from my point of view, is also reflected in the way in which Law is taught. Therefore, I conclude that the window to the legal system to which the prestigious comparatist refers, necessarily also reflects this outdatedness with the existing reality and that the “glimpse into the future” to which he refers would seem to have a very limited projection, as limited as the existing outdatedness between the state of legal education and the reality it seeks to serve, since the projected future would be based on a system that is also outdated with the changing realities, needs and requirements of the world to come.

3^On this point, the American jurist David Gerber, during the congress celebrating the centenary of the 1900 Congress of Comparative Legislation, presented an article that opened with a stong comment: “Globalization brings laws and legal cultures into more direct, frequent, intimate, and often complicated and stressed contact. It influences what legal professionals want and need to know about foreign law, how they transfer, acquire, and process information, and how decisions are made. We might expect the field of comparative law, therefore, to be replete with efforts to comprehend globalization and its impacts on law and to develop strategies for dealing with them. If the central objective of comparative law as a discipline is to "know" foreign law, then these issues should be central to its project. So far, however, comparatists have paid relatively little attention to these influences and their implications.” Gerber, David J., Globalization and Legal Knowledge; Implications for Comparative Law, 75 Tul. L. Rev. 950. In this same line of thought, one can quote Prof. André Tunc, who in 1988 wrote: “As a preliminary point, one might ask why we teach comparative law or foreign law (for the moment, I do not distinguish between the two terms). This is a classic question. Let me recall the most obvious objectives: on the one hand, the culture and open-mindedness of our students and, on the other, the technical training of at least some of them (future professionals who will have an international activity or future teachers or researchers).” Tunc , André, “ L'enseignement du droit compare présentation” Revue international de droit comparé, Loc. Cit., P.703

4^ Perhaps this description is obvious; however, although it is often said that when something is obvious, it should be taken for granted (“ Because it is obviousness, it should be understood.”) the truth is that perhaps with the same frequency we also make the mistake of assuming that some things are self-evident – without necessarily being so – simply leaving the topics without an explanation that most of the time is necessary and required to adequately understand each topic, failing in appropriately explaining, expanding and deepening them, ignoring that the understanding of these topics is essential to advance firmly in the processes of intellectual formation, as well as in the search for knowledge. Furthermore, as Andy Hunt rightly points out in his book Pragmatic Thinking and Learning, “There is an inherent danger in decontextualized objectivity, that is, in trying to be objective about something after taking it out of its context.” Hunt, Andy. Pragmatic Thinking and Learning. Kindle Edition.” Hunt, Andy, Pragmatic Thinking & Learning Refactor Your Wetware, Kindle Edition, P. 35. Location 738 of 4149.

5^“. . . during my stay abroad, I conceived the idea of devoting, upon my return to Monterrey, part of my time permanently to trying to modernize the teaching of law in our State. Having confirmed my vocation for teaching, I made the decision to combine university teaching with the private practice of law as a consultant.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, Entrevista realizada al Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez, in “Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez; Vocación, Docencia y Derecho: Homenaje”, Monterrey, AAVV, Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 1999” pp. 19 – 45. – Also, reproduce in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Escritos Varios, Edición de la Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005. T. I, P. 65. During the 1950s, Dr. Arturo was a professor of Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nuevo León, as well as at the Tecnológico de Monterrey where he taught students of engineering, public accounting, business administration and other disciplines, since, except for the frustrated effort to open a law school at the Tec in 1959, an attempt that was arduously prepared but was eliminated even before it was born, since this school was never opened for even a single day (These stories were told to me by Lic. Ricardo Treviño García, of fond memory, who actively participated in that project and was a professor of law at the Monterrey Tech in 1959, as well as the sister of Lic . Arturo Quiroga Garza, who in 1959 was the administrative secretary of the president Monterrey Tech and, who – according to what she told me – was the person in charge of calling the students enrolled in the program to notify them that the Law degree would not be opened at the Monterrey Tech). Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech) did not open its first law degree program until 1978, first in Chihuahua (About the Campus.

https://tec.mx/es/chihuahua#:~:text=A%20principios%20de%201978%20se,de%20Administraci%C3%B3n%20Financiera%20con%2050. (Last consulted on December 12, 2023) and later in Monterrey in 1986.

6^“. . .your administrative period as Director in charge of our Faculty lasted from October 30, 1961 to October 18, 1963.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 67.

7^“The program that was drawn up included two fundamental aspects: first, to modernize the existing traditional curriculum and, second, to establish a permanent faculty, with full-time and part-time professors.” Ibid.

8^“This program offered students the opportunity to acquire a certain historical culture, to appreciate the evolution of ideas and social, economic and political institutions and, at the same time, to practice reading, comprehension and critical analysis methods, as well as group discussion, under the coordination and guidance of the professor in charge. In addition, it facilitated, to a large extent, the integration of the Social Sciences and Law. A similar subject was also taught in the law faculties of France under the name of History of Law and Social Facts.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 70.

9^“In reference to the matter of relations with foreign institutions, it is worth mentioning the contact established with the University of Bordeaux. It was agreed with the director of that Faculty of Law that the professors who came on a teaching mission to the French Antilles, specifically to Martinique, would stop in Monterrey on their way back to France and give lectures or courses on various subjects. This arrangement allowed our Faculty to receive, as lecturers, two directors of the Faculty and of Bordeaux and three of its teachers.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 75.

10^“-What guiding ideas did these innovations respond to? Could you, briefly mention the main ones? I will mention three. The first was to develop intelligence, “to form well-formed heads, rather than full heads,” according to Montaigne’s happy formula. Thought is the greatness of man, so it is important that each student knows how to think for himself and to think well. It is the responsibility of law schools to stimulate reflection, critical spirit and discernment. That is the way for students to develop their full potential and achieve their intellectual autonomy and their formation as people, in their essential dimensions. One of the most effective methods, although not the only one, is the Socratic or maieutic one. Through questions and interrogations by the professor, students improve their analytical and communication capacity, as well as personal contributions and possible solutions to problems emerging from such problems. The second idea was that the training of students should not be limited to being exclusively technical and legal, but should extend to the basic knowledge of social sciences to the adequately understand economic, political and social problems, and the world of culture. And the third concerns the importance of the internationalization of academic exchanges, knowledge and professional practice, through the study of other legal systems of the world. Now, at the end of the 20th century, this is already a commonplace and, on the other hand, an urgent and fundamental imperative in the stage of globalization in which we live. Flores Longoria, Samuel, Loc. Cit. T. I, Pp. 71 and 72.

11^This is a speculative twist, but I think that most probably this “student strike” was instigated by some members of the Faculty of Law at that time, since I assume that it was highly likely that they felt threatened by those changes of which they understood little or nothing.

12^ “Honorable University Council: I have repeatedly stated to law students and interns that a man of laws must be at the service of truth, justice and freedom. The circumstances that you broadly know – an unjustified strike and the demand of a group of students that I resign as Dean – put me in the position of appearing before you to testify, in the name of freedom, of what I consider to be truth and justice. As for the charges brought against me, I am able to refute them by proving their falsity. Is it a crime to propose to raise the academic level of a university school, to develop and progressively implement a technically conceived program; to try creating in students good work habits, a love for studying, a spirit for improvement; trying that students understand that true university education requires continued effort and persevering dedication; explaining that force and violence should not serve as arguments in a university? Is it a fault not to sacrifice the minimum academic requirements for the sake of a fictitious tranquility and an indecorous peace and not to compromise with simulation and fraud in teaching? Are these faults that this University Council should sanction? During my time at the head of the Faculty, I was not motivated by any other interest than that of loyally serving the University, seeking to raise the academic level, dignify university life and train professionals with a greater capacity to serve the community. – I am sure that none of the charges against me affect the rectitude of my purposes, the impartiality of my actions – without sectarianism of any kind – and my constant effort in fulfilling the obligations of my office. In actuality, the issue at hand is not only that of the Faculty of Law, it is not whether I should continue to lead it, but rather whether minority groups of students can infringe with impunity the Organic Statute of the University and the regulations emanating from this University Council. The institutional foundations of the University are at stake in this question. If the University Council agrees to such unfounded requests from students, which is equivalent to saying at their whim, this would constitute a disastrous precedent for the University of Nuevo León. Could the university authorities, under these conditions, claim that they are fulfilling their mission of preparing men of integrity with an awareness of their responsibility and a awareness of the general interest? Could they maintain that they are fulfilling the obligation of the University Regulations to ensure the prestige of the University, to contribute to the intellectual and moral formation of the student, to promote the values that the University must cultivate, the love of truth, the capacity for reflection, intellectual honesty, the spirit of research? Wouldn't this be sowing the seeds of university chaos? Someone has said that it is not the books that educate, but the men. We university officers have the unavoidable moral obligation to act in such a way that our conduct constitutes an example for the students redounding in the prestige of the University. The University officers shall be the institutional educators of the university youth. The University shall not take partisan or passionate attitudes, nor to buy the peace and tranquility of the University at the price of infringing the law, simulation or complacency, cowardice or servility. It is necessary that a tradition of hard work, intelligence and dignity be created at the University of Nuevo León. It is in the hands of the University Council to do so.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Message to the University Council (dated as of October 18, 1963), in Escritos Varios, , Edición de la Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005. T. I, pp. 43 to 45.

