Their constitution and form of government differ in many features from one another. Some have one chamber, others two; at times with a fixed number of representatives, at others with varied proportions and terms, and so with regard to number, length, and dates of the sessions. The gubernatorial term is mostly for four years, sometimes with a designated substitute; the secretaries of state are frequently only one or two in number, and the number of courts and judges vary.[1] Departments or districts, corresponding to counties, are ruled according to some constitutions by prefects appointed by and subject to the state government, elsewhere by jefes políticos elected by direct popular vote. In some states, every municipality has an ayuntamiento, or local board, composed of from two to twelve regidores, at the rate of about one to 1,000 inhabitants, with an alcalde or president, and one or two síndicos,[2] all elected usually every year. In other states, small villages have merely a municipal council with less legislative power. Ayuntamientos are also restricted to municipalities of not less than say 3,000 inhabitants, and in the smaller places rule lieutenants appointed by the government, and subprefects controlling partidos. Extraordinary measures and expenditures by ayuntamientos require state government approval.[3]
The limitation of suffrage can scarcely be considered
- ↑ Certain states, like Chiapas, have sought to uphold the Roman catholic as the state religion; others, like Puebla, to exclude illiterate persons from citizenship after a certain period.
- ↑ These terms have been explained in other volumes of the work. See index.
- ↑ The prefect system, without legislative power, savors of centralist times, when ayuntamientos were limited to large towns, often with justices of the peace as the sole rulers in minor places.
The federal district was raised into the state of the valley of Mexico in 1885, while the territory of Tepic was segregated from Jalisco in 1884. Morelos was made a state in 1864. Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., x. 570; Peñafiel, Estad. Gen., num. i., passim; Garcia Cubas, Atlas, 9; Id., Rep. Mex., 9-10; Caballero, Prim. Alm., 221-78, passim. The limit for admission is now fixed at a population of 120,000, and approval is required from two thirds of congressmen and legislatures. During centralist rule, the states were reduced to departments, and so under Maximilian, when they were divided into 50. Names in Gran, Almanaque, 1867, 43; Arrangoiz, Mej., iii. 274-6.
