inal court. In urgent cases, these tribunals had the power to secure the persons of suspected individuals when their escape from justice was apprehended.[1]
A corporation of brokers, Colegio de Corredores, was established in 1842, with a governing council of a president and four associates,[2] whose duty it was to arrange differences arising between brokers and merchants, examine the books of members suspected of irregularities, and pass candidates for entrance into the profession. In 1854, a commercial school or business college was inaugurated.
Previous to the independence, no banking establishment, properly so called, existed, and the first bank founded in Mexico was the banco de avío, before mentioned, in 1830. It was short-lived, however, and in 1837 a national bank was established.[3] More lately several banks have been established to meet the requirements of the increasing foreign trade,[4] and banking houses have been opened, and saving banks founded, in most of the important cities. Several life and general insurance companies have also opened offices in the capital.
The postal service for many years after the independence was conducted in a most unsatisfactory manner, the mails being irregular and correspondence
- ↑ Members of the mercantile tribunals were not allowed to practise law. Mex., Col. Ley. . .Ord., Mayo-Dic., 1854, vii. 27-8.
- ↑ Brokers received their licenses originally from the tribunal del consulado. Gaz., Gob. Mex., 1816, vii. 884. In 1842 the junta do fomento del comercio extended the licenses, and in 1854 the ministerio de fomento. Mex. Reg. Corredores, 5; Mex. Corredores, Reg. y Aran., 3; Pap. Var., 50, nos. 10 and 11.
- ↑ The charter was annulled in Dec. 1841. In 1857 another was founded?, with a franchise for 10 years, extended to Liger de Libessart & Co., capital $5,000,000, and a third in 1882, with a capital of $8,000,000. Mex., Mem. Hac., 1870, 167-8; Mex., Col. Ley. Dec., 1841, 148–52; Silíceo, Men. Foment. Col. Ind., 100-1, L. vi., 41-8; Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., viii. 502-11. The same year the Mercantile Bank was incorporated, and in 1884 the two banks were merged in one, with a capital of $20,000,000. Mex. Financier, Apr. 5, May 31, 1984; Zaremba, Merchants, 27.
- ↑ The bank of London, Mexico, and South America, incorporated in 1884, capital £2,000,000; the Franco-Egyptian in 1881, capital 98,000,000; the Banco Hipotecario, or mortgage bank, in 1882, capital : $5,060,000; and the International Loan and Trust Company the same year. Mex., Diario Ofic., Nov. 30, Dec. 5, 1831; June 11 and 19, 1883; Banco Mac. Mex., Ley de Conces., 1881, p. 33; Banco Hipot, Mex., 1882, p. 64.