13^In 1971, the fourth Organic Statute of the University of Nuevo León was enacted granting autonomy to the university, which since then took the name by which it is now known today: Autonomous University of Nuevo León. " Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León ", in Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico , http://www.elem.mx/institucion/datos/3115#:~:text=En%201971%20se%20promulga%20la,Universidad%20Aut%C3%B3noma%20de%20Nuevo%20Le%C3%B3n (Last consulted on August 18, 2024). Nevertheless, doctor Salinas Martínez maintained a close relationship with many of the faculty's professors and students, but he never set foot in that school until December 2, 1999, when Mr. Helio Ayala Villarreal, then Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, convinced him to return to school and paid him a well-deserved tribute at his alma mater, for which doctor Salinas Martínez felt so much affection, but which had treated him so badly nearly 35 years ago. Cfr. Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Various Writings, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 59.

14^ “The intellectual formation of students of the Bachelor of Law degree supposes the acquisition of certain basic mental qualities: the capacity for analysis, reflection, reasoning and critical spirit; rigor, precision and the capacity for innovation and originality; discernment and good judgment.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Remarks spoken on December 2, 1999 on the occasion of the ceremony to unveil the plaque that gave the name of Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez to one of the postgraduate classrooms of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Various Writings , Edition of the Free Faculty of Law of Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005. T. I , pp. 89 and 90.

15^ “Young Students: I am extremely pleased to welcome you to this new Law School of the University of Monterrey. I am particularly pleased because I believe I find in you, who have chosen the study law, cultural concerns; the aspiration toward values such as justice and truth, enthusiasm, generosity and the noble ambition to fight to achieve an ideal; the awareness that you are taking the first steps on the path that leads to the full realization of your vocation as jurists and as men. In this school you will have to acquire a formation of intelligence and character, a formation that basically presupposes three things: work methods, intellectual qualities that characterize the jurist and awareness that to give life its real meaning it is necessary to embody certain values. This task requires decision, effort and perseverance. It is time to put an end to the myth, so widespread and disastrous, that law studies are easy, that they do not require a special vocation, nor qualified intelligence, nor willpower. The education of competent lawyers and true jurists, which Monterrey and Mexico demand, requires rigorous intellectual discipline, a broad base of humanistic culture and a solid moral education. I confide that you will know how to put all your ability and all your effort to achieve this goal. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the professors, the secretary and the dean of the Law School are in the best position to help you in your aspirations as students, that we believe, as has been said, that "teaching is a friendship" and that we are determined to provide the appropriate means and create favorable conditions to achieve a high academic level. I would also like to express my conviction that one of the prerequisites for all fruitful and effective action is the establishment of a continuous and permanent dialogue between students and professors and between professors and students and the office of the dean. To this end, you will find the doors always open. I hope that with the support of the University authorities and with the effort and active collaboration of all the members of this Law School, we will succeed in restoring seriousness to the study of law in our community and in turning this School, for the good of Nuevo León and Mexico, into a forge of men of integrity, competent professionals and mature citizens aware of their responsibility.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Palabras pronunciadas el 2 de septiembre de 1970 para dar la bienvenida a la primera generación de estudiantes de la licenciatura en Derecho de la Universidad de Monterrey”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Escritos Varios, Edición de la Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005. T. I , pp. 89 and 90.

16^ “One of the basic missions of the university is to train and qualify students so that, once they graduate, they can continue their education on their own initiative and under their own exclusive responsibility and direction. This training basically presupposes three things: a working method, the acquisition of certain intellectual qualities and a deep-rooted aspiration towards higher values. This is what education is ultimately about; someone has defined it as what remains after having forgotten what has been learned. “Methods,” said Nietzsche, “are the most valuable truths.” Indeed, they are indispensable for studying, for assimilating knowledge and for vitalizing it, preventing them from becoming inert heritage, for carrying out any work of scientific research and, in general, for carrying out true intellectual work. The intellectual qualities that characterize a jurist and must be particularly developed in the Faculties of Law are basically the capacity for both analysis and synthesis, critical spirit, precision, balance and objectivity in judgment. Awakening and enlivening the awareness of higher values, stimulating the effort to embody them in order to give meaning to existence, is the other essential element of university education. Being at the service of truth and justice is what confers dignity and greatness on our profession. It is, therefore, your mission to always seek the truth, passionately and selflessly, to recognize it wherever you find it, even if it has been discovered or is held by people from other groups, with different convictions and ideologies. It is necessary to fight to rescue the particles of truth that every error contains, since, ultimately, error is nothing but the abuse of truth, a truth outside its own orbit. This search for truth is an arduous and endless task, but it is a task that places man on the level of his true dignity.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Ceremonia de fin de estudios”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, pp. 15 and 16.

17^Among the formal, external and obvious axes we can highlight the following: a. Emphasis on fundamental subjects required for the practice of law in Mexico, including courses on Private International Law and Public International Law, b. Solid training on the methodology for legal research, c. Solid training in the history of law and social institutions, d. Solid training in economic and management disciplines, as well as in the economic and social problems of Mexico, and e . Emphasis and solid training in the study of Comparative Law. To this purpose, I have before me the program of the License of Law degree from the University of Monterrey as it was included in a publication made by the Division of Legal Sciences of this University on the occasion of its XV anniversary, and that except for some slight changes, it is the same program with which the school began . Cfr. AAVV, XV Aniversario de la División de Ciencias Jurídicas, México, Universidad of Monterrey, 1985. Pp. 18 to 21.

18^On this particular point, see the words spoken by Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez on November 10, 1961, at the ceremony for the presentation of letters to law students at the University of Nuevo Leon, reproduced here on this work. "Now, what are these pitfalls and dangers to which we referred to? The first, still within the professional field, is the routine and mechanization of the activity itself. To avoid this, before everything it is necessary to maintain uninterrupted contact with the science or sciences that you have learned here, so that they illuminate and fertilize the specific technique in question and to keep the spirit open to new perspectives. The second danger, and by far the most important, is the dehumanization that professionals and technicians incur when they isolate themselves in the domain of their own specialty, closing the windows of the spirit to everything that is foreign to the narrow field of their own professional interest. Dehumanization may be the consequence of a short-sightedness or a strabismus in terms of values, of a separation or disconnection from the world of culture, or of both at the same time. The first cause consists in considering technology as an end, making it the object of a cult, putting man at its service. It is forgotten, or it is wanted to forget it, that technology by its very nature is nothing more than a means, which exists for man, and which must always be subordinated to the realization of higher values. It is worth noting that the greater the skill and competence in the use of technology, a greater the social danger is presented by someone who is not properly educated to make a morally appropriate use of technology. Living disconnected from the world of culture is an attack on personality, produces some kind of vitamin deficiency, intellectual anemia, reduces and fragments vision, atrophies sensitivity, limits possibilities and prevents a harmonious development of man. But there is more: distancing from culture has repercussions, and not favorably, in the strictly professional field; “Anyone who is not in constant contact with culture will find it more difficult to become a good specialist.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Ceremonia de Graduación de los alumnos egresados del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (fechada el 20 de junio de 1955)”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Escritos Varios, Edición de la Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005.T. I., p. 5. “. . . you must basically acquire three things: working methods – knowing how to study, document, investigate, present, discuss-, the intellectual qualities that characterize the lawyer and the jurist -analytical capacity, sharpness and penetration of intelligence, critical spirit, objectivity in judgment- and, along with that, an aspiration, or, better said, a true passion for the higher values of justice, truth and goodness. This task requires decision, effort and perseverance. It is time to put an end to the disastrous myth that law studies are easy. The training of good jurists and lawyers requires concentrated dedication and serious intellectual discipline. I hope that you will know how to put your ability, your will and your enthusiasm in the achievement of these ends.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Palabras pronunciadas el 17 de noviembre de 1961 con motivo de la toma de posesión de la Sociedad de Alumnos de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Nuevo León”, en Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, p. 20. “The Faculties of Law, as institutions of higher education, have as their primary objectives, on one hand, to preserve, transmit and advance knowledge in legal matters and, on the other, to train upright and honest men, men with solid ethical formation. These two tasks are inseparable and if such Faculties do not carry out both they will be failing in their function and their mission. The Faculties of Law, therefore, have as their mission to train competent and honest professionals and, consequently, they must be concerned that their students fully assimilate the necessary technical-legal and social knowledge, acquire methods of intellectual work, consolidate and broaden their cultural base, revive and refine their conscience in certain higher values and orient and strengthen their wills to truly embody them, both in individual and social life.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Palabras pronunciadas el 5 de junio de 1963 con motivo sesión del Club Rotario en la que el tema fue la misión de la Facultad de Derecho”, en Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, p. 37. "Other basic orientations should be mentioned, such as: personalized attention to students; the integration of a true university community, with intellectual concerns and aspirations for intellectual training and intellectual training and with a participatory spirit based on the personal responsibility of each person; the application of modern working methods, with the most recent and effective techniques, such as the use of computers, for example, but without losing the orientation towards higher values and without the means becoming ends.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Entrevista realizada al Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez en agosto de 1988 durante los primeros días de trabajo lectivo de la Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey”, en Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 210.

