Article LXXIII.
When it has become necessary in future to amend the provisions
of the present Constitution, a project to that effect shall be
submitted to the Imperial Diet by Imperial Order. In the above
case, neither House can open the debate, unless not less than
two-thirds of the whole number of Members are present, and no
amendment can be passed, unless a majority of not less than
two-thirds of the Members present is obtained.
Article LXXIV.
No modification of the Imperial House Law shall be required to
be submitted to the deliberation of the Imperial Diet. No
provision of the present Constitution can be modified by the
Imperial House Law.
Article LXXV.
No modification can be introduced into the Constitution, or
into the Imperial House Law, during the time of a Regency.
Article LXXVI.
Existing legal enactments, such as laws, regulations,
Ordinances, or by whatever names they may be called, shall, so
far as they do not conflict with the present Constitution,
continue in force. All existing contracts or orders, that
entail obligations upon the Government, and that are connected
with expenditure shall come within the scope of Article LXVII.
----------CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF LYCURGUS.
"The constitution of Lykourgos was especially adapted to make
heroes, and it made them. To serve his country and die for
her, this was the Spartan's chief ambition. 'Victory or
death!' was their war-cry; honor, their supreme law. 'That
most to be admired in Lykourgos,' says Xenophon, 'is that he
was able to make a noble death seem preferable to a dishonored
life. This great lawgiver provided for the happiness of the
brave man, and devoted the coward to infamy. ... At Sparta men
would be ashamed to sit at table with the coward, to touch his
weapons or his hand: in the games neither party will receive
him. He has the lowest place at the dances and the dramatic
representations. In the street he is pushed aside by younger
men. His daughters share in his disgrace; they are excluded
from public feasts, and can obtain no husbands.'"
_V. Duruy, History of Greece, volume 1, section 2, page 467._
Mr. Grote remarks upon the "unparalleled steadiness" of the
Spartan constitution ascribed to Lycurgus, which was
maintained "for four or five successive centuries, in the
midst of governments like the Grecian, all of which had
undergone more or less of fluctuation. No considerable
revolution--not even any palpable or formal change--occurred
in it from the days of the Messenian war down to those of Agis
III.: in spite of the irreparable blow which the power and
territory of the state sustained from Epameinondas and the
Thebans, the form of government nevertheless remained
unchanged. It was the only government in Greece which could
trace an unbroken peaceable descent from a high antiquity and
from its real or supposed founder."
_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 6 (volume 2)._
See SPARTA, THE CONSTITUTION.
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CONSTITUTION OF MEXICO.
The following translated text of the Constitution of Mexico is
from Bulletin No. 9 of the Bureau of the American Republics,
published in July, 1891:
Preamble.
In the name of God and with the authority of the Mexican
people. The representatives of the different States, of the
District and Territories which compose the Republic of Mexico,
called by the Plan proclaimed in Ayutla the 1st of March,
1854, amended in Acapulco the 11th day of the same month and
year, and by the summons issued the 17th of October, 1855, to
constitute the nation under the form of a popular,
representative, democratic republic, exercising the powers
with which they are invested, comply with the requirements of
their high office, decreeing the following political
Constitution of the Mexican Republic, on the indestructible
basis of its legitimate independence, proclaimed the 16th of
September, 1810, and completed the 27th of September, 1821.
Article I.
The Mexican people recognize that the rights of man are the
basis and the object of social institutions. Consequently they
declare that all the laws and all the authorities of the
country must respect and maintain the guarantees which the
present Constitution establishes.
Article 2.
In the Republic all are born free. Slaves who set foot upon
the national territory recover, by that act alone, their
liberty, and have a right to the protection of the laws.
Article 3.
Instruction is free. The law shall determine what professions
require a diploma for their exercise, and with what requisites
they must be issued.
Article 4.
Every man is free to adopt the profession, industrial pursuit,
or occupation which suits him, the same being useful and
honorable, and to avail himself of its products. Nor shall
anyone be hindered in the exercise of such profession,
industrial pursuit, or occupation, unless by judicial sentence
when such exercise attacks the rights of a third party, or by
governmental resolution, dictated in terms which the law marks
out, when it offends the rights of society.
Article 5.
No one shall be obliged to give personal services without just
compensation, and without his full consent. The state shall
not permit any contract, pact, or agreement to be carried into
effect which has for its object the diminution, loss, or
irrevocable sacrifice of the liberty of man, whether it be for
the sake of labor, education, or a religious vow. The law,
consequently, may not recognize monastic orders, nor may it
permit their establishment, whatever may be the denomination
or object with which they claim to be formed.
[Footnote: This sentence was introduced into the original
article September 25, 1873, with other less important
amendments.]
Neither may an agreement be permitted in which anyone
stipulates for his proscription or banishment.
Article 6.
The expression of ideas shall not be the object of any
judicial or administrative inquisition, except in case it
attacks morality, the rights of a third party, provokes some
crime or misdemeanor, or disturbs public order.
Article 7.
The liberty to write and to publish writings on any subject
whatsoever is inviolable. No law or authority shall establish
previous censure, nor require security from authors or
printers, nor restrict the liberty of the press, which has no
other limits than respect of private life, morality, and the
public peace. The crimes which are committed by means of the
press shall be judged by the competent tribunals of the
Federation, or by those of the States, those of the Federal
District and the Territory of Lower California, in accordance
with their penal laws.
[Footnote: This article was amended May 15, 1883, by
introducing the last sentence as a substitute for the
following: "The crimes of the press shall be judged by one
jury which attests the fact and by another which applies the
law and designates the punishment."]
Article 8.
The right of petition, exercised in writing in a peaceful and
respectful manner, is inviolable; but in political matters
only citizens of the Republic may exercise it. To every
petition must be returned a written opinion by the authority
to whom it may have been addressed, and the latter is obliged
to make the result known to the petitioner.
Article 9.
No one may be deprived of the right peacefully to assemble or
unite with others for any lawful object whatsoever, but only
citizens of the Republic may do this in order to take part in
the political affairs of the country. No armed assembly has a
right to deliberate.
Article 10.
Every man has a right to possess and carry arms for his
security and legitimate defence. The law shall designate what
arms are prohibited and the punishment which those shall incur
who carry them.
Article 11.
Every man has a right to enter and to go out of the Republic,
to travel through its territory and change his residence,
without the necessity of a letter of security, passport,
safe-conduct, or other similar requisite. The exercise of this
right shall not prejudice the legitimate faculties of the
judicial or administrative authority in cases of criminal or
civil responsibility.
Article 12.
There are not, nor shall there be recognized in the Republic,
titles of nobility, or prerogatives, or hereditary honors.
Only the people, legitimately represented, may decree
recompenses in honor of those who may have rendered or may
render eminent services to the country or to humanity.
Article 13.
In the Mexican Republic no one may be judged by special law
nor by special tribunals. No person or corporation may have
privileges, or enjoy emoluments, which are not compensation
for a public service and are established by law. Martial law
may exist only for crimes and offences which have a definite
connection with military discipline. The law shall determine
with all clearness the cases included in this exception.
Article 14.
No retroactive law shall be enacted. No one may be judged or
sentenced except by laws made prior to the act, and exactly
applicable to it, and by a tribunal which shall have been
previously established by law.
Article 15.
Treaties shall never be made for the extradition of political
offenders, nor for the extradition of those violators of the
public order who may have held in the country where they
committed the offence the position of slaves; nor agreements
or treaties in virtue of which may be altered the guarantees
and rights which this Constitution grants to the man and to
the citizen.
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Article 16.
No one may be molested in his person, family, domicile, papers
and possessions, except in virtue of an order written by the
competent authority, which shall establish and assign the
legal cause for the proceedings. In the case of in flagrante
delicto any person may apprehend the offender and his
accomplices, placing them without delay at the disposal of the
nearest authorities.
Article 17.
No one may be arrested for debts of a purely civil character.
No one may exercise violence in order to reclaim his rights.
The tribunals shall always be prompt to administer justice.
This shall be gratuitous, judicial costs being consequently
abolished.
Article 18.
Imprisonment shall take place only for crimes which deserve
corporal punishment. In any state of the process in which it
shall appear that such a punishment might not be imposed upon
the accused, he shall be set at liberty under bail. In no case
shall the imprisonment or detention be prolonged for default
of payment of fees, or of any furnishing of money whatever.
Article 19.
No detention shall exceed the term of three days, unless
justified by a writ showing cause of imprisonment and other
requisites which the law establishes. The mere lapse of this
term shall render responsible the authority that orders or
consents to it, and the agents, ministers, wardens, or jailers
who execute it. Any maltreatment in the apprehension or in the
confinement of the prisoners, any injury which may be
inflicted without legal ground, any tax or contribution in the
prisons, is an abuse which the laws must correct and the
authorities severally punish.
Article 20.
In every criminal trial the accused shall have the following
guarantees:
I. That the grounds of the proceedings and the name of the
accuser, if there shall be one, shall be made known to him.
II. That his preparatory declaration shall be taken within
forty-eight hours, counting from the time he may be placed at
the disposal of the judge.
III. That he shall be confronted with the witnesses who
testify against him.
IV. That he shall be furnished with the data which he requires
and which appear in the process, in order to prepare for his
defence.
V. That he shall be heard in defence by himself or by counsel,
or by both, as he may desire. In case he should have no one to
defend him, a list of official defenders shall be presented to
him, in order that he may choose one or more who may suit him.
Article 21.
The application of penalties properly so called belongs
exclusively to the judicial authority. The political or
administrative authorities may only impose fines, as
correction, to the extent of five hundred dollars, or
imprisonment to the extent of one month, in the cases and
manner which the law shall expressly determine.
Article 22.
Punishments by mutilation and infamy, by branding, flogging,
the bastinado, torture of whatever kind, excessive fines,
confiscation of property, or any other unusual or
extraordinary penalties, shall be forever prohibited.
Article 23.
In order to abolish the penalty of death, the administrative
power is charged to establish, as soon as possible, a
penitentiary system. In the meantime the penalty of death
shall be abolished for political offences, and shall not be
extended to other cases than treason during foreign war,
highway robbery, arson, parricide, homicide with treachery,
premeditation or advantage, to grave offences of the military
order, and piracy, which the law shall define.
Article 24.
