History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-Elba
Chapter III.
(These four articles abrogated by the four articles following them, 118-122.) Article 118. The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended.
[Article 119. _Amendment is secured through the forms required for passing federal laws._]
[Article 120. _When either Council of the Federal Assembly passes a resolution for amendment of the Federal Constitution and the other Council does not agree; or when fifty thousand Swiss voters demand amendment, the question whether the Federal Constitution ought to be amended is, in either case, submitted to a vote of the Swiss people, voting yes or no. If in either case the majority of the Swiss citizens who vote pronounce in the affirmative, there shall be a new election of both Councils for the purpose of preparing amendments._]
[Article 121. _The amended Federal Constitution shalt be in force when it has been adopted by the majority of Swiss citizens who take part in the vote thereon and by a majority of the States. In making up a majority of the States the vote of a Half-Canton is counted as half a vote. The result of the popular vote in each Canton is considered to be the vote of the State._]
Article 118. [_Amendment of July_ 5, 1891.] The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended as a whole or in part.
Article 119. [_Amendment of July_ 5, 1891.] General revision is secured through the forms required for passing the federal laws.
Article 120. When either Council of the Federal Assembly passes a resolution for general revision and the other Council does not agree; or when fifty thousand Swiss voters demand general revision the question whether there shall be such a revision must, in either case, be submitted to the popular vote of the Swiss people. If, in either case, the majority of the Swiss citizens who vote on the question pronounce in the affirmative, there shall be a new election of both Councils for the purpose of preparing a general revision.
Article 121. [_Amendment of July_ 5, 1891.] Specific amendments may be brought forward either through a Proposition of the People [Volksanregung] (Initiative) or by Federal legislation. A Proposition of the People means a demand supported by fifty thousand Swiss voters, either for suspension, repeal, or alteration of specified articles of the Federal Constitution. If by means of the method of Proposition of the People several different subjects are brought forward either for alteration or for incorporation into the Federal Constitution, each one of those separate subjects must be presented in a separate demand for a popular vote [Initintivbegehren]. The demand for a popular vote may take the form either of a request in general terms, or of a definite draft. If such a demand be made in the form of a request in general terms and the Councils of the Federal Assembly agree thereto, the said Councils shall thereupon prepare a specific amendment of the purport indicated by those asking amendment; and such specific amendment shall be submitted to the people and to the states for their acceptance or rejection. In case the Councils of the Federal Assembly do not agree thereto, the question of specific amendment shall then be subjected to the people for a popular vote; and in case the majority of the Swiss voters vote therefor, an amendment of the purport indicated by the vote of the people shall then be prepared by the Federal Assembly. In case the request shall take the form of a specific draft and the Federal Assembly agree thereto, the draft is then to be submitted to the people and the States for acceptance or rejection. If the Federal Assembly shall not agree thereto it may either prepare a substitute draft for itself, or it may propose the rejection of the proposition. The proposition to reject such substitute draft or proposition shall be submitted to the vote of the people and of the States at the same time with the general Proposition of the People.
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Article 122. [_Amendment of July_ 5, 1891.] The procedure upon the Proposition of the People and the popular votes concerning amendment of the Federal Constitution, shall be regulated in detail by a Federal Law.
Article 123. [_Amendment of July_ 5,1891.] The amended Federal Constitution or the specific amendments proposed, as the case may be, shall be in force when adopted by the majority of the Swiss citizens who take part in the vote thereon and by a majority of the Cantons. In making up the majority of the States the vote of a half of each Canton is counted as half a vote. The result of the popular vote in each Canton is considered to be the vote of the state.
Temporary Provisions.
Article 1. The proceeds of the posts and customs shall be divided upon the present basis, until such time as the Confederation shall take upon itself the military expenses up to this time borne by the Cantons. Federal legislation shall provide, besides, that the loss which may be occasioned to the finances of certain Cantons by the sum of the charges which result from Articles 20, 30, 36 (§ 2), and 42 (e), shall fall upon such Cantons only gradually, and shall not attain its full effect till after a transition period of some years. Those Cantons which, at the going into effect of Article 20 of the Constitution, have not fulfilled the military obligations which are imposed upon them by the former Constitution, or by federal laws, shall be bound to carry them out at their own expense.