19^“ In general terms it can be said that the primary objective of law schools is to train good legal professionals in a broad sense, capable of both the human and technical abilities required to fulfill their role in any of the various possible careers, whether as a practicing lawyers, as a judicial or administrative officials, as an advisors, consultants, professors, etc. However, this training basically involves the acquisition of intellectual work methods, the development of the intellectual qualities characterizing jurists, the assimilation of a wealth of technical-legal and social knowledge and the awakening of awareness of certain higher values and the stimulation of the effort to embody them in individual and social life, that is, ethical training. Teaching in a law school is therefore proposed not only practical, professional ends in the strict sense, but also scientific or theoretical ends, for the full understanding of the legal phenomenon, with general formative value and not purely technical. This truly university approach imposes certain guidelines in the formulation of a study plan, which in the particular case of the Faculty of Law are manifested in the following way: Firstly, by considering law not only as a set of norms currently in force, but as a social phenomenon, it is necessary to integrate legal subjects with the social and economic disciplines that constitute the framework for the operation and application of law. Hence, in the first year, Sociology and Economics courses appear and throughout the five years of the degree, a Course on the History of Law and Social Institutions was introduced, covering from Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages and Modern Age, to the evolution in Independent Mexico and ending with a Course on Comparative Law, in which, the historical study that we could call vertical, is replaced, on a horizontal level, by the study of the main legal systems, other than the continental European one that is ours, such as Anglo-Saxon and Soviet law. A strictly pragmatic approach would have been limited to the law in force in the country, and only to the study of the set of norms that make up the legislation. Secondly, the theoretical-scientific approach leads to considering not only the questions of what positive law is and how it came to be what it is, but also what law should be. This requires the inclusion in the program of theoretical subjects such as Theory of the State and Philosophy of Law, in which the fundamental and ultimate problems of this discipline are raised. Having briefly specified the aims of law teaching and its implications, we will now refer to the problem of working methods and their impact on the Study Plan. Since all intellectual training implies knowing how to study, knowing how to document oneself and knowing how to make presentations, in written or oral form, a Methodology Seminar was established in the first year at the Faculty of Law, with small groups of no more than 20 students, with the purpose of helping students develop good methods of intellectual work, improve their study technique, which will result in better achievement, learn the elements of research and the preparation of legal papers and essays, to start practicing the different types of exercises related to these methods and techniques. At the same time, it was planned that in the Methodology Seminar exercises on the translation of legal terminology from a foreign language would be carried out so that they would have this valuable work tools, and the reading of a good number of basic works for the general culture of men of law would be carried out, in addition to the readings of the Course on the History of Law and Social Institutions. On the other hand, from the second year onwards, two mandatory Seminars on Basic Subjects were established, as an institutionalization of active pedagogy, with the purpose of applying the methods of intellectual work and the documentation and research techniques learnt in the first year Methodology Seminar. To this end, work and exercises such as summarizing and commenting on readings, bibliographical research, problem solving, writing or commenting on judicial opinions, topics or dissertations, oral presentations, etc., are carried out. To underline the importance of these Seminars, the Regulations stipulated that any student who did not pass them would not have the right to sit the exam in the corresponding technical course. Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Palabras pronunciadas el 26 de abril de 1968 con motivo de un Coloquio sobre Planeación y Metodología de la Enseñanza Superior en la que el Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez fue invitado a disertar sobre las ideas directrices del Plan de Estudios que le tocó formular cuando fue Director de la Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Nuevo León”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. Pp. 53-55. Regarding this matter, I would like to share a thought that doctor Salinas Martínez attributed to Carles Péguy as part of the words he delivered on December 2, 1999, at the ceremony unveiling the plaque that gave the name of Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez to one of the graduate classrooms of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León: “The abstract is always nourished by the concrete, and the concrete is always illuminated by the light of the abstract.” Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Palabras pronunciadas el 2 de diciembre de 1999 con motivo de la ceremonia de develación de la placa que daba el nombre del Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez a una de las aulas de postgrado de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León”, in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, P. 93.

20^ “In the organization of law teaching, as of any other teaching, the first problem which arises is that of determining its aims or functions. What results is it desired to obtain from such teaching, and what qualities--in the widest sense of the term--is it hoped to develop in the students? The problem and it is a very real one -derives from the fact that several courses are open to those responsible for organizing the curriculum. The main choices with which they are faced, however, are two. They can either assign to a system of legal studies, as its sole aim or function, the training of men capable of 'working in law and more particularly of working in a legal profession; or they can add to this first objective the further one of training men to understand, as completely as possible, the actual 'nature' of law, considered as a phenomenon in itself. The first type of teaching would thus serve purely practical – in fact professional – aims. The second would combine practical and professional with other, strictly theoretical or scientific, purposes. In theory, a third course is possible – as simple as the first, and its exact antithesis – namely, concentration on the scientific or theoretical aspect alone. In practice, however, this course may be ignored, since the vast majority of future holders of law degrees and diplomas aspire to them, not because of their intrinsic intellectual value or in order to become teachers, but with a view to exercising a practical calling. While the training such men receive may thus quite legitimately go beyond the bare requirements and standpoints of their future profession, these cannot in practice be dispensed with. We shall therefore leave this third course out of consideration. The first and third courses represent, of course, the two widely differing approaches which any individual (and not merely a student in the strict sense of the word) may make to the study of law or any of its branches – on the one hand the practical approach, and on the other the scientific, the 'pure knowledge' approach – just as natural phenomena can be examined from the standpoint either of theoretical or of applied science. Eisenmann, Charles, The University Teaching of Social Sciences: Law. Report prepared for the International Association of Legal Science. Revised and enlarged edition.” Paris, UNCESCO. 1974. Pp. 17 and 18. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000002860 (Last consulted on April 6, 2024). The Eisenmann Report, as this document is frequently called, was originally prepared in 1954, but the revised version now cited was published in 1974. Eisenmann, Charles, Loc. Cit. P. 9 and Eisenmann, Charles, “Los Objetivos y la Naturaleza de la Enseñanza del Derecho”, in Wiker Velásquez, Jorge Alberto, (Compiler), Anthology of Studies on the Teaching of Law, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1995. P. 11