No criminal proceeding may have more than three instances. No
one shall be tried twice for the same offence, whether by the
judgment he be absolved or condemned. The practice of
absolving from the instance is abolished.
Article 25.
Sealed correspondence which circulates by the mails is free
from all registry. The violation of this guarantee is an
offence which the law shall punish severely.
Article 26.
In time of peace no soldier may demand quarters, supplies, or
other real or personal service without the consent of the
proprietor. In time of war he shall do this only in the manner
prescribed by the law.
Article 27.
Private property shall not be appropriated without the consent
of the owner, except for the sake of public use, and with
previous indemnification. The law shall determine the
authority which may make the appropriation and the conditions
under which it may be carried out. No corporation, civil or
ecclesiastical, whatever may be its character, denomination,
or object, shall have legal capacity to acquire in
proprietorship or administer for itself real estate, with the
single exception of edifices destined immediately and directly
to the service and object of the institution.
[Footnote: See Article 3 of Additions to the Constitution.]
Article 28.
There shall be no monopolies, nor places of any kind for the
sale of privileged goods, nor prohibitions under titles of
protection to industry. There shall be excepted only those
relative to the coining of money, to the mails, and to the
privileges which, for a limited time, the law may concede to
inventors or perfectors of some improvement.
Article 29.
In cases of invasion, grave disturbance of the public peace,
or any other cases whatsoever which may place society in great
danger or conflict, only the President of the Republic in
concurrence with the Council of Ministers and with the
approbation of the Congress of the Union, and, in the recess
thereof, of the permanent deputation, may suspend the
guarantees established by this Constitution, with the
exception of those which assure the life of man; but such
suspension shall be made only for a limited time, by means of
general provisions, and without being limited to a determined
person. If the suspension should take place during the session
of Congress, this body shall concede the authorizations which
it may esteem necessary in order that the Executive may meet
properly the situation. If the suspension should take place
during the recess, the permanent deputation shall convoke the
Congress without delay in order that it may make the
authorizations.
Article 30.
Mexicans are--
I. All those born, within or without the Republic, of Mexican
parents.
II. Foreigners who are naturalized in conformity with the laws
of the Federation.
III. Foreigners who acquire real estate in the Republic or
have Mexican children; provided they do not manifest their
resolution to preserve their nationality.
Article 31.
It is an obligation of every Mexican--
I. To defend the independence, the territory, the honor, the
rights and interests of his country.
II. To contribute for the public expenses, as well of the
Federation as of the State and municipality in which he
resides, in the proportional and equitable manner which the
laws may provide.
{560}
Article 32.
Mexicans shall be preferred to foreigners in equal
circumstances, for all employments, charges, or commissions of
appointment by the authorities, in which the condition of
citizenship may not be indispensable. Laws shall be issued to
improve the condition of Mexican laborers, rewarding those who
distinguish themselves in any science or art, stimulating
labor, and founding practical colleges and schools of arts and
trades.
Article 33.
Foreigners are those who do not possess the qualifications
determined in Article 30. They have a right to the guarantees
established by ... [Articles 1-29] of the present
Constitution, except that in all cases the Government has the
right to expel pernicious foreigners. They are under
obligation to contribute to the public expenses in the manner
which the laws may provide, and to obey and respect the
institutions, laws, and authorities of the country, subjecting
themselves to the judgments and sentences of the tribunals,
without power to seek other protection than that which the
laws concede to Mexican citizens.
Article 34.
Citizens of the Republic are all those who, having the quality
of Mexicans, have also the following qualifications:
I. Eighteen years of age if married, or twenty-one if not
married.
II. An honest means of livelihood.
Article 35.
The prerogatives of the citizen are--
I. To vote at popular elections.
II. The privilege of being voted for for any office subject to
popular election, and of being selected for any other
employment or commission, having the qualifications
established by law.
III. To associate to discuss the political affairs of the
country.
IV. To take up arms in the army or in the national guard for
the defence of the Republic and its institutions.
V. To exercise in all cases the right of petition.
Article 36.
Every citizen of the Republic is under the following
obligations:
I. To be inscribed on the municipal roll, stating the property
which he has, or the industry, profession, or labor by which
he subsists.
II. To enlist in the national guard.
III. To vote at popular elections in the district to which he
belongs.
IV. To discharge the duties of the offices of popular election
of the Federation, which in no case shall be gratuitous.
Article 37.
The character of citizen is lost--
I. By naturalization in a foreign country.
II. By serving officially the government of another country or
accepting its decorations, titles, or employments without
previous permission from the Federal Congress; excepting
literary, scientific, and humanitarian titles, which may be
accepted freely.
Article 38.
The law shall prescribe the cases and the form in which may be
lost or suspended the rights of citizenship and the manner in
which they may be regained.
Article 39.
The national sovereignty resides essentially and originally in
the people. All public power emanates from the people, and is
instituted for their benefit. The people have at all times the
inalienable right to alter or modify the form of their
government.
Article 40.
The Mexican people voluntarily constitute themselves a
democratic, federal, representative republic, composed of
States free and sovereign in all that concerns their internal
government, but united in a federation established according
to the principles of this fundamental law.
Article 41.
The people exercise their sovereignty by means of Federal
officers in cases belonging to the Federation, and through
those of the States in all that relates to the internal
affairs of the States within the limits respectively
established by this Federal Constitution, and by the special
Constitutions of the States, which latter shall in no case
contravene the stipulations of the Federal Compact.
Article 42.
The National Territory comprises that of the integral parts of
the Federation and that of the adjacent islands in both
oceans.
Article 43.
The integral parts of the Federation are: the States of
Aguascalientes, Colima, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango,
Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon
and Coahuila, Oajaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi,
Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlascala, Valle de
Mexico, Veracruz, Yucatan, Zacatecas, and the Territory of
Lower California.
Article 44.
The States of Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango,
Guerrero, Mexico, Puebla, Queretaro, Sinaloa, Sonora,
Tamaulipas, and the Territory of Lower California shall
preserve the limits which they now have.
Article 45.
The States of Colima and Tlascala shall preserve in their new
character of States the limits which they have had as
Territories of the Federation.
Article 46.
The State of the Valley of Mexico shall be formed of the
territory actually composing the Federal District, but the
erection into a State shall only have effect when the supreme
Federal authorities are removed to another place.
Article 47.
The State of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila shall comprise the
territory which has belonged to the two distinct States of
which it is now formed, except the part of the hacienda of
Bonanza, which shall be reincorporated in Zacatecas, on the
same terms in which it was before its incorporation in
Coahuila.
Article 48.
The States of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oajaca, San Luis
Potosi, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatan, and Zacatecas shall
recover the extension and limits which they had on the 31st of
December, 1852, with the alterations the following Article
establishes.
Article 49.
The town of Contepec, which has belonged to Guanajuato, shall
be incorporated in Michoacan. . The municipality of Ahualulco,
which has belonged to Zacatecas, shall be incorporated in San
Luis Potosi. The municipalities of Ojo-Caliente and San
Francisco de los Adames, which have belonged to San Luis, as
well as the towns of Nueva Tlascala and San Andres del Teul,
which have belonged to Jalisco, shall be incorporated in
Zacatecas. The department of Tuxpan shall continue to form a
part of Veracruz. The canton of Huimanguillo, which has
belonged to Veracruz, shall be incorporated in Tabasco.
[Footnote: Besides the twenty-four States which are mentioned
in this section there have been created subsequently,
according to executive decrees issued in accordance with the
Constitution, the four following:
XXV. That of Campeche, separated from Yucatan.
XXVI. That of Coahuila, separated from Nuevo Leon.
XXVII. That of Hidalgo, in territory of the ancient State
of Mexico, which formed the second military district.
XXVIII. That of Morelos, in territory also of the ancient
State of Mexico, which formed the third military district.]
{561}
Article 50.
The supreme power of the Federation is divided for its
exercise into legislative, executive, and judicial. Two or
more of these powers shall never be united in one person or
corporation, nor the legislative power be deposited in one
individual.
Article 51.
The legislative power of the nation is deposited in a general
Congress, which shall be divided into two houses, one of
Deputies and the other of Senators.
[Footnote: The original form of this article was as
follows: "The exercise of the supreme legislative power is
vested in one assembly, which shall be denominated Congress of
the Union."]
Article 52.
The House of Deputies shall be composed of representatives of
the nation, elected in their entire number every two years by
Mexican citizens.
Article 53.
One deputy shall be elected for each forty thousand
inhabitants, or for a fraction which exceeds twenty thousand.
The territory in which the population is less than that
determined in this article shall, nevertheless, elect one
deputy.
Article 54.
For each deputy there shall be elected one alternate.
Article 55.
The election for deputies shall be indirect in the first
degree, and by secret ballot, in the manner which the law
shall prescribe.
Article 56.
In order to be eligible to the position of a deputy it is
required that the candidate be a Mexican citizen in the
enjoyment of his rights; that he be fully twenty-five years of
age on the day of the opening of the session; that he be a
resident of the State or Territory which makes the election,
and that he be not an ecclesiastic. Residence is not lost by
absence in the discharge of any public trust bestowed by
popular election.
Article 57.
The positions of Deputy and of Senator are incompatible with
any Federal commission or office whatsoever for which a salary
is received.
Article 58.
The Deputies and the Senators from the day of their election
to the day on which their trust is concluded, may not accept
any commission or office offered by the Federal Executive, for
which a salary is received, except with the previous license
of the respective house. The same requisites are necessary for
the alternates of Deputies and Senators when in the exercise
of their functions.
A. The Senate is composed of two Senators for each State and
two for the Federal District. The election of Senators shall
be indirect in the first degree. The Legislature of each State
shall declare elected the person who shall have obtained the
absolute majority of the votes cast, or shall elect from among
those who shall have obtained the relative majority in the
manner which the electoral law shall prescribe. For each
Senator there shall be elected an alternate.
B. The Senate shall be renewed one-half every two years. The
Senators named in the second place shall go out at the end of
the first two years, and thereafter the half who have held
longer.
C. The same qualifications are required for a Senator as for a
Deputy, except that of age, which must be at least thirty
years on the day of the opening of the session.
Article 59.
The Deputies and Senators are privileged from arrest for their
opinions manifested in the performance of their duties, and
shall never be liable to be called to account for them.