Article 2. The provisions of the federal laws and of the cantonal concordats, constitutions or cantonal laws, which are contrary to this Constitution, cease to have effect by the adoption of the Constitution or the publication of the laws for which it provides.
Article 3. The new provisions relating to the organization and jurisdiction of the Federal Court take effect only after the publication of federal laws thereon.
Article 4. A delay of five years is allowed to Cantons for the establishment of free instruction in primary public education. (Art. 27.)
Article 5. Those persons who practice a liberal profession, and who, before the publication of the federal law provided for in Article 33, have obtained a certificate of competence from a Canton or a joint authority representing several Cantons, may pursue that profession throughout the Confederation.
Article 6. [_Amendment of December_ 22, 1885. _For the remainder of this amendment see article 32 (ii)._] If a federal law for carrying out Article 32 (ii) be passed before the end of 1890, the import duties levied on spirituous liquors by the Cantons and Communes, according to Article 32, cease on the going into effect of such law. If, in such case, the shares of any Canton or Commune, out of the sums to be divided, are not sufficient to equal the average annual net proceeds of the taxes they have levied on spirituous liquors in the years 1880 to 1884 inclusive, the Cantons and Communes affected shall, till the end of 1890, receive the amount of the deficiency out of the amount which is to be divided among the other Cantons according to population; and the remainder only shall be divided among such other Cantons and Communes, according to population. The Confederation shall further provide by law that for such Cantons or Communes as may suffer financial loss through the effect of this amendment, such loss shall not come upon them immediately in its full extent, but gradually up to the year 1895. The indemnities thereby made necessary shall be previously taken out of the net proceeds designated in Article 32 (ii), paragraph 4.
Thus resolved by the National Council to be submitted to the popular vote of the Swiss people and of the Cantons. Bern, January 31, 1874. Ziegler, President. Schiess, Secretary.
Thus resolved by the Council of States, to be submitted to the popular vote of the Swiss people and of the Cantons. Bern, January 31, 1874. A. Kopp, President. J. L. Lutscher, Secretary.
CONSTITUTION OF THE SWISS CONFEDERATION: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781. The Articles of Confederation.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1781, and 1783-1787.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787-1789, and 1791-1870. A sketch of the history of the framing and adoption of the Federal Constitution of the United States will be found under
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787, and 1787-1789.
The following text of the original instrument, with the subsequent amendments to it, is one prepared by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, and is the result of a careful comparison with the original manuscripts, preserved in the State Department at Washington. "It is intended to be absolutely exact in word, spelling, capitalization and punctuation. A few headings and paragraph numbers, inserted for convenience of reference, are indicated by brackets." "Those parts of the Constitution which were temporary in their nature, or which have been superseded or altered by later amendments, are included within the signs []." This text, originally printed in the "American History Leaflets," is reproduced with Professor Hart's consent. The paragraphing has been altered, to economize space, but it is otherwise exactly reproduced:
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"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I. _Section_ 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
_Section_ 2 [§ 1.] The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
[Footnote: Modified by Fourteenth Amendment.]
[§ 2.] No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
[§ 3.] Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, [which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.]
[Footnote: Superseded by Fourteenth Amendment.]
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; [and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.]
[Footnote: Temporary clause.]
[§ 4.] When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
[§ 5.] The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
_Section_ 3. [§ 1.] The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
[§ 2.] Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
[§ 3.] No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
[§ 4.] The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
[§ 5.] The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.
[§ 6.] The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
[§ 7.] Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
_Section_ 4. [§ 1.] The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
[§ 2.] The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
_Section_ 5. [§ 1.] Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.
[§ 2.] Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
[§ 3.] Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
[§ 4.] Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
_Section_ 6. [§ 1.] The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
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[§ 2.] No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
_Section_ 7. [§ 1.] All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
[§ 2.] Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
[§ 3.] Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
_Section_ 8. The Congress shall have Power [§ 1.] To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
[§ 2.] To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
[§ 3.] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
[§ 4.] To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
[§ 5.] To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
[§ 6.] To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
[§ 7.] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
[§ 8.] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
[§ 9.] To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
[§ 10.] To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
[§ 11.] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
[§ 12.] To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
[§ 13.] To provide and maintain a Navy;
[§ 14.] To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
[§ 15.] To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
[§ 16.] To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
[§ 17.] To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
[§ 18.] To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
_Section_ 9. [§ 1.] [The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.]
[Footnote: Temporary provision.]