21^ In my opinion, that which should characterize a good jurist is not only the development of know-how skills, understood as an isolated skills without solid foundations, but rather – I believe – these skills should always be anchored in a clear understanding of why something is done; because I believe that a deep knowledge of legal institutions and the realities surroundings them are what truly enable law students – those who are in school and those who continue to prepare themselves during the professional practice of any legal profession – to understand and visualize solutions to practical and immediate problems, as well as to face much more complex, dynamic or with projection and transcendence that is not necessarily immediate, whether they are abstract or o pragmatic and functional questions. In short, I believe that this combination of skills and intellectual training is what helps to understand the underlying causes of institutions and the realities of the surrounding setting, as well as their consequences, enabling students to find solutions whose instrumentation and applied implementation are much more viable to be implemented and operated in the field of facts. Therefore, at this point, it is worth remembering that the dynamics of the present times often require that legal professionals – as well as perhaps in most professions – be adequately prepared to face and solve problems that were not even imagined in their student days. Thus, I do not believe that the program created and implemented by Dr. Salinas Martínez was intended to reach the levels of abstraction and theoretical training for which the great German universities are famous and also without any question about it, Dr. Salinas Martínez's purpose was not to train mere technicians in the practice of law, but quite the opposite, since it seems to me that the option he proposed sought to find a healthy balance between both possibilities. However, it must be recognized that some people, as well as some higher education institutions, have chosen as their final, and almost exclusive, destination, training in pragmatic solution tasks (know- how) of immediate application, limiting their commitment to the preparation of technicians who are awarded a university degree, Notwithstanding, even when I recognize that choosing the know-how and immediateness as a terminal destination is a valid and viable option, this option almost indefectibly, places these people graduating from these institutions in a position of highly limited persons who rarely can perform beyond the pragmatic and immediate limits of what they were trained for, cheapening the academic degrees of those institutions that provide a solid academic and intellectual training, creating also a great deal of confusion among the public (both those who have to choose the training program, as well as those who have to choose among the graduates of the different existing universities), because usually the general public is not informed regarding which institutions have opted between each educational model.

22^“For me and my colleagues, Comparative Law was of enormous importance because it allowed students to broaden their intellectual horizons and open up to new perspectives. It was a decisive step towards internationalization. Additionally, Comparative Law has an extraordinary pedagogical value, since comparison helps to better perceive the original features of our legal system and to promote international understanding through personal contacts, as well as knowledge on the methods of analysis and the psychology of foreign jurists. The main purpose of the course was to teach – in a first stage – the American legal system, that is, the Common Law, and then to cover other contemporary systems. On the other hand, I would like to point out that the new curriculum was the first one in México to establish Comparative Law as a mandatory subject, but only for students who followed the new curriculum.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, “Entrevista con el Lic. Samuel Flores Longoria” in Salinas Martínez, Arturo, Loc. Cit. T. I, pp. 70 and 71.

23^ In this regard, the comment made by Dr. Héctor Fix Zamudio in the early 1970s is of special interest: “Absence of an introductory course on comparative law and the major legal systems in our law schools and faculties -with the sole exception of that taught at the University of Monterrey, a private educational institution with a small student population, - since the one established at UNAM Law School on the initiative of the Spanish professor Felipe Sánchez Román - also founder of the Institute of Comparative Law of Mexico in 1940- subsisted until a few years ago in undergraduate studies, on an optional basis, and is currently not taught due to lack of professors.” Fix Zamudio, Héctor, “Setenta y cinco años de evolución del derecho comparado en la ciencia jurídica mexicana", in Fix Zamudio, Héctor Ensayos sobre metodología, docencia e investigación jurídicas, Unversidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1981. P. 327. This work had also been published with this same title in the collective volume LXXV años de evolución jurídica en el mundo. Fix Zamudio, Héctor, “Historia del derecho y derecho comparado” en AAVV, LXXV años de evolución jurídica en el mundo, UNAM, México, 1979, Volumen II, Pp. 155-189. “Although there are more than thirty schools and faculties of law in the Mexican Republic, most of them public and others private, only one of them - the University of Monterrey - regularly and permanently teaches a course on comparative law, and this only at the undergraduate level, but in none of the few that have established postgraduate studies. Fix Zamudio, Héctor, Loc. Cit. P. 364.

24^ The countries involved were Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Japan and France itself. AAVV, “L'enseignement de droit comparé (Journée d'étude organized by the Center français de droit comparé. Revue (International Comparative Law Conference , Paris , 22 April 1988) pp. 703 to 763. Although the questionnaire carried out by Prof. André Tunc was originally intended solely to inquire into the state of the teaching of Comparative Law in France, later to distinguished academics from West Germany, Belgium, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom and Switzerland were also invited, although the publication of the results only included the reports of the countries that responded on time, as well as those of some French professors and a brief report on the state of the art in Japan. The questionnaire prepared by Prof. Tunc included the following topics: 1. Placement of comparative law in the university curriculum, 2. Content of lessons, 3. Teaching methods, 4. Materials studied, 5. Educational logistics, and 6. Extension of national education. Cfr. Tunc, André, “The teaching of comparative law and presentation”, Revue international de droit comparé, Loc. Cit., P.703 – 706.

25^However, it should also be mentioned that in France there is a very important milestone that was unfortunately not included as a special section but only as an indirect reference in the 1988 reports listed in the Revue international de droit comparé ( Idem). I am referring to the International Faculty for the Teaching of Comparative Law (Faculté internationale por l'enseigement de droit comparé) of the Faculty of Law of the University of Strasbourg, founded in 1961 under the curate of the distinguished jurist Don Felipe de Solá Cañizares and his wife Doña Regina Toya de Solá Cañizarez. “On 11 April 1957, an International University of Comparative Sciences was created in Luxembourg, founded with the idea of organizing in Europe a postgraduate education of an international character, dedicated to the various sciences in the field of comparison. The University is international not only because of the subjects included in the curriculum, but also because of the nationality of its professors and students. The University is divided into faculties, the only one that has become operational to this day is the International Faculty of Comparative Law. Opened in August 1958, this Faculty is the long-held dream of comparatists, becoming a reality for the first time in the history of legal education. It is conceived as a comprehensive teaching of comparative law and foreign law, with the addition of a section devoted to supranational organizations, such as the European communities.” s/a, “The Two First Sessions of the International Faculty of Comparative Law (Luxembourg, August 1958, April 1959)”, in: S/A, International Review of Comparative Law. Vol. 11 No. 2, April-June 1959. P. 414. https://www.persee.fr/doc/ridc_0035-3337_1959_num_11_2_12043 (Last consulted on August 9, 2024). “The International Faculty of Comparative Law, created in 1961 under the auspices of the International Association of Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law of Strasbourg, is the oldest European institution teaching comparative law and the main contemporary legal systems. Since its foundation, and long before the international globalization of trade, the International Faculty of Comparative Law has been driven by a strong conviction: the training of a national lawyer could not claim to be complete without knowledge of foreign laws and their particularities. At a time when trade and financial exchanges are experiencing spectacular growth in the world, which results, if not in erasing, at least in gradually putting borders into perspective, the jurist can even less be content to remain solely within his national framework. This is also subject to powerful external influences, whether through European regulations (Council of Europe, European Union), or through recourse to institutions or solutions taken from laws other than national law, which show the permeability of national legal systems, attesting the influence that certain systems can have on others. Thus, since the foundation of the International Faculty of Comparative Law, comparative law has become a specific tool of national legislative policies, as has been observed particularly in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and beyond, since 1989. Teaching on the International Faculty of Comparative Law – taught in French and English – has been carried out, from the beginning, by multinational teams of professors, coming from the universities of the different major legal systems. They are intended for students who already have a basic legal knowledge and who are completing their second cycle (bachelor’s or master’s degree) or their third cycle (postgraduate, doctoral students). The Faculty usually holds a three-week spring session each year in Strasbourg, which generally includes a first and second cycle and sometimes a third cycle. Whenever possible, a summer session is organised at a foreign university that agrees to host, for three weeks, the cycles that can be organised there. Brochure of the Faculté Internationale de Droit Compare https://www.unistra.fr/uploads/media/DroitCompareNoticeInfo.pdf (Last consulted on 7 August 2024). I am not unaware that there is a discrepancy in the dates of these two citations, 1957 and 1961, and although I have not found any information that would allow me to resolve this discrepancy, it seems to me that since they are about the same institution, what happens is that the date 1957 corresponds to the formal founding of the institution in Luxembourg and the first courses taught, while the second date 1961 corresponds to the beginning of the permanent work of the faculty once it was accepted by the University of Strasbourg, but I am aware that this is an issue that needs to be clarified. Blanc-Jouvan, Xavier, “Reflexion sur l'ensegnement du droit comparé” , Revue International Comparative Law , Loc. Cit. , p. 754. Here it is also worth mentioning the conversations held between Mr. Felipe de Solá Cañizares and Dr. Arturo Salinas Martinez on the occasion of the establishment of the Institute of Comparative Law at the University of Nuevo León: “I immediately contacted Dr. Felipe de Sola Cañizares, Vice Director of the International Faculty for the Teaching of Comparative Law in Strasbourg, whom I had had the opportunity to meet in Paris 13 years earlier. Dr. Solá dedicated his life to the dissemination of Comparative Law in the world, through the organization of Faculties, Institutes and Associations of Comparative Law. For this reason he deserved to be named as Perpetual Secretary General of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Dr. Solá Cañizares, as Delegate of the Société de Législation Comparée, organized in 1948 the first Latin American Legal Conference in Paris - which I had the privilege of attending - and, that same year, the second Conference in Montevideo. Both were very successful. Likewise, under the auspices of the International Faculty of Strasbourg, he promoted, 15 years later in Mexico City, several five-week work sessions with prominent European and North American jurists. Dr. Solá was very pleased wit the creation of the Institute of Comparative Law in Monterrey and enthusiastically offered to support it.” Flores Longoria, Samuel, Loc. Cit. T. I, PP. 74 and 75. “The International Association of Comparative Law and the International Faculty for the Teaching of Comparative Law will celebrate their tenth anniversary this year during the legal conference that will take place from March 31 to April 3, 1971. The International Association of Comparative Law, with its headquarters in Paris, was founded in 1960 with the aim of promoting the teaching of comparative law in an international environment and encouraging the exchange of ideas and contacts between professors and students of all nationalities. Its inspiration was Professor Felipe de Sola Cañizares, director of the Institute of Comparative Law of Barcelona and perpetual general secretary of the International Academy of Comparative Law. The Association immediately created the International Faculty for the Teaching of Comparative Law, with its headquarters in Strasbourg. Mr. Rodière , professor at the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences in Paris, was appointed Dean and Mr. de Solâ Cañizares vice-dean. The latter, who was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing the Faculty sessions, devoted himself to it with great competence and dedication and the Faculty was very successful from the beginning and quickly acquired great prestige.” S/A “ Dix ans d'activity of the Faculté internationale for l'enseignement du droit comparé .” in: Revue internationale de droit comparé. Vol. 22 No. 4, October-December 1970. P. 741