Article 60.
Each house shall judge of the election of its members, and
shall solve the doubts which may arise regarding them.
Article 61.
The houses may not open their sessions nor perform their
functions without the presence in the Senate of at least
two-thirds, and in the House of Deputies of more than one-half
of the whole number of their members, but those present of one
or the other body must meet on the day indicated by the law
and compel the attendance of absent members under penalties
which the law shall designate.
Article 62.
The Congress shall have each year two periods of ordinary
sessions: the first, which may be prorogued for thirty days,
shall begin on the 16th of September and end on the 15th of
December, and the second, which may be prorogued for fifteen
days, shall begin the 1st of April and end the last day of
May.
Article 63.
At the opening of the sessions of the Congress the President
of the Union shall be present and shall pronounce a discourse
in which he shall set forth the state of the country. The
President of the Congress shall reply in general terms.
Article 64.
Every resolution of the Congress shall have the character of a
law or decree. The laws and decrees shall be communicated to
the Executive, signed by the Presidents of both houses and by
a Secretary of each of them, and shall be promulgated in this
form: "The Congress of the United States of Mexico decrees:"
(Text of the law or decree.)
Article 65.
The right to initiate laws or decrees belongs:
I. To the President of the Union.
II. To the Deputies and Senators of the general Congress.
III. To the Legislatures of the States.
Article 66.
Bills presented by the President of the Republic, by the
Legislatures of the States, or by deputations from the same,
shall pass immediately to a committee. Those which the
Deputies or the Senators may present shall be subjected to the
procedure which the rules of debate may prescribe.
Article 67.
Every bill which shall be rejected in the house where it
originated, before passing to the other house, shall not again
be presented during the sessions of that year.
Article 68.
The second period of sessions shall be destined, in all
preference, to the examination of and action upon the
estimates of the following fiscal year, to passing the
necessary appropriations to cover the same, and to the
examination of the accounts of the past year, which the
Executive shall present.
Article 69.
The last day but one of the first period of sessions the
Executive shall present to the House of Deputies the bill of
appropriations for the next year following and the accounts of
the preceding year. Both shall pass to a committee of five
Representatives appointed on the same day, which shall be
under obligation to examine said documents, and present a
report on them at the second session of the second period.
Article 70.
The formation of the laws and of the decrees may begin
indiscriminately in either of the two houses, with the
exception of bills which treat of loans, taxes, or imposts, or
of the recruiting of troops, all of which must be discussed
first in the House of Deputies.
{562}
Article 71.
Every bill, the consideration of which does not belong
exclusively to one of the houses, shall be discussed
successively in both, the rules of debate being observed with
reference to the form, the intervals, and manner of proceeding
in discussions and voting.
A. A bill having been approved in the house where it
originated, shall pass for its discussion to the other house.
If the latter body should approve it, it will be remitted to
the Executive, who, if he shall have no observations to make,
shall publish it immediately.
B. Every bill shall be considered as approved by the Executive
if not returned with observations to the house where it
originated within ten working days, unless during this term
Congress shall have closed or suspended its sessions, in which
case the return must be made the first working day on which it
shall meet.
C. A bill rejected wholly or in part by the Executive must be
returned with his observations to the house where it
originated. It shall be discussed again by this body, and if
it should be confirmed by an absolute majority of votes, it
shall pass again to the other house. If by this house it
should be sanctioned with the same majority, the bill shall be
a law or decree, and shall be returned to the Executive for
promulgation. The voting on the law or decree shall be by
name.
D. If any bill should be rejected wholly in the house in which
it did not originate, it shall be returned to that in which it
originated with the observations which the former shall have
made upon it. If having been examined anew it should be
approved by the absolute majority of the members present, it
shall be returned to the house which rejected it, which shall
again take it into consideration, and if it should approve it
by the same majority it shall pass to the Executive, to be
treated in accordance with division A; but, if it should
reject it, it shall not be presented again until the following
sessions.
E. If a bill should be rejected only in part, or modified, or
receive additions by the house of revision, the new discussion
in the house where it originated shall treat only of the
rejected part, or of the amendments or additions, without
being able to alter in any manner the articles approved. If
the additions or amendments made by the house of revision
should be approved by the absolute majority of the votes
present in the house where it originated, the whole bill shall
be passed to the Executive, to be treated in accordance with
division A. But if the additions or amendments made by the
house of revision should be rejected by the majority of the
votes in the house where it originated, they shall be returned
to the former, in order that the reasons of the latter may be
taken into consideration; and if by the absolute majority of
the votes present said additions or amendments shall be
rejected in this second revision, the bill, in so far as it
has been approved by both houses, shall be passed to the
Executive, to be treated in accordance with division A; but if
the house of revision should insist, by the absolute majority
of the votes present, on said additions or amendments, the
whole bill shall not be again presented until the following
sessions, unless both houses agree by the absolute majority of
their members present that the law or decree shall be issued
solely with the articles approved, and that the parts added or
amended shall be reserved to be examined and voted in the
following sessions.
F. In the interpretation, amendment, or repeal of the laws or
decrees, the rules established for their formation shall be
observed.
G. Both houses shall reside in the same place, and they shall
not remove to another without first agreeing to the removal
and on the time and manner of making it, designating the same
point for the meeting of both. But if both houses, agreeing to
the removal, should differ as to time, manner, or place, the
Executive shall terminate the difference by choosing one of
the places in question. Neither house shall suspend its
sessions for more than three days without the consent of the
other.
H. When the general Congress meets in extra sessions, it shall
occupy itself exclusively with the object or objects
designated in the summons; and if the special business shall
not have been completed on the day on which the regular
session should open, the extra sessions shall be closed
nevertheless, leaving the points pending to be treated of in
the regular sessions. The Executive of the Union shall not
make observations on the resolutions of the Congress when this
body prorogues its sessions or exercises functions of an
electoral body or a jury.
Article 72.
The Congress has power--
I. To admit new States or Territories into the Federal Union,
incorporating them in the nation.
II. To erect Territories into States when they shall have a
population of eighty thousand inhabitants and the necessary
elements to provide for their political existence.
III. To form new States within the limits of those existing,
it being necessary to this end--
1. That the fraction or fractions which asked to be erected
into a State shall number a population of at least one hundred
and twenty thousand inhabitants.
2. That it shall be proved before Congress that they have
elements sufficient to provide for their political existence.
3. That the Legislatures of the States, the territories of
which are in question, shall have been heard on the expediency
or inexpediency of the establishment of the new State, and
they shall be obliged to make their report within six months,
counted from the day on which the communication relating to it
shall have been remitted to them.
4. That the Executive of the Federation shall likewise be
heard, who shall send his report within seven days, counted
from the date on which he shall have been asked for it.
5. That the establishment of the new State shall have been
voted for by two-thirds of the Deputies and Senators present
in their respective houses.
6. That the resolution of Congress shall have been ratified by
the majority of the Legislatures of the States, after
examining a copy of the proceedings; provided that the
Legislatures of the States whose territory is in question
shall have given their consent.
7. If the Legislatures of the States whose territory is in
question shall not have given their consent, the ratification
mentioned in the preceding clause must be made by two-thirds
of the Legislatures of the other States.
A. The exclusive powers of the House of Deputies are--
I. To constitute itself an Electoral College in order to
exercise the powers which the law may assign to it, in respect
to the election of the Constitutional President of the
Republic, Magistrates of the Supreme Court, and Senators for
the Federal District.
II. To judge and decide upon the resignations which the
President of the Republic or the Magistrates of the Supreme
Court of Justice may make. The same power belongs to it in
treating of licenses solicited by the first.
III. To watch over, by means of an inspecting committee from
its own body, the exact performance of the business of the
chief auditorship.
IV. To appoint the principal officers and other employés of
the same.
V. To constitute itself a jury of accusation, for the high
functionaries of whom Article 103 of this Constitution treats.
VI. To examine the accounts which the Executive must present
annually, to approve the annual estimate of expenses, and to
initiate the taxes which in its judgment ought to be decreed
to cover these expenses.
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B. The exclusive powers of the Senate are--
I. To approve the treaties and diplomatic conventions which
the Executive may make with foreign powers.
II. To ratify the appointments which the President of the
Republic may make of ministers, diplomatic agents,
consuls-general, superior employés of the Treasury,
colonels and other superior officers of the national army
and navy, on the terms which the law shall provide.
III. To authorize the Executive to permit the departure of
national troops beyond the limits of the Republic, the
passage of foreign troops through the national territory,
the station of squadrons of other powers for more than a
month in the waters of the Republic.
IV. To give its consent in order that the Executive may
dispose of the national guard outside of their respective
States or Territories, determining the necessary force.
V. To declare, when the Constitutional legislative and
executive powers of a State shall have disappeared, that
the case has arrived for appointing to it a provisional
Governor, who shall call elections in conformity with the
Constitutional laws of the said State. The appointment of
Governor shall be made by the Federal Executive with the
approval of the Senate, and in its recesses with the
approval of the Permanent Commission. Said functionary
shall not be elected Constitutional Governor at the
elections which are had in virtue of the summons which he
shall issue.
VI. To decide political questions which may arise between
the powers of a State, when any of them may appear with
this purpose in the Senate, or when on account of said
questions Constitutional order shall have been interrupted
during a conflict of arms. In this case the Senate shall
dictate its resolution, being subject to the general
Constitution of the Republic and to that of the State. The
law shall regulate the exercise of this power and that of
the preceding.
VII. To constitute itself a jury of judgment in accordance
with Article 105 of this Constitution.
C. Each of the houses may, without the intervention of the
other--
I. Dictate economic resolutions relative to its internal
regimen.
II. Communicate within itself, and with the Executive of
the Union, by means of committees from its own body.
III. Appoint the employés of its secretaryship, and make
the internal regulations for the same.
IV. Issue summons for extraordinary elections, with the
object of filling the vacancies of their respective
members.
IV. To regulate definitely the limits of the States,
terminating the differences which may arise between them
relative to the demarcation of their respective
territories, except when these difficulties have a
contentious character.
V. To change the residence of the supreme powers of the
Federation.
VI. To establish the internal order of the Federal District
and Territories, taking as a basis that the citizens shall
choose by popular election the political, municipal, and
judicial authorities, and designating the taxes necessary
to cover their local expenditure.