[§ 2.] The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
[§ 3.] No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
[Footnote: Extended by the first eight Amendments.]
[§ 4.] No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
[§ 5.] No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
[§ 6.] No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
[§ 7.] No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
[§ 8.] No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
[Footnote: Extended by Ninth and Tenth Amendments.]
_Section_ 10. [§ 1.] No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
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[§ 2.] No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.
[§ 3.] No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
[Footnote: Extended by Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.]
Article II.
Section 1. [§ 1.] The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows
[§ 2.] Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. [The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote: A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.]
[Footnote: Superseded by Twelfth Amendment.]
[§ 3.] The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
[§ 4.] No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
[§ 5.] In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation, or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
[§ 6.] The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
[§ 7.] Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-- "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Section 2. [§ 1.] The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
[§ 2.] He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
[§ 3.] The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
_Section_ 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers: he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
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_Section_ 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Article III. _Section_ 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
_Section_ 2. [§ 1.] The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; --to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; --to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; --to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; --to Controversies between two or more States; --between a State and Citizens of another State;
[Footnote: Limited by Eleventh Amendment.]
--between Citizens of different States, --between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
[§ 2.] In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
[§ 3.] The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Section 3. [§ 1.] Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
[§ 2.] The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
Article IV. _Section_ 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section 2. [§ 1.] The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
[Footnote: Extended by Fourteenth Amendment.]
[§ 2.] A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
[§ 3.] [No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.]
[Footnote: Superseded by Thirteenth Amendment.]
_Section_ 3. [§ 1.] New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
[§ 2.] The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
_Section_ 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Article V. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that [no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and] that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
[Footnote: "[no amendment...]" is a Temporary provision.]
Article VI. [§ 1.] All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
[Footnote: Extended by Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4.]
[§ 2.] This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
[§ 3.] The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Article VII. The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
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DONE in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our names.
Go WASHINGTON--Presidt and deputy from Virginia.
DELAWARE. Geo: Read John Dickinson Gunning Bedford jun Richard Bassett Jaco: Broom
NEW HAMPSHIRE. John Langdon Nicholas Gilman
MASSACHUSETTS. Nathaniel Gorham Rufus King
MARYLAND. James McHenry Dan of St. Thos. Jenifer Danl Carroll
CONNECTICUT. Wm. Sami. Johnson Roger Sherman
VIRGINIA. John Blair James Madison Jr.
NEW YORK. Alexander Hamilton
NORTH CAROLINA. Wm. Blount Richd. Dobbs Spaight Hu Williamson
NEW JERSEY. Wil: Livingston Wm: Paterson. David Brearley Jona: Dayton
SOUTH CAROLINA. J. Rutledge, Charles Pinckney Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Pierce Butler.
PENNSYLVANIA. B Franklin Thos. Fitz Simons Thomas Mifflin Jared Ingersoll Robt. Morris James Wilson. Geo. Clymer Gouv Morris
GEORGIA. William Few Abr Baldwin
[Footnote: These signatures have no other legal force than that of attestation.]
ARTICLES in addition to and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
[Footnote: This heading appears only in the joint resolution submitting the first ten amendments.]
[Article 1.] Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
[Article II.] A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
[Article III.] No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
[Article IV.] The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
[Article V.] No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
[Article VI.] In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
[Article VII.] In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
[Article VIII.] Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
[Article IX.] The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
[Article X.] The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
[Footnote: Amendments First to Tenth appear to have been in force from November 3, 1791. (See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1791.)]
[Article XI.] The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
[Footnote: Proclaimed to be in force January 8, 1798.]
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[Article XII.] The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.--The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
[Footnote: Proclaimed to be in force September 25, 1804.]
Article XIII. _Section_ 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
_Section_ 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
[Footnote: Proclaimed to be in force December 18, 1865. [See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (JANUARY).]]
Article XIV. _Section_ 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
_Section_ 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
_Section_ 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
_Section_ 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
_Section_ 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
[Footnote: Proclaimed to be in force July 28. 1868. [See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865-1866 (DECEMBER-APRIL); 1866 (JUNE), and 1866-1867 (OCTOBER-MARCH).]]
Article XV. _Section_ 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
_Section_ 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
[Footnote: Proclaimed to be in force March 30, 1870. [See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1869-1870.]]
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF VENEZUELA.