26^In this sense, professors Xabvier Banc-Jouvan and André Tunc have commented that Comparative Law had a period of splendour in post-war France: “ after having experienced a favourable period following the last world war, at a time when the foundations of a new international society were being laid,” Blac-Jouvan , Xavier, “ Presentation de la Journée d'information et de réflexion sur « l'enseignement du droit comparé ».,” AAVV, “ Journey d'information et de réflexion sur « l'enseignement du droit comparé », Revue international de droit compared, France, Quarantine (1), October-December 1988. P. 701. “After the war, we had the feeling of witnessing a great development of teaching and research in comparative law, driven in particular, in France, by René David and Marc Ancel . ” Tunc , André, “ L'enseignement du droit compar présentation ” Revue international de droit comparé, Loc. Cit., P.703.

27^In this paper I do not intend to make a review of the literature developed from the end of the 19th century to the present day, but at least to point out some important milestones related to the teaching of Comparative Law, because I assume that if there was interest in teaching it, that necessarily implies that the subject was considered important enough to be taught and discussed, as well as that there was sufficient material to support a course of this nature. Friedmann, WG, “ The Teaching Of Comparative Law. An Innovation at the University of Melbourne” , Australia, University of Western Australia Annual Law Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1948. Pp. 90—92. St. Rozmaryn, “ L'enseignement du droit comparé ”, Hungary, Acta Juridica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Volume 13 (1-2), 1971. Pp. 181-185. Fauvarque-Cosson Bénédicte. “ L'enseignement du droit comparé ”, Revue internationale de droit comparé. Vol. 54 No. 2, France, Avril—Jun 2002. pp. 293-309; doi: https://doi.org/10.3406/ridc.2002.18746 AAVV, “L'enseignement de droit comparé (Journée d'étude organized by the Center français de droit comparé. Paris, 22 avril 1988) Pp. 703 a763.

28^ Eisenmann, Charles, Loc. Cit. P. 11

29^ Salinas Martínez, Arturo, “Conference at the Rotary Club”, in AAVV, , Various Writings, Edition of the Free Faculty of Law of Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, 2005. T. I, P. 41. On this matter, it should be specially noted the Congress on Legal Education held in Mexico City in 1959 (AA.VV., Conferencia de Facultades y Escuelas Latinoamericanas de Derecho, Ciencias Sociales y Políticas: memoria (1 : abril 1959 : México). http://dspaceudual.org/handle/Rep-UDUAL/219 (Consultado por última vez el 4 de agosto de 2024)), in Lima, Perú, en 1961 (AA.VV., Conferencia de Facultades y Escuelas Latinoamericanas de Derecho, Ciencias Sociales y Políticas: memoria (2 : abril 1961 : Lima, Perú). http://dspaceudual.org/handle/Rep-UDUAL/330 (Consultado por última vez el 4 de agosto de 2024)), and also in Santiago de Chile, en 1963 (AA.VV., Conferencia de Facultades, Escuelas de Derecho, Ciencias Jurídicas, Políticas y Sociales Latinoamericanas : acuerdos de plenarios (edición provisoria) (3 : 1963 : Valparaíso; Santiago de Chile, Chile). http://dspaceudual.org/handle/Rep-UDUAL/255 (Consultado por última vez el 4 de agosto de 2024)).

30^ Perhaps someone could come forward because this has not happened before in any other university in the world, but besides the fact that they lacked the key man, the truth is that the great universities of the world could not have done it – and they did not – because they are victims of their own prestige which they do not want to risk, in addition to their own bureaucratic systems that prevent them from implementing great changes because in these institutions any significant change in institutional implementation is practically impossible and implies a level of wear and tear that almost no one is willing to attempt, because it is almost like trying to push a lying elephant, and if this happens with large and prestigious schools, it must be said that generally institutions that are not so large, nor so prestigious, are rarely willing to take risks that would take them away from the mainstream.

31^ As explained, according the vision of Dr. Arturo Salinas Martinez, the courses of history of law should serve for three purposes: firstly, with a series of 7 courses reviewing on history and social institutions that are the pillars of Western Law, from Greece to contemporary Mexico, ("The Faculties of Law have, therefore, the mission of training competent and honest professionals and, consequently, they must be concerned that their students fully assimilate the necessary technical-legal and social knowledge, acquire methods of intellectual work, consolidate and expand their cultural base, revive and refine their conscience in certain higher values and guide and strengthen their wills to truly embody them, both in individual and social life." "Keynote at the Rotary Club", in AAVV, Various Writings, Edition of the Independent School of Law of Monterrey, Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon, 2005. T. I, p. 54), the second should be to familiarize the student with some of the most important documents written the historic development of humankind, and to teach the students to be more knowledgeable and competent in the development of the Law, to promote the understanding of what Dr. Salinas Martínez called the "higher values" ( As far as I understand, the induction and familiarization with some of the most important writings of the historical development of humanity to promote the understanding of the "higher values" has not always occurred due to situations and problems that exceed the scope of this note, but which I believe should be explored.), and the third, would be to serve as an introductory basis for the course on the great legal systems of the world today.

32^ Originally, legal terminology courses in languages other than Spanish included French, Italian and English legal terminology, but to this day these courses have been limited only to just French and English terminology.

33^Without a doubt, my training bears the imprint of Dr. Arturo Salinas Martínez and I believe that this is reflected in all areas of my life, in addition to the fact that, naturally, I am a member of his School of Law. Similarly, having developed a large part of my professional career as an academic, I believe that in my teaching work I have been a continuator of Dr. Salinas' school, which is why I have entitled this section: the baton in my hands.

