Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación or SCJN) recently published in theJudicial Weekly of the Federation case decision number 1a./J.65/2010, entitled “Promissory Notes. The requirementto establish place of execution, according to the terms of section V of article 170 of the General Law of CreditInstruments and Transactions, is satisfied when a federal state within the Mexican Republic has been designated asthe place such promissory note was created.” In its decision, the SCJN held, contradicting prior lower court decisions,that insofar as the place of execution is designated as any federal state, for purposes of the formal requirement ofindicating the place of execution of a promissory note, such requirement is thus fully satisfied. The above implies thefederal nature of the issue, given that any federal state may be a “place,” especially when throughout the MexicanRepublic promissory notes are governed by the federal General Law of Credit Instruments and Transactions and, ifnot applicable, by special commercial laws and, finally, if neither apply, by the Federal Civil Code, all of which arefederal in nature.
