Civil Registry legality and practice in the mid-nineteenth century: incidences among authorities and individuals from Mexico City

Abstract

Abstract: This article presents the results of a piece of research on the opening of the Civil Registry office in Mexico City in 1861. This event is regarded as a product of the secular laws implemented during the period known as the Reform. I analyze the complexity of this opening which took place in the middle of a civil war, the French Intervention and the imposition of Maximilian of Habsburg’s Empire. Despite the political and military conflicts, the institution worked, and it provided a public service that had been in charge of the Catholic Church for centuries, taking over the control of people’s civil status.