34^ There is a sentence from Acción Poética that my son – Carlos Gabuardi López – has over the piano in his living room, and I identify with that sentence: “I sleep little, but I dream a lot.” Without a doubt, I have always been a dreamer but the anchor that has kept me with my feet on the ground has been necessity, so if it I may tell it, the truth is that I have always been looking at and aiming to the stars, but life, its demands and its needs have always kept me with my feet on the ground. From my early days in Law School, I wanted to be an independent practitioner and I thought that in addition to my practice as a lawyer, this could be complemented with academic endeavors. I aimed to be a great lawyer and a renowned professor of Law, and my role models were Dr. Salinas, Dr. Korzeniak and the great jurists I had met as lecturers and visiting professors during my years in Law School. The first opportunity to become a teacher was given to me by Mr. Baudelio Castillo Flores, who was then Dean of the School of Humanities at Universidad Regiomontana and thanks to Mr. Castillo, I received the opportunity to teach two evening courses at the business school of that university, one on Negotiable Instrument and Credit Transactions and the other one on Commercial Companies and Corporations. Once I came across a call for papers to publish a scientific article in a journal that the university was launching at that time and that was how I wrote and published my first work: “The government control of private prices.” However, my first academic experience was very short because in the mid-80s I moved from the stability and regular schedules of corporate lawyer with a predominantly domestic focus, to the risk and dynamism of the independent practice in the field of Private International Law and Comparative Law.

35^ From the very beginning, it was clear to me that my professional practice was complemented and greatly enriched by my training and knowledge on Comparative Law. My transition from corporate law to independent practice of Private International Law and Comparative Law occurred through a rather smooth process. While I was working at Gamesa, Mr. Lauro Cavazos de la Garza (who was my direct boss and Gamesa's Legal Director) invited me to participate in a very interesting international litigation business that required me to frequently traveling to Brownsville, Texas. Thus, Providence took me back to Brownsville where, on the recommendation of my friend, Lic. César Treviño Sáenz, I was hired to represent a Texas bank in its various Mexican businesses, in matters that included everything, from doing litigation in Mexico to providing advice on corporate, contractual, operational and administrative banking matters. During those years I litigated intensively in Matamoros and almost all northern Tamaulipas, and thanks to my friend Ramón del Villar, I also began to advising American Law Firms on Mexican law issues raised before Texas courts, issuing opinions and testifying on Mexican law in these cases, mainly on matters related to matters of conflicts of laws and forum non conveniens . My relationship with the MBank (now Wells Fargo) allowed me to consolidate my friendship and professional relationship with Mr. Ramón del Villar, an excellent Mexican lawyer living in Brownsville whom life had turned into an extraordinary legal translator and interpreter and whose good judgment and keen legal sense surprised me since I met him through the case that Mr. Lauro Cavazos had originally referred to me. Likewise, and also thanks to Ramón, I established a good relationship with “The Reynaldo Garza Law School” and some of the members of the faculty (“The Reynaldo Garza Law School ” was a failed attempt to establish a law school that is still highly needed in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, but that will be a story for another time.) Around that time – it was 1986 – one of the professors at that school suggested me to write a comparative study of the Mexican Constitution and the United States Constitution, and so I did. I wrote what was to be my first research paper on Comparative Law, a paper of over 100 pages that I have never published, but which I still hope to publish one day, and now looking back on it I think about how the influence of Drs. Salinas Martínez and Korzeniak were also present in my first research of a comparative nature.

36^ My hiring was kept secret until it was formally announced during a breakfast meeting to which all the law professors of the School of Law and Social Sciences of the University of Monterrey were invited. The meeting ended at about 10 in the morning and, about 11, I received a phone call from Mrs. García Segura who told me with the trust and affection she had for me: “Carlos, Dr. Salinas wants to see you and is expecting you at such and such a time here at the Law School.” I answered the call without hesitation because the affection that we had for Dr. Salinas made his moral authority over us moved us to compel us with almost filial obedience. Frankly, Dr. Salinas did not expect what had happened, nor did he like the fact that I had been hired by the University of Monterrey, but he was satisfied when I told him: “Doctor, I am being hired to preserve your educational work at the UDEM and frankly, I do not think it is fair that after 18 years of dedication and hard work at the University of Monterrey, your work should be lost and, on the other hand, I think it is very important for Monterrey to have more than one high-quality law school based on your work.” My response satisfied Dr. Salinas and I think that, in some way, at the end of that meeting, I left with his blessing. However, looking back, I think that Dr. Salinas’s experience, his own knowledge and the deep vision allowed him to anticipate what would actually happen... I continued seeing Dr. Salinas regularly until shortly before his death, and I was also disciple or friend of practically all the founders of the Independent School of Law of Monterrey, friendships that I still keep to this day. However, I must say that my hiring at UDEM had a shocking effect on me – far beyond what I could have expected – since in those days what I consider to have been my true academic vocation finally emerged, to the point that my life began to revolve around it and my activities in the independent practice of the profession became increasingly reduced, with the devastating economic consequences that this entailed.

37^ I taught the methodology course for two semesters, but then I was able to hire qualified professors to teach the methodology courses, and at first, all of them were graduates from the Independent School of Law of Monterrey.

38^ 5 US (1 Cranch) 137

39^ 347 US 483 (1954)

40^ Both Mr. Amaya and Dean Aldave were committed to carrying out a joint program between the two law schools and that commitment was the first step towards the creation of the “ Joint Venture: A Study and Training Program” Program for US and Mexican Business Lawyers .” The first meeting to prepare for a joint program was attended by Dean Aldave and my friend Wayne Fagan, representing St. Mary's , and Lic. Heriberto Amaya and I, representing UDEM. I volunteered to write the memorandum that would summarize our conversations and establish the methodological bases of the program because it seemed to me that only by doing so would I be able to take advantage of my professional experiences in legal relations between Mexico and the United States, and it also seemed essential to me that a binational program such as the one we were envisioning should be developed on methodological bases supported by the method of Comparative Law. The memorandum that I wrote spoke of a type of program that would be developed through individual sessions in each of the two countries and joint sessions that would be developed alternately in San Antonio and Monterrey. The “ Joint Venture,” which was the name adopted by the program, began as a three-semester diploma course, although the second edition only lasted two semesters. From the beginning it became clear that we should strategically take advantage of the good spirit of friendship and cooperation that had been established between Mexico and the United States of America in order to establish a North American Free Trade Agreement that would include Mexico, the United States and Canada. The idea would be to educate and train lawyers from both countries to function and operate, actively and constructively, with their counterparts from the other country and with an approach that combined a solid theoretical framework and an eminently pragmatic approach. During the individual sessions, Mexican lawyers and professors would go to San Antonio to teach selected topics of Mexican law to American lawyers, while simultaneously American lawyers and professors would come to Monterrey to teach the same selected topics, but in this case, as they are treated by Anglo-American law. The joint sessions were to be conducted as workshops in which the knowledge developed after each two individual sessions was to be put into practice, with the understanding that the exercises in the joint workshops were to be conducted with teams made up of lawyers from both countries so that American and Mexican lawyers could operate as they do in daily international practice. Thus, in the spring semester of 1993, Dean Aldave invited me to join as a visiting professor at the University of Santa Maria School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. When I mentioned the situation to Mr. Amaya, he told me that I should take advantage of the opportunity that was presented to me, suggesting that I go for a whole year, and for this Mr. Amaya obtained the approval of UDEM.

41^ Thus, what was originally intended to be a six-month stay in the United States ended up taking almost four years.

42^ Immediately, two professors expressed our interest in joining that program. One was my good friend Jorge Castañeda, with whom I would then begin a journey of more than 25 years of good friendship, and the other one was me. Once again, my dreams were coming true. I was officially admitted to the doctoral program at Tulane University and after having taken a preparatory course in the spring of 1999, I attended the summer courses that Tulane offered at McGuill University in Montreal, fulfilling with it another long-cherished dream, since during Law School, Dr. Salinas had commented in his Comparative Law course that in the province of Quebec, in Canada, the two legal traditions of the contemporary world coexisted together: that of the Common Law and the Romano-Germanic Tradition. At MacGuill I especially remember the professors of great influence in the field of Comparative Law, whom I had the honor of having as teachers: H. Patrick Glenn ( H. Patrick Glenn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Patrick_Glenn – Last consulted on August 2, 2024) , William Tetley ( William Tetley , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tetley – Last consulted on August 2, 2024) and Thomas E. Carbonneau (https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/_file/CV/Carbonneau_CV.pdf – Last consulted on August 2, 2024), who would become my doctoral thesis advisor. Later, in the fall of 1999, the courses began in Monterrey and I spent the summer of 2000 at the Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, and once again another of my dreams come true. Tulane is one of the most prestigious universities in the world in the field of Comparative Law and for further inspiration, my study place in the library was under the painting of the distinguished Mexican jurist Don Rodolfo Batiza, who left a deep mark on Tulane University School of Law, both for his intellectual stature and for his gentleman manners.

