I have studied the portions of the Mexican Constitution and the 1991 legislation
regarding the Federal Maritime Land Zone. Thanks, Mike, for the specific
citations.
Article 27 of the Constitution covers in a general way the properties and rights
that are reserved in the federal public domain and the conditions under which
property in the republic may be privately held, etc., etc.
Here are my translations of the 3rd and 4th articles of the 1991 legislation
pertaining to the boundaries of beaches and the maritime zones:
______________________________
3rd Article. The federal maritime land zone will be demarcated and delimited
considering the level of maximum high tide observed during thirty consecutive
days in a time of the year that does not present hurricanes, cyclones, or winds
of great intensity and is technically propitious for realizing the works of
delimitation.
4th Article. The federal maritime land zone will be determined solely in areas
that in a horizontal plain present an angle of inclination of 30 degrees or
less. Concerning the coasts that lack beaches and present rocky or steep
formation, the Secretariat will determine the federal maritime land zone inside
a strip of 20 contiguous meters to the marine shore, solely when the inclination
in said strip is of 30 degrees or less in continuous form.
______________________________
These are all described as "public properties of the Federation, inalienable and
imprescriptible." Much other ink is expended in discussing the management of
such zone and its resources, and there are requirements that the Secretariat
coordinate with the states and municipios. I have not yet found any specific
reservation of exclusive sovereignty to the federal government nor denial of the
same to the states. I am not drawing any firm conclusion at this point, but I
think that the zone is in the federal public domain, but not necessarily outside
state jurisdiction. That issue aside, however, I have some conclusions
regarding the boundaries of the zone.
As I interpret the zone, it reaches up to the high-tide line on typical
wave-washed beaches. On beachless, rocky, and steep coasts, it can reach inland
up to 20 meters, but only so far as the slope is less than 30 degrees. On
coasts where a slope of more than 30 reaches the water, there is no federal zone
on the land.
Does anyone agree?
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
-----Original Message -----
From: "aletheiak" <
aletheiak@...>
To: <
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 5:59 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Questions Re: first known legal entry into usa at a
tripoint ..., etc.
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus" <mcmanus71496@m...>
> wrote:
>> Mike D.,
>>
>> Can you tell us precisely where in Mexican law is the specification of the
>> boundary 20 meters inland of the high-tide line,
>
> article 4 here
> http://portal.semarnat.gob.mx/marco_juridico/reglamentos/mar.shtml
>
>> and the extinction of state
>> sovereignty within the federal zone (rather than mere federal public land
>> ownership therein)?
>
> article 27 here
> http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/Constitucion/cn16.pdf
>
> & as i understand all this
> which is perhaps not very well at all
> it is not so much a matter of the extinction of state sovereignty in 1991
> as of the inalienability of federal sovereignty since 1917
> & of the explicit assertion or reassertion of full federal jurisdiction in
> 1991
>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Lowell G. McManus
>> Leesville, Louisiana, USA