as yet do not appear to have been productive of any marked results.
On the other hand, the Mexican land laws discriminate very rigorously against the acquirement of land by foreigners who do not propose to become Mexican citizens, and seem to be especially framed to prevent any encroachments on the part of the United States. Thus, no foreigner who is a citizen of any country adjoining Mexico may, without previous permission of the President of the Republic, acquire real estate in any of the border States, within twenty leagues (sixty miles) of the frontier; but such permission has of late been freely given to citizens of the United States for the acquirement of ranching property on the northern frontier. The ownership of real estate by a foreigner in either country or city, within fifteen miles of the coast, is, however, absolutely forbidden, by a provision of the Mexican Constitution. By the Constitution of Mexico also, a foreigner who purchases any real estate in that country, without declaring that he retains his nationality, becomes a citizen of Mexico; and it is difficult to see how under such conditions he could properly invoke any protection from the country of his prior citizenship, in case he considered his rights in Mexico to be invaded.
The laws regulating mining property in Mexico