43^ PALMER, Vernon, “Mixed Jurisdictions Worldwide: The Third Legal Family.”, Palmer, Vernon Valentine (ed.), Mixed Jurisdictions Worldwide: The Third Legal Family , United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2001.

44^ Almost without realizing it, my Comparative Law course placed special emphasis on the state of legal traditions in North America where another phenomenon of great interest for comparative law also occurs, since under two written constitutions of a presidential nature, that of the United States of America and that of Mexico, with two virtually identical supremacy clauses, have developed two very different legal systems coming from the different view of two legal traditions (that of the Anglo-American Common Law and Romano-Germanic traditon) and where also – in Canada – it exists and operates an unwritten constitution of a monarchical and parliamentary character.

45^In the British Common Law, the method of analyzing judgments under the generic name of Ratio Decidendi includes both the answers to the questions raised in the litigation as well as the reasoning supporting the answers to those questions (i.e. the legal argument or motivation for the opinion) (Cfr. Taruffo, Michele, Legal certainty and judicial precedents, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzWCJQwlA9s (Last consulted on July 14, 2024) & Cfr. Cross, Rupert, Harris, JW, Precedents in English Law, 4th. Ed., Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1991)); while in Anglo-American Common Law, which in this sense has greatly influenced Canadian Common Law, the method for analyzing judgments clearly distinguishes between the questions raised (the issues), the answers that the court gives to those questions (the holdings), and the Ratio Decidendi itself, i.e. the reasoning (which includes the assessment of both factual and legal elements) supporting the holdings or answers to the questions raised (i.e. the legal argument or motivation of the judgment). In my opinion, this has been a serious mistake made in the process of transplanting the process of judgment analysis followed by the Common Law, because on the one hand the Mexican legal tradition is closer to the sphere of influence of the United States of America in every sense, including the intellectual and the legal, but also, on the other hand, the method followed by the Anglo-American Common Law is much more easily intelligible for our legal culture. In addition to all the above, I would also have to say that the confusion in the use of the method followed by the British has not only not contributed to improving the Mexican technique on judgment analysis but has plunged it into even deeper confusion, but this is a subject that I still have pending for another of my works..

46^ Therefore, starting from the spring semester of 2020, the syllabus and development of my Comparative Law course was as follows: a. Introductory module, b. The Romano-Germanic legal tradition, c. The legal tradition of the Common European Law, Anglo-American Law , d. The Canadian hybrid system: the coexistence of the Romano-Germanic and Common Law legal traditions Law , e. Mexico: Are we moving towards a hybrid system? (The Mexican system of precedents after the Judicial Reform of 2020), and f. Conclusions.

47^ My contact during this process was Professor Zoe Nielsen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Saint Mary's University School of Law.

48^ The contact at St. Mary's to plan the way in which this course would be delivered was Professor Zoe Nielsen and when I put this idea to her, her response was very positive. The course that I developed for the spring semester of 2024 was very well received by the course participants, and among all of them, only two were men. Thus, I developed the syllabus in English as follows: a. Language as an open window to different worlds and worldviews, b. Exploring Spanish legal terminology, is it enough? Probably not, but it is a start, c. Something about legal geography: the main legal traditions of the world today, d. Eastern culture, Western culture and everything else, e. Legal traditions of the current world, f. Why Spanish?, Why Mexico?, g. Bijuralism in Canada and Puerto Rico, h. An identical supremacy clause: two different legal traditions, i. The legal system developed in the United States and Mexico under the supremacy clauses of each country, j. International treaties, k. Uniform laws, are not really treaties but. . ., l. Arbitration protection for investment treaties, m. Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, n. Human Rights in Mexico and articles 1, 14, 16 and 17 of the Mexican Constitution, o. How the legal phenomenon is understood and categorized in the United States and Mexico, i. Systems of Law and Equity , ii . The Mexican legal system: Public Law and Private Law, Civil and Commercial Law, Social Law, Humanitarian Law, p. Codes and Legal Precedents in Mexico (Sources of Law in the Mexican Legal System), q. The role of codes in civil law systems with a particular focus on Mexico (The role of codes in the Romano-Germanic tradition), r. Legal Representation and Powers of Attorney, s. Legal Entities and the structuring of businesses, t. The individual person, kinship, parental authority and civil status (The person, filiation, parental authority and civil status), u. Contracts, v. The Mexican Trust, w. Civil Litigation, the Amparo Procedure and the organization of the Mexican Judicial System, x. Arbitration, y. Legalization of Foreign Documents, the enforcement of foreign judgments and foreign arbitration awards, z. Intellectual property, aa. Labor law and labor procedures, bb. Housing and Social Security Authority, cc. Successions and bankruptcies (civil and commercial bankruptcy), dd. The Mexican Financial System, ee. Credit Contracts and Promissory Notes, ff. Legal Advice to Spanish-Speaking Residents in the United States, gg. Legal Advice to Spanish-Speaking Residents in the United States, hh. Doing Legal Business in the Spanish-Speaking World, ii. Looking to the Future, jj. Consolidation and Conclusion.

49^ I took my first steps as a teacher at U-ERRE using a textbook and the method of presenting each of the topics throughout the course sessions. Then, in 1990, when I began to work at the University of Monterrey, my teaching method continued to be based on the presentation of the topics, although now I no longer used a textbook, but rather selected materials for the development of each of the topics. This happened because the Spanish edition of the book “Los Grandes Sistemas Jurídicos Contemporaneos” had already been out of print for many years and, of course, there was no Internet, so that access to information and bibliographic sources was limited to libraries, which in Monterrey were rarely sufficient or adequate to provide the type of documentary sources required to develop content such as that included in the course. However, although in the part where I explored Anglo-American Law I intended to use another method, that of assigning readings and guided discussions, this almost never happened, because although I did assign readings, the students rarely (if not never) fulfilled their reading assignments and in the end this author was the one who ended up presenting the content that had to be covered, which, in my opinion, occurred mainly because there were not enough or adequate tools to verify that the students had really read the assigned readings, because the system of requesting the classes normally revealed that in fact nobody or almost nobody had read the assigned materials, in addition to the fact that the courses were evaluated mainly through three partial exams and a semester exam, so that the assignment of points for completion of the reading assignments lacked an objective basis since everything depended on the subjective assessment of the professor, and finally, because it gave me the impression that in the perception of the students, they considered the Comparative Law course as a filler subject without practical content, because for reasons Natural, justified and easily explained, most students have a special interest and inclination in those subjects that, in their opinion, bring them closer to the practice of law as they imagine it. Later, at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, when I prepared my course, I prepared the course based entirely on reading articles from law journals that I had obtained by taking advantage of the resources provided to me by my status as a Tulane student, so that I not only had access to Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis, but also by then the Internet was a reality, giving access to the countless bibliographic resources available on the Internet. However, during all my years at the Tec, as well as during the spring semester of 2020, my experience was the same. The students did not read and I was the one who ended up presenting the classes as lectures on each of the topics that should be covered in each session.