VII. To approve the estimates of the Federal expenditure,
which the Executive must annually present to it, and to
impose the necessary taxes to cover them.
VIII. To give rules under which the Executive may make
loans on the credit of the nation; to approve said loans,
and to recognize and order the payment of the national
debt.
IX. To establish tariffs on foreign commerce, and to
prevent, by means of general laws, onerous restrictions
from being established with reference to the commerce
between the States.
X. To issue codes, obligatory throughout the Republic, of
mines and commerce, comprehending in this last banking
institutions.
XI. To create and suppress public Federal employments and
to establish, augment, or diminish their salaries.
XII. To ratify the appointments which the Executive may
make of ministers, diplomatic agents, and consuls, of the
higher employés of the Treasury, of the colonels and other
superior officers of the national army and navy.
XIII. To approve the treaties, contracts, or diplomatic
conventions which the Executive may make.
XIV. To declare war in view of the data which the Executive
may present to it.
XV. To regulate the manner in which letters of marque may
be issued; to dictate laws according to which must be
declared good or bad the prizes on sea and land, and to
issue laws relating to maritime rights in peace and war.
XVI. To permit or deny the entrance of foreign troops into
the territory of the Republic, and to consent to the
station of squadrons of other powers for more than a month
in the waters of the Republic.
XVII. To permit the departure of national troops beyond the
limits of the Republic.
[Footnote: Amended by Section B, Clause III., Article 72,
of the law of the 13th of November, 1874.]
XVIII. To raise and maintain the army and navy of the
Union, and to regulate their organization and service.
XIX. To establish regulations with the purpose of
organizing, arming, and disciplining the national guard,
reserving respectively to the citizens who compose it the
appointment of the commanders and officers, and to the
States the power of instructing it in conformity with the
discipline prescribed by said regulations.
XX. To give its consent in order that the Executive may
control the national guard outside of its respective States
and Territories, determining the necessary force.
XXI. To dictate laws on naturalization, colonization, and
citizenship.
XXII. To dictate laws on the general means of communication
and on the post-office and mails.
XXIII. To establish mints, fixing the conditions of their
operation, to determine the value of foreign money, and
adopt a general system of weights and measures.
XXIV. To fix rules to which must be subject the occupation
and sale of public lands and the price of these lands.
XXV. To grant pardons for crimes cognizable by the
tribunals of the Federation.
XXVI. To grant rewards or recompense for eminent services
rendered to the country or humanity.
XXVII. To prorogue for thirty working days the first period
of its ordinary sessions.
XXVIII. To form rules for its internal regulation, to take
the necessary measures to compel the attendance of absent
members, and to correct the faults or omissions of those
present.
XXIX. To appoint and remove freely the employés of its
secretaryship and those of the chief auditorship, which
shall be organized in accordance with the provisions of the
law.
XXX. To make all laws which may be necessary and proper to
render effective the foregoing powers and all others
granted by this Constitution and the authorities of the
Union.
[Footnote: See respecting this Article the additions A, B,
and C to Article 72 of the law of the 13th of November,
already cited.]
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Article 73.
During the recess of Congress there shall be a Permanent
Deputation composed of twenty-nine members, of whom fifteen
shall be Deputies and fourteen Senators, appointed by their
respective houses the evening before the close of the
sessions.
Article 74.
The attributes of the Permanent Deputation are--
I. To give its consent to the use of the national guard in the
cases mentioned in Article 72, Clause XX.
II. To determine by itself, or on the proposal of the
Executive, after hearing him in the first place, the summons
of Congress, or of one house alone, for extra sessions, the
vote of two-thirds of the members present being necessary in
both cases. The summons shall designate the object or objects
of the extra sessions.
III. To approve the appointments which are referred to in
Article 85, Clause III.
IV. To administer the oath of office to the President of the
Republic, and to the Justices of the Supreme Court, in the
cases provided by this Constitution.
[Footnote: See the Amendment of September 25, 1873,
Article 4.]
V. To report upon all the business not disposed of, in order
that the Legislature which follows may immediately take up
such unfinished business.
Article 75.
The exercise of the supreme executive power of the Union is
vested in a single individual, who shall be called "President
of the United States of Mexico."
Article 76.
The election of President shall be indirect in the first
degree, and by secret ballot, in such manner as may be
prescribed by the electoral law.
Article 77.
To be eligible to the position of President, the candidate
must be a Mexican citizen by birth, in the exercise of his
rights, be fully thirty-five years old at the time of the
election, not belong to the ecclesiastical order, and reside
in the country at the time the election is held.
Article 78.
The President shall enter upon the performance of the duties
of his office on the first of December, and shall continue in
office four years, being eligible for the Constitutional
period immediately following; but he shall remain incapable
thereafter to occupy the presidency by a new election until
four years shall have passed, counting from the day on which
he ceased to perform his functions.
Article 79.
In the temporary default of the President of the Republic, and
in the vacancy before the installation of the newly-elected
President, the citizen who may have performed the duties of
President or Vice-President of the Senate, or of the Permanent
Commission in the periods of recess, during the month prior to
that in which said default may have occurred, shall enter upon
the exercise of the executive power of the Union.
A. The President and Vice-President of the Senate and of the
Permanent Commission shall not be reëlected to those offices
until a year after having held them.
B. If the period of sessions of the Senate or of the Permanent
Commission shall begin in the second half of a month, the
default of the President of the Republic shall be covered by
the President or Vice-President who may have acted in the
Senate or in the Permanent Commission during the first half of
the said month.
C. The Senate and the Permanent Commission shall renew, the
last day of each month, their Presidents and Vice-Presidents.
For these offices the Permanent Commission shall elect,
alternatively, in one month two Deputies and in the following
month two Senators.
D. When the office of President of the Republic is vacant, the
functionary who shall take it constitutionally as his
substitute must issue, within the definite term of fifteen
days, the summons to proceed to a new election, which shall be
held within the term of three months, and in accordance with
the provisions of Article 76 of this Constitution. The
provisional President shall not be eligible to the presidency
at the elections which are held to put an end to his
provisional term.
E. If, on account of death or any other reason, the
functionaries who, according to this law, should take the
place of the President of the Republic, might not be able in
any absolute manner to do so, it shall be taken, under
predetermined conditions, by the citizen who may have been
President or Vice-President of the Senate or the Permanent
Commission in the month prior to that in which they discharged
those offices.
F. When the office of President of the Republic shall become
vacant within the last six months of the constitutional
period, the functionary who shall take the place of the
President shall terminate this period.
G. To be eligible to the position of President or
Vice-President of the Senate or of the Permanent Commission,
one must be a Mexican citizen by birth.
H. If the vacancy in the office of President of the Republic
should occur when the Senate and Permanent Commission are
performing their functions in extra sessions, the President of
the Commission shall fill the vacancy, under conditions
indicated in this article.
I. The Vice-President of the Senate or of the Permanent
Commission shall enter upon the performance of the functions
which this Article confers upon them, in the vacancies of the
office of President of the Senate or of the Permanent
Commission, and in the periods only while the impediment
lasts.
J. The newly-elected President shall enter upon the discharge
of his duties, at the latest, sixty days after that of the
election. In case the House of Deputies shall not be in
session, it shall be convened in extra session, in order to
make the computation of votes within the term mentioned.
Article 80.
In the vacancy of the office of President, the period of the
newly-elected President shall be computed from the first of
December of the year prior to that of his election, provided
he may not have taken possession of his office on the date
which Article 78 determines.
Article 81.
The office of President of the Union may not be resigned,
except for grave cause, approved by Congress, before whom the
resignation shall be presented.
Article 82.
If for any reason the election of President shall not have
been made and published by the first of December, on which the
transfer of the office should be made, or the President-elect
shall not have been ready to enter upon the discharge of his
duties, the term of the former President shall end
nevertheless, and the supreme executive power shall be
deposited provisionally in the functionary to whom it belongs
according to the provisions of the reformed Article 79 of this
Constitution.
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Article 83.
The President, on taking possession of his office, shall take
an oath before Congress, and in its recess before the
Permanent Commission, under the following formula: "I swear to
perform loyally and patriotically the duties of President of
the United States of Mexico, according to the Constitution,
and seek in everything for the welfare and prosperity of the
Union."
[Footnote: See the Amendments and Additions of September 25,
1873.]
Article 84.
The President may not remove from the place of the residence
of the Federal powers, nor lay aside the exercise of his
functions, without grave cause, approved by the Congress, and
in its recesses by the Permanent Commission.
Article 85.
The powers and obligations of the President are the following:
I. To promulgate and execute the laws passed by the Congress
of the Union, providing, in the administrative sphere, for
their exact observance.
II. To appoint and remove freely the Secretaries of the
Cabinet, to remove the diplomatic agents and superior employés
of the Treasury, and to appoint and remove freely the other
employés of the Union whose appointment and removal are not
otherwise provided for in the Constitution or in the laws.
III. To appoint ministers, diplomatic agents, consuls-general,
with the approval of Congress, and, in its recess, of the
Permanent Commission.
IV. To appoint, with the approval of Congress, the colonels
and other superior officers of the national army and navy, and
the superior employés of the treasury.
V. To appoint the other officers of the national army and
navy, according to the laws.
VI. To control the permanent armed force by sea and land for
the internal security and external defence of the Federation.
VII. To control the national guard for the same objects within
the limits established by Article 72, Clause XX.
VIII. To declare war in the name of the United States of
Mexico, after the passage of the necessary law by the Congress
of the Union.
IX. To grant letters of marque, subject to bases fixed by the
Congress.
X. To direct diplomatic negotiations and make treaties with
foreign powers, submitting them for the ratification of the
Federal Congress.
XI. To receive ministers and other envoys from foreign powers.
XII. To convoke Congress in extra sessions when the Permanent
Commission shall consent to it.
XIII. To furnish the judicial power with that assistance which
may be necessary for the prompt exercise of its functions.
XIV. To open all classes of ports, to establish maritime and
frontier custom-houses and designate their situation.
XV. To grant, in accordance with the laws, pardons to
criminals sentenced for crimes within the jurisdiction of the
Federal tribunals.
XVI. To grant exclusive privileges, for a limited time and
according to the proper law, to discoverers, inventors, or
perfecters of any branch of industry.