The following text is taken from Bulletin No. 34 of the Bureau of the American Republics:
Article I. The States that the constitution of March 28, 1864, declared independent and united to form the Venezuelan Federation, and that on April 27, 1881, were denominated Apure, Bolivar, Barquisimeto, Barcelona, Carabobo, Cojedes, Cumamá, Falcón, Guzmán Blanco, Guárico, Gunynna, Guzmán, Maturin, Nuevn Esparta, Portuguesa, Táchira, Trujillo, Yaracay, Zamora, and Zulia are constituted into nine grand political bodies, viz: The State of Bermudez, composed of Barcelona, Cumaná, and Maturin; the State of Miranda, composed of Bolivar, Guzman Blanco, Guárico, and Nueva Esparta; the State of Carabobo, composed of Carabobo and Nirgua; the State of Zamora, composed of Cojedes, Portuguesa, and Zamora; the State of Lara, composed of Barquisimeto and Yaracuy, except the department of Nirgua; the State of Los Andes, composed of Guzman, Trujillo, and Táchira; the State of Bolivar, composed of Guayana and Apure; the State of Zulia, and also the State of Falcón. And they are thus constituted to continue one only nation, free, sovereign, and independent, under the title of the United States of Venezuela.
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Article. 2. The boundaries of these great States are determined by those that the law of April 28, 1856, that arranged the last territorial division, designated for the ancient provinces until it shall be re-formed.
Article. 3. The boundaries of the United States of the Venezuelan Federation are the same that in 1810 belonged to the old Captaincy-General of Venezuela.
Article. 4. The States that are grouped together to form the grand political bodies will be called Sections. These are equal among themselves; the constitutions prescribed for their internal organism must be harmonious with the federative principles established by the present compact, and the sovereignty not delegated resides in the State without any other limitations than those that devolve from the compromise of association.
Article. 5. These are Venezuelans, viz:
1st, All persons that may have been or may be born on Venezuelan soil, whatever may be the nationality of their parents;
2d, The children of a Venezuelan father or mother that may have been born on foreign soil, if they should come to take up their domicile in the country and express the desire to become citizens;
3d, Foreigners that may have obtained naturalization papers; and,
4th, Those born or that shall be born in any of the Spanish-American republics or in the Spanish Antilles, provided that they may have taken up their residence in the territory of the Republic and express a willingness to become citizens.
Article. 6. Those that take up their residence and acquire nationality in a foreign country do not lose the character of Venezuelans.
Article. 7. Males over twenty-one years of age are qualified Venezuelan citizens, with only the exceptions contained in this constitution.
Article. 8. All Venezuelans are obliged to serve the nation according to the prescriptions of the laws, sacrificing his property and his life, if necessary, to defend the country.
Article. 9. Venezuelans shall enjoy, in all the States of the Union, the rights and immunities inherent to their condition as citizens of the Federation, and they shall also have imposed upon them there the same duties that are required of those that are natives or domiciled there.
Article. 10. Foreigners shall enjoy the same civil rights as Venezuelans and the same security in their persons and property. They can only take advantage of diplomatic means in accordance with public treaties and in cases when right permits it.
Article. 11. The law will determine the right applicable to the condition of foreigners, according as they may be domiciled or in transit.
Article. 12. The States that form the Venezuelan Federation reciprocally recognize their respective autonomies; they are declared equal in political entity, and preserve, in all its plenitude, the sovereignty not expressly delegated in this constitution.
