Administration of Justice.
The federal constitution of 1824, introduced into Mexico, as we have seen, two general orders of tribunals; those of a federal or national character, and those of the states. The power of these judiciaries was deposited in a supreme court, and in circuit and district courts; and causes were taken from one to the other, by appeals, or in other words, passed by grades from the lowest to the highest, according to the nature of the transactions they involved. The jurisdiction of these courts was of course very extensive; yet it was not paramount or universal over all classes of Mexican society, inasmuch as large numbers of Mexicans were exempted by fueros or special privileged jurisdictions, from the control of the constitutional courts. The fueros were chiefly those of the military and ecclesiastics. There was a common military fuero in civil and criminal matters, which authorized the parties to have their causes tried before the commanding generals, and, on appeals, before the supreme tribunal of War and Marine, whilst there was another