Article 86.
For the dispatch of the business of the administrative
department of the Federation there shall be the number of
Secretaries which the Congress may establish by a law, which
shall provide for the distribution of business and prescribe
what shall be in charge of each Secretary.
Article 87.
To be a Secretary of the Cabinet it is required that one shall
be a Mexican citizen by birth, in the exercise of his rights,
and fully twenty-five years old.
Article 88.
All the regulations, decrees, and orders of the President must
be signed by the Secretary of the Cabinet who is in charge of
the department to which the subject belongs. Without this
requisite they shall not be obeyed.
Article 89.
The Secretaries of the Cabinet, as soon as the sessions of the
first period shall be opened, shall render an account to the
Congress of the state of their respective departments.
Article 90.
The exercise of the judicial power of the Federation is vested
in a Supreme Court of Justice and in the district and circuit
courts.
Article 91.
The Supreme Court of Justice shall be composed of eleven
judges, four supernumeraries, one fiscal, and one
attorney-general.
Article 92.
Each of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice shall
remain in office six years, and his election shall be indirect
in the first degree, under conditions established by the
electoral law.
Article 93.
In order to be elected a member of the Supreme Court of
Justice it is necessary that one be learned in the science of
the law in the judgment of the electors, more than thirty-five
years old, and a Mexican citizen by birth, in the exercise of
his rights.
Article 94.
The members of the Supreme Court of Justice, on entering upon
the exercise of their charge, shall take an oath before
Congress, and, in its recesses, before the Permanent
Commission, in the following form: "Do you swear to perform
loyally and patriotically the charge of Magistrate of the
Supreme Court of Justice, which the people have conferred upon
you in conformity with the Constitution, seeking in everything
the welfare and prosperity of the Union?"
[Footnote: See Additions to the Constitution,
September 25, 1873. ]
Article 95.
A member of the Supreme Court of Justice may resign his office
only for grave cause, approved by the Congress, to whom the
resignation shall be presented. In the recesses of the
Congress the judgment shall be rendered by the Permanent
Commission.
Article 96.
The law shall establish and organize the circuit and district
courts.
Article 97.
It belongs to the Federal tribunals to take cognizance of--
I. All controversies which may arise in regard to the
fulfilment and application of the Federal laws, except in the
case in which the application affects only private interests;
such a case falls within the competence of the local judges
and tribunals of the common order of the States, of the
Federal District, and of the Territory of Lower California.
II. All cases pertaining to maritime law.
III. Those in which the Federation may be a party.
IV. Those that may arise between two or more States.
V. Those that may arise between a State and one or more
citizens of another State.
VI. Civil or criminal cases that may arise under treaties with
foreign powers.
VII. Cases concerning diplomatic agents and consuls..
Article 98.
It belongs to the Supreme Court of Justice, in the first
instance, to take cognizance of controversies which may arise
between one State and another, and of those in which the Union
may be a party.
Article 99.
It belongs also to the Supreme Court of Justice to determine
the questions of jurisdiction which may arise between the
Federal tribunals, between these and those of the States, or
between the courts of one State and those of another.
Article 100.
In the other cases comprehended in Article 97, the Supreme
Court of Justice shall be a court of appeal or, rather, of
last resort, according to the graduation which the law may
make in the jurisdiction of the circuit and district courts.
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Article 101.
The tribunals of the Federation shall decide all questions
which arise--
I. Under laws or acts of whatever authority which violate
individual guarantees.
II. Under laws or acts of the State authority which violate or
restrain the sovereignty of the States.
III. Under laws or acts of the State authority which invade
the sphere of the Federal authority.
Article 102.
All the judgments which the preceding article mentions shall
be had on petition of the aggrieved party, by means of
judicial proceedings and forms which shall be prescribed by
law. The sentence shall be always such as to affect private
individuals only, limiting itself to defend and protect them
in the special case to which the process refers, without
making any general declaration respecting the law or act which
gave rise to it.
Article 103.
The Senators, the Deputies, the members of the Supreme Court
of Justice, and the Secretaries of the Cabinet are responsible
for the common crimes which they may commit during their terms
of office, and for the crimes, misdemeanors, and negligence
into which they may fall in the performance of the duties of
said office. The Governors of the States are likewise
responsible for the infraction of the Constitution and Federal
laws. The President of the Republic is also responsible; but
during the term of his office he may be accused only for the
crimes of treason against the country, express violation of
the Constitution, attack on the freedom of election, and grave
crimes of the common order. The high functionaries of the
Federation shall not enjoy any Constitutional privilege for
the official crimes, misdemeanors, or negligence into which
they may fall in the performance of any employment, office, or
public commission which they may have accepted during the
period for which, in conformity with the law, they shall have
been elected. The same shall happen with respect to those
common crimes which they may commit during the performance of
said employment, office, or commission. In order that the
cause may be initiated when the high functionary shall have
returned to the exercise of his proper functions, proceeding
should be undertaken in accordance with the provision of
Article 104 of this Constitution.
Article 104.
If the crime should be a common one, the House of
Representatives, formed into a grand jury, shall declare, by
an absolute majority of votes, whether there is or is not
ground to proceed against the accused. In the negative case,
there shall be no ground for further proceedings; in the
affirmative, the accused shall be, by the said act, deprived
of his office, and subjected to the action of the ordinary
tribunals.
Article 105.
The houses shall take cognizance of official crimes, the House
of Deputies as a jury of accusation, the Senators as a jury of
judgment. The jury of accusation shall have for its object to
declare, by an absolute majority of votes, whether the accused
is or is not culpable. If the declaration should be
absolutory, the functionary shall continue in the exercise of
his office; if it should be condemnatory, he shall be
immediately deprived of his office, and shall be placed at the
disposal of the Senate. The latter, formed into a jury of
judgment, and, with the presence of the criminal and of the
accuser, if there should be one, shall proceed to apply, by an
absolute majority of votes, the punishment which the law
designates.
Article 106.
A judgment of responsibility for official crimes having been
pronounced, no favor of pardon may be extended to the
offender.
Article 107.
The responsibility for official crimes and misdemeanors may be
required only during the period in which the functionary
remains in office, and one year thereafter.
Article 108.
With respect to demands of the Civil order, there shall be no
privilege or immunity for any public functionary.
Article 109.
The States shall adopt for their internal regimen the popular,
representative, republican form of government, and may provide
in their respective Constitutions for the reelection of the
Governors in accordance with what Article 78 provides for the
President of the Republic.
Article 110.
The States may regulate among themselves, by friendly
agreements, their respective boundaries; but those regulations
shall not be carried into effect without the approval of the
Congress of the Union.
Article 111.
The States may not in any case--
1. Form alliances, treaties, or coalitions with another State,
or with foreign powers, excepting the coalition which the
frontier States may make for offensive or defensive war
against the Indians.
II. Grant letters of marque or reprisal.
III. Coin money, or emit paper money or stamped paper.
Article 112.
Neither may any State, without the consent of the Congress of
the Union:
I. Establish tonnage duties, or any port duty, or impose taxes
or duties upon importations or exportations.
II. Have at any time permanent troops or vessels of war,
III. Make war by itself on any foreign power except in cases
of invasion or of such imminent peril as to admit of no delay.
In these cases the State shall give notice immediately to the
President of the Republic.
Article 113.
Each State is under obligation to deliver without delay the
criminals of other States to the authority that claims them.
Article 114.
The Governors of the States are obliged to publish and cause
to be obeyed the Federal laws.
Article 115.
In each State of the Federation entire faith and credit shall
be given to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings
of all the other States. The Congress may, by means of general
laws, prescribe the manner of proving said acts, records, and
proceedings, and the effect thereof.
Article 116.
The powers of the Union are bound to protect the States
against all invasion or external violence. In case of
insurrection or internal disturbance they shall give them like
protection, provided the Legislature of the State, or the
Executive, if the Legislature is not in session, shall request
it.
Article 117.
The powers which are not expressly granted by this
Constitution to the Federal authorities are understood to be
reserved to the States.
Article 118.
No person may at the same time hold two Federal elective
offices; but if elected to two, he may choose which of them he
will fill.
Article 119.
No payment shall be made which is not comprehended in the
budget or determined by a subsequent law.
Article 120.
The President of the Republic, the members of the Supreme
Court of Justice, the Deputies, and other public officers of
the Federation, who are chosen by popular election, shall
receive a compensation for their services, which shall be
determined by law and paid by the Federal Treasury. This
compensation may not be renounced, and any law which augments
or diminishes it shall not have effect during the period for
which a functionary holds the office.
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Article 121.
Every public officer, without any exception, before taking
possession of his office, shall take an oath to maintain this
Constitution and the laws which emanate from it.
[Footnote: See the Additions of September 25, 1873.]
Article 122.
In time of peace no military authority may exercise more
functions than those which have close connection with military
discipline. There shall be fixed and permanent military
commands only in the castles, fortresses, and magazines which
are immediately under the government of the Union; or in
encampments, barracks, or depots which may be established
outside of towns for stationing troops.
Article 123.
It belongs exclusively to the Federal authorities to exercise,
in matters of religious worship and external discipline, the
intervention which the laws may designate.
Article 124.
The States shall not impose any duty for the simple passage of
goods in the internal commerce. The Government of the Union
alone may decree transit duties, but only with respect to
foreign goods which cross the country by international or
interoceanic lines, without being on the national territory
more time than is necessary to traverse it and depart to the
foreign country. They shall not prohibit, either directly or
indirectly, the entrance to their territory, or the departure
from it, of any merchandise, except on police grounds; nor
burden the articles of national production on their departure
for a foreign country or for another State. The exemptions
from duties which they concede shall be general; they may not
be decreed in favor of the products of specified origin. The
quota of the import for a given amount of merchandise shall be
the same, whatever may have been its origin, and no heavier
burden may be assigned to it than that which the similar
products of the political entity in which the import is
decreed bear. The national merchandise shall not be submitted
to definite route nor to inspection or registry on the ways,
nor any fiscal document be demanded for its internal
circulation. Nor shall they burden foreign merchandise with a
greater quota than that which may have been permitted them by
the Federal law to receive.
Article 125.
The forts, military quarters, magazines, and other edifices
necessary to the government of the Union shall be under the
immediate inspection of the Federal authorities.
