Mexican Nat. R. v. Slater

Citations

• 115 F. 593
• 53 C.C.A. 239
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4232

Syllabus

<p>1. Wrongful Death — Right of Action under Mexican Laws — Enforcement in United States.</p> <p>The statutes of Mexico giving a civil right of action to recover damages for wrongful death through negligence, although it bases such right of action on the fact that defendant’s negligent acts or omissions constitute crimes, do not for that reason belong to the class of criminal laws which can be enforced only in the courts of the country where the offense was committed.</p> <p>Si Same — Jurisdiction.</p> <p>The laws of Mexico giving a right of action to recover damages for a wrongful death occurring in that country are not contrary to the public policy of Texas, nor to natural justice or good morals, nor is their enforcement in that state calculated to injure the state or its citizens, and an action to enforce the right so given may be maintained therein in a state or federal court having jurisdiction of the parties, in which the established forms of procedure are such that substantial justice can be done between the parties.1</p> <p>8. Evidence — Proof of Law of Foreign Country — Expert Testimony.</p> <p>In an action based on a statute of a foreign country, which must be proved, while the statute itself must ordinarily be proved by a duly authenticated copy, the introduction of such copy does not render inadmissible parol testimony of persons learned in the law of such country to prove the construction placed on the statute by its courts or the unwritten law of the country affecting the right of recovery, to aid the court in correctly construing and applying the statute; and such testimony is peculiarly appropriate and should be received where the statute is written in a foreign language, and the copy introduced is a translation.</p> <p>4. Wrongful Death — Right of Action under Mexican Laws — Enforcement in United States.</p> <p>Under Rev. St. Tex. 1895, art. 3027, in an action for wrongful death “the jury may give such damages as they may think proportioned to the i