50^Perusall ( https://www.perusall.com 255 (Last accessed August 4, 2024)) is a free tool, for educators and developed by educators that was developed by a small group of professors at Harvard University in 2015 under the leadership of physics professor Eric Mazur ( http://ericmazur.com/full_bio.php (Last accessed August 4, 2024)). This tool allows the professor to upload to its platform different types of learning resources, such as videos, lectures, YouTube videos, audios, books, journal articles and all kinds of pdf materials). The point is that students must review and comment on all assignments that appear on Perusall, providing the teacher with the possibility of verifying and scoring the effective completion of these assignments. Naturally, if one were to give students complete freedom to use or not use the tool, my impression is that most of them would not do so, so it is advisable that the use of this tool be accompanied by a percentage of points assigned to the semester grade of the course in question. In my course, daily work and active participation in class is the most important thing because it seems to me that constant and daily learning is better and deeper than the isolated and rushed efforts made with the exclusive purpose of passing monthly or semester exams. Consequently, I assign to Perusall’s daily work a value of 70% of the total for the course, to the partial exams 10% (10% if there is one, and 5% each if there are two) and 20% to the semester exam, which includes all the materials reviewed during the course. The readings are assigned weekly and are reviewed in class after the students have had the opportunity to comment on them. Readings are scheduled to be due no later than Saturday of each week and students are encouraged to schedule their time to do the readings and submit their comments bit by bit, but experience has shown that most students submit their comments right on the las minute when time is almost up. When we were first reviewing this tool for everyday use during courses, a professor asked how students might try to cheat, and I discovered this almost from the first semester I used this tool, and this is what I found after using such tool for a couple of semesters. There are students who try to use verbiage as a comment and others copy and paste things from Wikipedia or some other website. So, to control this aspect, the first sieve to control is given thanks to the fact that each and every one of the students' comments are initially reviewed by the artificial intelligence system included in the tool itself and although it is getting better and better, often the artificial intelligence does not necessarily detect verbiage or the rough copies. The second filter, which I believe is the most important, occurs when the instructor's review the course comments, and it is relatively easy to detect cheating because in these cases the use and level of language usually does not correspond to that of the students, or the response reveals the inclusion of advanced elements that do not correspond to the level at which the students are. However, even when students try to cheat, this necessarily implies that they have to review the materials, even if only briefly, that they have to evaluate where they are going to put the comments, and they have to read and weigh the comments that they cut and paste, so that even when trying to cheat, the review of the assigned materials is much better than what happened before, when they simply did not even touch the assigned materials. In a way, it's like those students who try hard to make a super cheat sheet to take out during the exam, resulting in a process in which they had to put so much effort reviewing and summarizing the course materials that they end up not using such resource because the end result of making that cheat sheet is that they had to study, analyze, understand, and review all the course materials resulting in that they end up learning the course content very well.

51^ Unfortunately, practically nothing remained of Dr. Salinas' attempt at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nuevo León, since he lasted a little less than a year as director of the school, from October 30, 1961 to October 18, 1963, the date on which the University of Nuevo León kicked him out, and I get the impression that at that time what they really wanted to do at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nuevo León was damnatio memoriae .

52^At the University of Monterrey, after the break with Dr. Salinas thanks to the efforts of Mr. Amaya, the program lasted a few more years, perhaps 8, from 1988 to 1995, but the pressures to homogenize law studies to the criteria used for the rest of the university programs finally prevailed and today I believe that from Dr. Salinas' program only the subject of Comparative Law survives, a single course on the history of law and possibly some course on the methodology of legal research.

53^“In France, at the moment, we are all thinking, I suppose, of a course on the great contemporary legal systems, following the model of René David's Dalloz, now bequeathed to Camille Jauffret-Spinosi.” Tunc , André, “ L'enseignement du droit comparé présentation” Revue international comparative law , Loc . Cit., p.704. However, in the case of Mexico – and perhaps this is also the case in other countries whose official language is not French – the availability of René David's book is frankly limited and the translations of the French editions, in addition to referring to editions that are only exceptionally the latest French edition, have normally been published in very small print runs that are easily sold out. David, René; Jaufrfret-Spinosi, Camille, Les grans systèms de droit contemporains , Paris,11th ed., Dalloz, 2002. In this sense, what happened with the translation by Dr. Jorge Sánchez Cordero is an exception, since the book is available free of charge in the collection of the Institute of Legal Research of the UNAM. David, René; Jaufrfret-Spinosi, Camille, The Great Contemporary Legal Systems (Edition, translation and notes by Jorge Sánchez Cordero), Mexico, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Institute of Legal Research of the UNAM, Mexican Center for Uniform Law and Free School of Law of Monterrey, 2010. ( https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx/www/bjv/libros/6/2792/1.pdf (Last consulted on August 18, 2024). The 12th edition of The Great Contemporary Legal Systems is currently available and the new heir to its update is Professor Marie Goré: “WARNING FOR THE 12TH EDITION. In 1982, René David wrote in the preface to the tenth edition of The Great Systems of Contemporary Law: “Upon reaching retirement age, I stopped preparing a new edition.” This is the same reason that led me to entrust the fate of this cult book of post-war comparatists to Marie Goré. I believe that René David would have approved my choice. The task is not easy: to preserve the spirit and the central idea of the work, to allow all those interested in a foreign legal system to have a first general approach to it, being aware that the world, and therefore the world of law, has changed a lot and the reader of today is no longer the same as that of the 1960s or 1970s. The last edition dates from 2002. It included the disappearance of law in the USSR and the emergence of a new system in Russia. The emergence of a new system in the Russian Federation, and the radical change in the geopolitical balance at the end of the last century. In the last 15 years the situation has changed again. One cannot ignore the rise to power and the opening to globalization of China and India, nor the interest that Muslim Law can arouse. The development of fundamental rights in Europe and the comparative approach that it implies demonstrates the topicality of the subject, if such was ever necessary. This twelfth edition, while respecting the essential structure of the work and the thought of René David, aims precisely to provide a contemporary and up-to-date vision of legal systems. I am very grateful to Marie Goré for having agreed to continue giving life to this work so that it can contribute to awakening or developing in a new generation of jurists, French or foreign, a taste for the edifying study of comparative law, the law of tolerance, humility and listening, based on interest in and respect for the rights of others. Camille JAUFFRET -” David, René; Jaufrfret-Spinosi, Camille, Les grans systèms de droit contemporains , David, René; Jaufrfret-Spinosi, Camille, Goré, Maire, Les grans systèms de droit contemporains, Paris,12th. edition, Dalloz, 2016. P. 10.

54^As has been said, this school is the only one that has successfully integrated Comparative Law as an essential element of the vision, structure and implementation of the undergraduate program.

55^It should be noted here that the International Faculty of Comparative Law was part of a much larger and more far-reaching effort than the mere teaching of law, since on April 11, 1957, a post-university teaching institution was established in Luxembourg to deal with the various sciences in the context of comparison, although in the end, the only school that was able to start, function and last was the Law School. Thus, the International Faculty for the Teaching of Comparative Law (whose work began in Luxembourg, during the months of August 1958 and April 1959 after this school was founded in 1957) and in which a permanent and itinerant program was successfully established – with administrative headquarters in Strasbourg – in which general and specialized courses with a comparative content have been taught for 6 weeks a year (3 in spring and 3 in summer). Cf. S/A, “Les deux premières sessions de la Faculté internationale de droit comparé (Luxembourg, août 1958, avril 1959)”, in Revue de la de pp. 414-415; internationale de droit comparé. Vol. 11 No. 2, Avril-juin 1959. pp. 414-415. https://www.persee.fr/doc/ridc_0035-3337_1959_num_11_2_12043 (Last consulted on August 10, 2024)

56^ On this particular point, it would also be necessary to consider the development of the doctrine of judicial precedent of global scope, as proposed by some international treaties that refer to international jurisprudence, as is the case of article 7 of the International Convention on the International Sale of Goods, although I recognize that this should be a topic that merits extensive doctrinal and jurisprudential development .

57^ In this sense, although there are undoubtedly areas of reality that far exceed the borders of the Nation-States that make up the international concert and that, even when some of these areas are regulated through International Treaties, reality has shown that international treaties are insufficient in number, content and scope. Thus, everything points to the fact that the very nature and dynamic character of current times is overflowing the limits of national borders, so everything points to the globalization of Law, as my dear friend Rafael Domingo Oslé has pointed out in his book What is Global Law? ( Domingo Osé, Rafael, What is Global Law?, Spain, 2nd edition , Thomson Aranzadi, 2008 ), so every day it is and will be more obvious that the solutions of the past are and will be increasingly inadequate for this problem, so it should be noted that we are currently living in a time of transition in which although International Law is still dominant, in the near future global reality will end up imposing itself on national legal systems. Of course, this is already happening in areas such as Human Rights, transactions carried out over the Internet all over the world, issues related to the environment (including the issue of global warming), issues related to health and global pandemics, in the global activities of large multinational companies, both from a mere business perspective and in relation to the effects of some of these companies on the lives of individual families, and on the lives of small and medium-sized countries, as well as on the so-called Island States , since these small countries often have a significantly smaller budget and power than these huge multinationals, which brings implications for the economic and social development of families and countries, in addition to the fact that in this topic we should also consider the issue of migration of all kinds, including that which occurs due to hunger which occurs due to a lack of economic and social opportunities, as well as issues related to the cross-border and global treatment of family life, the Law of the Sea and the common heritage of humanity, among others.