Article 126.
This Constitution, the laws of the Congress of the Union which
emanate from it, and all the treaties made or which shall be
made by the President of the Republic, with the approval of
Congress, shall be the supreme law of the whole Union. The
judges of each State shall be guided by said Constitution,
law, and treaties in spite of provisions to the contrary which
may appear in the Constitutions or laws of the States.
Article 127.
The present Constitution may be added to or reformed. In order
that additions or alterations may become part of the
Constitution, it is required that the Congress of the Union,
by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, shall agree to
the alterations or additions, and that these shall be approved
by the majority of the Legislatures of the States. The
Congress of the Union shall count the votes of the
Legislatures and make the declaration that the reforms or
additions have been approved.
Article 128.
This Constitution shall not lose its force and vigor even if
its observance be interrupted by a rebellion. In case that by
any public disturbance a government contrary to the principles
which it sanctions shall be established, as soon as the people
recover their liberty its observance shall be reestablished,
and in accordance with it and the laws which shall have been
issued in virtue of it, shall be judged not only those who
shall have figured in the government emanating from the
rebellion, but also those who shall have cooperated with it.
Additions.
Article 1.
The State and the Church are independent of one another. The
Congress may not pass laws establishing or prohibiting any
religion.
Article 2.
Marriage is a civil contract. This and the other acts relating
to the civil state of persons belong to the exclusive
jurisdiction of the functionaries and authorities of the civil
order, within limits provided by the laws, and they shall have
the force and validity which the same attribute to them.
Article 3.
No religious institution may acquire real estate or capital
fixed upon it, with the single exception established in
Article 27 of this Constitution.
Article 4.
The simple promise to speak the truth and to comply with the
obligations which have been incurred, shall be substituted for
the religious oath, with its effects and penalties.
----------CONSTITUTION OF MEXICO: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF NETHERLANDS KINGDOM.
After 1830, this became the Kingdom of Holland.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1832, and 1830-1884.
----------NETHERLANDS: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF NORWAY.
"On May 17, 1814, ... a constitution was granted to Norway.
The Fundamental Law of the constitution (Grundlöv), which
almost every peasant farmer now-a-days has framed and hung up
in the chief room of his house, bears the date the 4th of
November 1814."
_C. F. Keary, Norway and the Norwegians, chapter 13._
The following the text of the constitution as granted in 1814:
Title I.
Article 1.
The kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, undivisible, and
inalienable state, united to Sweden under the same king. The
form of its government is limited, hereditary, and
monarchical.
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Article 2.
The Lutheran evangelical religion shall continue to be the
ruling religion of the kingdom; those of the inhabitants which
profess it are bound to bring up their children in its tenets;
Jesuits and monastic orders shall not be prohibited in the
kingdom. The admission of Jews into the kingdom shall always
be, as formerly, prohibited.
Title II.
Article 1.
The executive power is declared to be in the person of the
king.
Article 2.
The king shall always profess the evangelical Lutheran
religion, which he shall maintain and protect.
Article 3.
The person of the king is sacred: he can neither be blamed or
accused.
Article 4.
The succession is lineal, and collateral, such as it is
determined by the order of succession decreed by the general
estates of Sweden, and sanctioned by the king in the Act of
the 26th September 1810, of which a translation is annexed to
this Constitution. Of the number of legitimate heirs, is
comprehended the child in its mother's womb, which, as soon as
it shall be born, after the death of its father, takes the
place which is due to him in the line of succession. When a
Prince, heir of the re-united crowns of Norway and Sweden,
shall be born, his name, and the day of his birth shall be
announced at the first Storthing, and inscribed in the
registers.
Article 5.
Should there not be found any prince, a legitimate heir to the
throne, the king can propose his successor at the Storthing of
Norway, and at the same time to the states general of Sweden.
As soon as the king shall have made the proposition, the
representatives of the two nations shall choose from among
them a committee, invested with the right of determining the
election, in case the king's proposition should not, by the
plurality of voices, be approved of separately by the
representatives of each of the countries. The number of
members of this committee, shall be composed of an equal
number of Norwegians and Swedes, so that the step to follow in
the election shall be regulated by a law which the king shall
propose at the same time to the next Storthing, and the states
general of Sweden. They shall draw by lot one out of the
committee for its member.
Article 6.
The Storthing of Norway, and the states general of Sweden
shall concert to fix by a law the king's majority; if they
cannot agree, a committee, taken from the representatives of
the two nations, shall decide it in the manner established by
article 5th, title 2nd. As soon as the king shall have
attained the years of majority fixed by the law, he shall
publicly declare that he is of age.
[Footnote: Storthing is the national assembly, or general
estates of the kingdom.]
[Footnote: A law of the Storthing, 13th July 1815, and
sanctioned by the king, declared that the king is major on
arriving at the age of eighteen years.]
Article 7.
When the king comes of age he shall take into his hands the
reins of government, and make the following oath to the
Storthing: "I swear, on my soul and conscience, to govern the
kingdom of Norway conformably to its constitution and laws."
If the Storthing is not then assembled, this oath shall be
deposited in writing in the council, and solemnly repeated by
the king at the first Storthing, either vivâ voce or by
writing, by the person whom he shall have appointed to this
effect.
Article 8.
The coronation of the king shall take place when he is of age,
in the cathedral of Drontheim, at the time and with those
ceremonies that shall be fixed by himself.
Article 9.
The King shall pass some time in Norway yearly, unless this is
prevented by urgent circumstances.
Article 10.
The king shall exclusively choose a council of Norwegians,
citizens, who shall have attained the seventieth year of their
age. This council shall be composed at least of a minister of
state, and seven other members. In like manner the king can
create a viceroy or a government. The king shall arrange the
affairs between the members of the council, in such manner as
he shall consider expedient. Besides these ordinary members of
council, the king, or in his absence the viceroy (or the
government jointly with the ordinary members of council) may
on particular occasions, call other Norwegians, citizens, to
sit there, provided they are not members of the Storthing. The
father and son, or two brothers, shall not, at the same time,
have a seat in the council.
Article 11.
The king shall appoint a governor of the kingdom in his
absence, and on failure it shall be governed by the viceroy or
a governor, with five at least of the members of council. They
shall govern the kingdom in the name and behalf of the king;
and they shall observe inviolably, as much the principles
contained in this fundamental law as those relative precepts
the king shall lay down in his instructions. They shall make a
humble report to the king upon those affairs they have
decided. All matters shall be decided by plurality of votes.
If the votes happen to be equal, the viceroy or governor, or
in their absence the first member of council, shall have two.
Article 12.
The prince royal or his eldest son can be viceroy; but this
can only occur when they have attained the majority of the
king. In the case of a governor, either a Norwegian or a Swede
may be nominated. The viceroy shall remain in the kingdom, and
shall not be allowed to reside in a foreign one beyond three
months each year. When the king shall be present, the
viceroy's functions shall cease. If there is no viceroy, but
only a governor, the functions of the latter shall also cease,
in which event he is only the first member of council.
Article 13.
During the residence of the king in Sweden, he shall always
have near him the minister of state of Norway, and two of the
members of the Norwegian council, when they shall be annually
changed. These are charged with similar duties, and the same
constitutional responsibility attaches to them as to the
sitting council in Norway; and it is only in their presence
that state affairs shall be decided by the king. All petitions
addressed to the king by Norwegian citizens ought, first, to
be transmitted to the Norwegian council, that they may be duly
considered previously to decisions being pronounced. In
general, no affairs ought to be decided before the council has
expressed an opinion, in case it should be met with important
objections. The minister of state of Norway ought to report
the affairs, and he shall be responsible for expedition in the
resolutions which shall have been taken.
Article 14.
The king shall regulate public worship and its rites, as well
as all assemblies that have religion for their object, so that
ministers of religion may observe their forms prescribed to
them.
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Article 15.
The king can give and abolish ordinances which respect
commerce, the custom-house, manufactures, and police. They
shall not, however, be contrary to the constitution nor the
laws adopted by the Storthing. They shall have provisional
force until the next Storthing.
Article 16.
The king shall in general regulate the taxes imposed by the
Storthing. The public treasurer of Norway shall remain in
Norway, and the revenues shall only be employed towards the
expenses of Norway.
Article 17.
The king shall superintend the manner in which the domains and
crown property of the state are employed and governed, in the
manner fixed by the Storthing, and which shall be most
advantageous to the country.
Article 18.
The king in council has the right to pardon criminals when the
supreme tribunal has pronounced its opinion. The criminal has
the choice of receiving pardon from the king or of submitting
to the punishment to which he is condemned. In the causes
which the Odelsthing would have ordered to be carried to the
Rigsret, there can be no other pardon but that which shall
liberate from a capital punishment.
Article 19.
The king, after having heard his Norwegian council, shall
dispose of all the civil, ecclesiastic, and military
employments. Those who assist in the functions shall swear
obedience and fidelity to the constitution and to the king.
The princes of the royal family cannot be invested with any
civil employment; yet the prince royal, or his eldest son, may
be nominated viceroy.
Article 20.
The governor of the kingdom, the minister of state, other
members of council, and those employed in the functions
connected with these offices, the envoys and consuls, superior
magistrates, civil and ecclesiastic commanders of regiments,
and other military bodies, governors of fortresses, and
commanders-in-chief of ships of war, shall, without previous
arrest, be deposed by the king and his Norwegian council. As
to the pension to be granted to those employed they shall be
decided by the first Storthing. In the mean time, they shall
enjoy two-third parts of their former salary. The others
employed can only be suspended by the king, and they shall
afterwards be brought before the tribunals, but cannot be
deposed excepting by order of an arrest, and the king cannot
make them change their situations contrary to their will.
Article 21.
The king can confer orders of knighthood on whomsoever he
chooses, in reward of distinguished services, which shall be
published; but he can confer no other rank, with the title,
than that which is attached to every employment. An order of
knighthood does not liberate the person on whom it is
conferred from those duties common to all citizens, and
particular titles are not conferred in order to obtain
situations in the state. Such persons shall preserve the title
and rank attached to those situations which they have
occupied. No person can, for the future, obtain personal,
mixed, or hereditary privileges.
Article 22.
The king elects and dismisses, whenever he thinks proper, all
the officers attached to his court.
Article 23.
The king is commander-in-chief of all the forces, by sea and
land, in the kingdom, and these cannot be increased or
diminished without the consent of the Storthing. They will not
be ceded to the service of any foreign power, and troops
belonging to a foreign power (except auxiliary troops in case
of a hostile invasion,) cannot enter the country without the
consent of the Storthing. During peace, the Norwegian troops
shall be stationed in Norway, and not in Sweden.
Notwithstanding this the king may have in Sweden a Norwegian
guard, composed of volunteers, and may for a short time, not
exceeding six weeks in a year, assemble troops in the environs
of the two countries, for exercising; but in case there are
more than 3,000 men, composing the army of one of the two
countries, they cannot in time of peace enter the other.
[Footnote: The law of the Storthing, 5th July 1816, bears,
that troops of the line shall be employed beyond the frontiers
of the kingdom, and the interpretation given by it to that law
is, that troops of the line shall be employed beyond the
frontiers of the two kingdoms.]
The Norwegian army and gun-boats shall not be employed without
the consent of the Storthing. The Norwegian fleet shall have
dry docks, and during peace its stations and harbours in
Norway. Ships of war of both countries shall be supplied with
the seamen of the other, so long as they shall voluntarily
engage to serve. The landwehr, and other Norwegian forces,
which are not calculated among the number of troops, of the
line, shall never be employed beyond the frontiers of the
kingdom of Norway.
Article 24.
The king has the right of assembling troops, commencing war,
making peace, concluding and dissolving treaties, sending
ministers to, and receiving those of, foreign courts. When he
begins war he ought to advise the council of Norway, consult
it, and order it to prepare an address on the state of the
kingdom, relative to its finances, and proper means of
defence. On this the king shall convoke the minister of state
of Norway, and those of the council of Sweden, at an
extraordinary assembly, when he shall explain all those
relative circumstances that ought to be taken into
consideration; with a representation of the Norwegian council,
and a similar one on the part of Sweden, upon the state of the
kingdom, shall then be presented. The king shall then require
advice upon these objects; and each shall be inserted in a
register, under the responsibility imposed by the
constitution, when the king shall then adopt that resolution
which he judges most, proper for the benefit of the state.
Article 25.
On this occasion all the members of council must be present,
if not prevented by some lawful cause, and no resolution ought
to be adopted unless one half of the members are present. In
Norwegian affairs, which, according to the fifteenth article,
are decided in Sweden, no resolution shall be taken unless the
minister of state of Norway and one of the members of council,
or two members, are present.
Article 26.
The representations respecting employments, and other
important acts, excepting those of a diplomatic and military
nature, properly so called, shall be referred to the council
by him who is one of the members in the department charged
with it, who shall accordingly draw up the resolution adopted
in council.
Article 27.
If any member of council is prevented from appearing, and
referring the affairs which belong to his peculiar department,
he shall be replaced in this office by one of the others
appointed to this purpose, either by the king, if personally
present, and if not, by him who has precedence in the council,
jointly with the other members composing it. Should several of
these be prevented from appearing, so that only one half of
the ordinary number is present, the other employed in the
offices shall in like manner have right to sit in council; and
in that event it shall be afterwards referred to the king, who
decides if they ought to continue to exercise this office.
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Article 28.
The council shall keep a register of all affairs that may come
under its consideration. Every individual who sits in it shall
be at liberty to give his opinion freely, which the king is
obliged to hear; but it is reserved to his majesty to adopt
resolutions after he has consulted his own mind. If a member
of council finds that the king's resolution is contrary to the
form of government, the laws of the kingdom, or injurious to
the state, he shall consider it his duty to oppose it, and
record his opinion in the register accordingly; but he who
remains silent shall be presumed to have agreed with the king,
and shall be responsible for it, even in the case of being
referred to at a future period; and the Odelsthing is
empowered to bring him before the Rigsret.
Article 29.
All the orders issued by the king (military affairs excepted)
shall be countersigned by the Norwegian minister of state.
Article 30.
Resolutions made in absence of the king, by the council in
Norway, shall be publicly proclaimed and signed by the
viceroy, or the governor and council, and countersigned by him
who shall have referred them, and he is further responsible
for the accuracy and dispatch with the register in which the
resolution is entered.
Article 31.
All representations relative to the affairs of this country,
as well as writings concerning them, must be in the Norwegian
language.
Article 32.
The heir-apparent to the throne, if a son of the reigning
king, shall have the title of prince royal, the other
legitimate heirs to the crown shall be culled princes, and the
king's daughters princesses.
Article 33.
As soon as the heir shall have attained the age of eighteen,
he shall have a right to sit in council, without, however,
having a vote, or any responsibility.
Article 34.
No prince of the blood shall marry without permission of the
king, and in case of contravention, he shall forfeit his right
to the crown of Norway.
Article 35.
The princes and princesses of the royal family, shall not, so
far as respects their persons, be bound to appear before other
judges, but before the king or whomsoever he shall have
appointed for that purpose.
Article 36.
The minister of state of Norway, as well as the two members of
council who are near the king, shall have a seat and
deliberative voice in the Swedish council, where objects
relative to the two kingdoms shall be treated of. In affairs
of this nature the advice of the council ought also to be
understood, unless these require quick dispatch, so as not to
allow time.
Article 37.
If the king happens to die, and the heir to the throne is
under age, the council of Norway, and that of Sweden, shall
assemble, and mutually call a convocation of the Storthing in
Norway and Diet of Sweden.
Article 38.
Although the representatives of the two kingdoms should have
assembled, and regulated the administration during the king's
minority, a council composed of an equal number of Norwegian
and Swedish members shall govern the kingdoms, and follow
their fundamental reciprocal laws. The minister of state of
Norway who sits in this council, shall draw by ballot in order
to decide on which of its members the preference shall happen
to fall.
Article 39.
The regulations contained in the two last articles shall be
always equally adopted after the constitution of Sweden. It
belongs to the Swedish council, in this quality, to be at the
head of government.
Article 40.
With respect to more particular and necessary affairs that
might occur in cases under the three former articles, the king
shall propose to the first Storthing in Norway, and at the
first Diet in Sweden, a law having for its basis the principle
of a perfect equality existing between the two kingdoms.
Article 41.
The election of guardians to be at the head of government
during the king's minority, shall be made after the same rules
and manner formerly prescribed in the second title, Article
5th, concerning the election of an heir to the throne.
Article 42.
The individuals who in the cases under the 38th and 39th
articles, are at the head of government, shall be, the
Norwegians at the Storthing of Norway, and shall take the
following oath: "I swear, on my soul and conscience, to govern
the kingdom conformably to its constitution and laws;" and the
Swedes shall also make a similar oath. If there is not a
Storthing or Diet, it shall be deposited in writing in the
council, and afterwards repeated at the first of these when
they happen to assemble.
Article 43.
As soon as the governments have ceased, they shall be restored
to the king, and the Storthing.
Article 44.
If the Storthing is not convoked, agreeably to what is
expressed in the 38th and 39th articles, the supreme tribunal
shall consider it as an imperious duty, at the expiration of
four weeks, to call a meeting.
Article 45.
The charge of the education of the king, in case his father
may not have left in writing instructions regarding it, shall
be regulated in the manner laid down under the 5th and 41st
articles. It is held to be an invariable rule, that the king
during his minority shall learn the Norwegian language.
Article 46.
If the masculine line of the royal family is extinct, and
there has not been elected a successor to the throne, the
election of a new dynasty shall be proceeded in, and after the
manner prescribed under the 5th article. In the mean time the
executive power shall be exercised agreeably to the 41st
article.
Title III.
Article 1.
Legislative power is exercised by the Storthing, which is
constituted of two houses, namely, the Lagthing and
Odelsthing.
Article 2.
None shall have a right to vote but Norwegians, who have
attained twenty·five years, and resided in the country during
five years.
1. Those who are exercising, or who have exercised functions.
2. Possess land in the country, which has been let for more
than five years.
3. Are burgesses of some city, or possess either in it, or
some village, a house, or property of the value of at least
three hundred bank crowns in silver.
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Article 3.
There shall be drawn up in cities by the magistrates, and in
every parish by the public authority and the priest, a
register of all the inhabitants who are voters. They shall
also note in it without delay, those changes which may
successively take place. Before being inscribed in the
register, everyone shall take an oath, before the tribunal, of
fidelity to the constitution.
4. Right of voting is suspended in the following cases:
1. By the accusation of crime before a tribunal;
2. By not attaining the proper age;
3. By insolvency or bankruptcy, until creditors have
obtained their payment in whole, unless it can be proved
that the former has arisen from fire, or other unforeseen
events.
5. The right of voting is forfeited definitively:
1. By condemnation to the house of correction, slavery, or
punishment for defamatory language;
2. By acceptance of the service of a foreign power, without
the consent of government.
3. By obtaining the right of citizen in a foreign country.
4. By conviction of having purchased and sold votes, and
having voted in more than one electoral assembly.
6. The electoral assemblies and districts are held every three
years, and shall finish before the end of the month of
December.
7. Electoral assemblies shall be held for the country, at the
manor-house of the parish, the church, town-hall, or some
other fit place. In the country they shall be directed by the
first minister and assistants; and in towns, by magistrates
and sheriffs; election shall be made in the order appointed by
the registers. Disputes concerning the right of voting shall
be decided by the directors of the assembly, from whose
judgment an appeal may be made to the Storthing.
8. Before proceeding to the election, the constitution shall
be read with a loud voice in the cities, by the first
magistrate, and in the country by the curate.
9. In cities, an elector shall be chosen by fifty eligible
inhabitants. They shall assemble eight days after, in the
place appointed by the magistrate, and choose, either from
amongst themselves, or from others who are eligible in the
department of their election, a fourth of their number to sit
at the Storthing, that is after the manner of three to six in
choosing one; seven to ten in electing two; eleven to fourteen
in choosing three, and fifteen to eighteen in electing four;
which is the greatest number permitted to a city to send. If
these consist of less than 150 eligible inhabitants, they
shall send the electors to the nearest city, to vote
conjointly with the electors of the former, when the two shall
only be considered as forming one district.
[Footnote: A law passed 8th February 1816, contains this
amendment. Twenty-five electors and more shall not elect
more than three representatives, which shall be, ad
interim, the greatest number which the bailiwick can send:
and, consequently, out of which the number of
representatives in the county, which are sixty-one, shall
be diminished from fifty to fifty-three.]
10. In each parish in the country the eligible inhabitants
shall choose in proportion to their number electors in the
following manner; that is to say, a hundred may choose one;
two to three hundred, three; and so on in the same proportion.
[Footnote: If future Storthings discover the number of
representatives of towns from an increase of population
should amount to thirty, the same Storthing shall have
right to augment of new the number of representatives of
the country, in the manner fixed by the principles of the
constitution, which shall be held as a rule in future.]
Electors shall assemble a month after, in the place appointed
by the bailiff, and choose, either from amongst themselves or
the others of the bailiwick eligible, a tenth of their own
number to sit at the Storthing, so that five to fourteen may
choose one; fifteen to twenty-four may choose two of them;
twenty-five to thirty-four, three; thirty-five and beyond it,
four. This is the greatest number.
11. The powers contained in the 9th and 10th articles shall
have their proper force and effect until next Storthing. If it
is found that the representatives of cities constitute more or
less than one-third of those of the kingdom, the Storthing, as
a rule for the future, shall have right to change these powers
in such a manner that representatives of the cities may join
with those of the country, as one to two; and the total number
of representatives ought not to be under seventy-five, nor
above one hundred.
12. Those eligible, who are in the country, and are prevented
from attending by sickness, military service, or other proper
reasons, can transmit their votes in writing to those who
direct the electoral assemblies, before their termination.
13. No person can be chosen a representative, unless he is
thirty years of age, and has resided ten years in the country.
14. The members of council, those employed in their offices,
officers of the court, and its pensioners, shall not be chosen
as representatives.
15. Individuals chosen to be representatives, are obliged to
accept of the election, unless prevented by motives considered
lawful by the electors, whose judgment may be submitted to the
decision of the Storthing. A person who has appeared more than
once as representative at an ordinary Storthing, is not
obliged to accept of the election for the next ordinary
Storthing. If legal reasons prevent a representative from
appearing at the Storthing, the person who after him has most
votes shall take his place.
16. As soon as representatives have been elected, they shall
receive a writing in the country from the superior magistrate,
and in the cities from the magistrate, also from all the
electors, as a proof that they have been elected in the manner
prescribed by the constitution. The Storthing shall judge of
the legality of this authority.
17. All representatives have a right to claim an
indemnification in travelling to and returning from the
Storthing; as well as subsistence during the period they shall
have remained there.
18. During the journey, and return of representatives, as well
as the time they may have attended the Storthing, they are
exempted from arrest; unless they are seized in some flagrant
and public act, and out of the Storthing they shall not be
responsible for the opinions they may have declared in it.
Everyone is bound to conform himself to the order established
in it.
19. Representatives, chosen in the manner above declared,
compose the Storthing of the kingdom of Norway.
20. The opening of the Storthing shall be made the first
lawful day in the month of February, every three years, in the
capital of the kingdom, unless the king, in extraordinary
circumstances, by foreign invasion or contagious disease,
fixes on some other city of the kingdom. Such change ought
then to be early announced.
21. In extraordinary cases, the king has the right of
assembling the Storthing, without respect to the ordinary
time. The king will then cause to be issued a proclamation,
which is to be read in all the principal churches six weeks at
least previous to the day fixed for the assembling of members
of the Storthing at the place appointed.
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22. Such extraordinary Storthing may be dissolved by the king
when he shall judge fit.
23. Members of the Storthing shall continue in the exercise of
their office during three consecutive years, as much during an
extraordinary as any ordinary Storthing that might be held
during this time.
24. If an extraordinary Storthing is held at a time when the
ordinary Storthing ought to assemble, the functions of the
first will cease, as soon as the second shall have met.
25. The extraordinary Storthing, no more than the ordinary,
can be held if two-thirds of the members do not happen to be
present.
26. As soon as the Storthing shall be organized, the king, or
the person who shall be appointed by him for that purpose,
shall open it by an address, in which he is to describe the
state of the kingdom, and those objects to which he directs
the attention of the Storthing. No deliberation ought to take
place in the king's presence. The Storthing shall choose from
its members one-fourth part to form the Lagthing, and the
other three-fourths to constitute the Odelsthing. Each of
these houses shall have its private meetings, and nominate its
president and secretary.
27. It belongs to the Storthing,--
1. To make and abolish laws, establish imposts, taxes,
custom-houses, and other public acts, which shall, however,
only exist until the 1st of July of that year, when a new
Storthing shall be assembled, unless this last is expressly
renewed by them.
2. To make loans, by means of the credit of the state.
3. To watch over the finances of the state.
4. To grant sums necessary for its expenses.
5. To fix the yearly grant for the maintenance of the king
and viceroy, and also appendages of the royal family; which
ought not, however, to consist in landed property.
6. To exhibit the register of the sitting council in
Norway, and all the reports, and public documents (the
affairs of military command excepted), and certified
copies, or extracts of the registers kept by the ministers
of state and members of council near the king, or the
public documents, which shall have been produced.
7. To communicate whatever treaties the king shall have
concluded in the name of the state with foreign powers,
excepting secret articles, provided these are not in
contradiction with the public articles.
8. To require all individuals to appear before the
Storthing on affairs of state, the king and royal family
excepted. This is not, however, applicable to the princes
of the royal family, as they are invested with other
offices than that of viceroy.
9. To examine the lists of provisional pensions; and to
make such alterations as shall be judged necessary.
10. To name five revisers, who are annually to examine the
accounts of the state, and publish printed extracts of
these, which are to be remitted to the revisers also every
year before the 1st of July. 11. To naturalize foreigners.
28. Laws ought first to be proposed to the Odelsthing, either
by its own members or the government, through one of the
members of council. If the proposition is accepted, it shall
be sent to the Lagthing, who approve or reject it; and in the
last case return it accompanied with remarks. These shall be
weighed by the Odelsthing, which sets the proposed law aside,
or remits it to the Lagthing, with or without alterations.
When a law shall have been twice proposed by the Odelsthing to
the Lagthing, and the latter shall have rejected it a second
time, the Storthing shall assemble, when two-thirds of the
votes shall decide upon it. Three days at least ought to pass
between each of those deliberations.
29. When a resolution proposed by the Odelsthing shall be
approved by the Lagthing, or by the Storthing alone, a
deputation of these two houses to the Storthing shall present
it to the king if he is present, and if not, to the viceroy,
or Norwegian council, and require it may receive the royal
sanction.
30. Should the king approve of the resolution, he subscribes
to it, and from that period it is declared to pass into a
public law. If he disapproves he returns it to the Odelsthing,
declaring that at this time he does not give it his sanction.
31. In this event, the Storthing, then assembled, ought to
submit the resolution to the king, who may proceed in it in
the same manner if the first ordinary Storthing presents again
to him the same resolution. But if, after reconsideration, it
is still adopted by the two houses of the third ordinary
Storthing, and afterwards submitted to the king, who shall
have been intreated not to withhold his sanction to a
resolution that the Storthing, after the most mature
deliberations, believes to be useful; it shall acquire the
strength of a law, even should it not receive the king's
signature before the closing of the Storthing.
32. The Storthing shall sit as long as it shall be judged
necessary, but not beyond three months, without the king's
permission. When the business is finished, or after it has
assembled for the time fixed, it is dissolved by the king. His
Majesty gives, at the same time, his sanction to the decrees
not already decided, either in corroborating or rejecting
them. All those not expressly sanctioned are held to be
rejected by him.
33. Laws are to be drawn up in the Norwegian language, and
(those mentioned in 31st article excepted) in name of the
king, under the seal of the kingdom, and in these terms:--"We,
&c. Be it known, that there has been submitted to us a decree
of the Storthing (of such a date) thus expressed (follows the
resolution); We have accepted and sanctioned as law the said
decree, in giving it our signature, and seal of the kingdom."
34. The king's sanction is not necessary to the resolutions of
the Storthing, by which the legislative body,--
1. Declares itself organized as the Storthing, according to
the constitution.
2. Regulates its internal police.
3. Accepts or rejects writs of present members.
4. Confirms or rejects judgments relative to disputes
respecting elections.
5. Naturalizes foreigners.
6. And in short, the resolution by which the Odelsthing
orders some member of council to appear before the
tribunals.
35. The Storthing can demand the advice of the supreme
tribunal in judicial matters.
36. The Storthing will hold its sittings with open doors, and
its acts shall be printed and published, excepting in cases
where a contrary measure shall have been decided by the
plurality of votes.
37. Whoever molests the liberty and safety of the Storthing,
renders himself guilty of an act of high treason towards the
country.
{573}
Title IV.
Article 1.
The members of the Lagthing and supreme tribunal composing the
Rigsret, judge in the first and last instance of the affairs
entered upon by the Odelsthing, either against the members of
council or supreme tribunal for crimes committed in the
exercise of their offices, or against the members of Storthing
for acts committed by them in a similar capacity. The
president of the Lagthing has the precedence in the Rigsret.
2. The accused can, without declaring his motive for so doing,
refuse, even a third part of the members of the Rigsret,
provided, however, that the number of persons who compose this
tribunal be not reduced to less than fifteen.
3. The supreme tribunal shall judge in the last instance, and
ought not to be composed of a lesser number than the resident
and six assessors.
4. In time of peace the supreme tribunal, with two superior
officers appointed by the king, constitutes a tribunal of the
second and last resort in all military affairs which respect
life, honour, and loss of liberty for a time beyond the space
of three months.
5. The arrests of the supreme tribunal shall not in any case
be called upon to be submitted to revisal.
6. No person shall be named member of the supreme tribunal, if
he has not attained at least thirty years of age.
Title V.
Article 1.
Employments in the states shall be conferred only on Norwegian
citizens, who profess the Evangelical Lutheran religion--have
sworn fidelity to the constitution and king, speak the
language of the country, and are,--
1. Either born in the kingdom of parents who were then
subjects of the state.
2. Or born in a foreign country, their father and mother
being Norwegians, and at that period not the subjects of
another state.
3. Or, who on the 17th May, 1814, had a permanent residence
in the kingdom, and did not refuse to take an oath to
maintain the independence of Norway.
4. Or who in future shall remain ten years in the kingdom.