Article. 13. The States of the Venezuelan Federation oblige themselves--
1st, To organize themselves in accord with the principles of popular, elective, federal, representative, alternative, and responsible government;
2d, To establish the fundamental regulations of their interior regulation and government in entire conformity with the principles of this constitution;
3d, To defend themselves against all violence that threatens the sectional independence or the integrity of the Venezuelan Federation;
4th, To not alienate to a foreign power any part of their territory, nor to implore its protection, nor to establish or cultivate political or diplomatic relations with other nations, since this last is reserved to the Federal power;
5th, To not combine or ally themselves with another nation, nor to separate themselves to the prejudice of the nationality of Venezuela and her territory;
6th, To cede to the nation the territory that may be necessary for the Federal district;
7th, To cede to the Government of the Federation the territory necessary for the erection of forts, warehouses, shipyards, and penitentiaries, and for the construction of other edifices indispensable to the general administration;
8th, To leave to the Government of the Federation the administration of the Amazonas and Goajira territories and that of the islands which pertain to the nation, until it may be convenient to elevate them to another rank;
9th, To reserve to the powers of the Federation all legislative or executive jurisdiction concerning maritime, coastwise, and fluvial navigation, and the national roads, considering as such those that exceed the limits of a State and lead to the frontiers of others and to the Federal district;
10th, To not subject to contributions the products or articles upon which national taxes are imposed, or those that are by law exempt from tax before they have been offered for consumption;
11th, To not impose contributions on cattle, effects, or any class of merchandise in transit for another State, in order that traffic may be absolutely free, and that in one section the consumption of others may not be taxed;
12th, To not prohibit the consumption of the products of other States nor to tax their productions with greater general or municipal taxes than those paid on products raised in the locality;
13th, To not establish maritime or territorial custom-houses for the collection of imports, since there will be national ones only;
14th, To recognise the right of each State to dispose of its natural products;
15th, To cede to the Government of the Federation the administration of mines, public lands, and salt mines, in order that the first may be regulated by a system of uniform working and that the latter may be applied to the benefit of the people;
16th, To respect the property, arsenals, and forts of the nation;
17th, To comply with and cause to be complied with and executed the Constitution and laws of the federation and the decrees and orders that the federal power, the tribunals, and courts may expedite in use of their attributes and legal faculties;
18th, To give entire faith to and to cause to be complied with and executed the public acts and judicial procedures of the other States;
19th, To organize their tribunals and courts for the administration of justice in the State and to have for all of them the same substantive civil and criminal legislation and the same laws of civil and criminal procedure;
20th, To present judges for the court of appeals and to submit to the decision of this supreme tribunal of the States;
21st, To incorporate the extradition of criminals as a political principle in their respective Constitutions;
22d, To establish direct and public suffrage in popular elections, making it obligatory and endorsing it in the electoral registry. The vote of the suffragist must be cast in full and public session of the respective board; it will be inscribed in the registry books that the law prescribes for elections, which can not be substituted in any other form, and the elector, for himself or by another at his request in case of impediment or through ignorance, will sign the memorandum entry of his vote, and without this requisite it can not be claimed that in reality he has voted;
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23d, To establish a system of primary education and that of arts and trades;
24th, To reserve to the powers of the Federation the laws and provisions necessary for the creation, conservation, and progress of general schools, colleges, or universities designed for the teaching of the sciences;
25th, To not impose duties upon the national employés, except in the quality of citizens of the State and insomuch as these duties may not be incompatible with the national public service;
26th, To furnish the proportional contingent that pertains to them to compose the national public forces in time of peace or war;
27th, To not permit in the States of the Federation forced enlistments and levies that have or may have for their object an attack on liberty or independence or a disturbance of the public order of the Nation, of other States, or of another Nation;
28th, To preserve a strict neutrality in the contentions that may arise in other States;
29th, To not declare or carry on war in any case, one State with another;
30th, To defer and submit to the decision of the Congress or the High Federal Court in all the controversies that may arise between two or more States when they can not, between themselves and by pacific measures, arrive at an agreement. If, for any cause, they may not designate the arbiter to whose decision they may submit, they leave it, in fact, to the High Federal Court;
31st, To recognize the competency of Congress and of the court of appeals to take cognizance of the causes that, for treason to the country or for the infraction of the Constitution and laws of the Federation, may be instituted against those that exercise executive authority in the States, it being their duty to incorporate this precept in their constitutions. In these trials the modes of procedure that the general laws prescribe will be followed and they will be decided in consonance with those laws;
32d, To have as the just income of the States, two-thirds of the total product of the impost collected as transit tax in all the custom-houses of the Republic and two-thirds of that collected from mines, public lands, and salt mines administered by the Federal Power and to distribute this income among all the States of the Federation in proportion to the population of each;
33d, To reserve to the Federal Power the amount of the third part of the income from transit tax, the production of mines, public lands, and salt mines, to be invested in the improvement of the country;
34th, To keep far away from the frontier those individuals that, through political motives, take refuge in a State, provided that the State interested requests it.
Article. 14. The nation guarantees to Venezuelans:
1st, The inviolability of life, capital punishment being abolished in spite of any law that establishes it;
2d, Property, with all its attributes, rights and privileges, will only be subjected to contributions decreed by legislative authority, to judicial decision, and to be taken for public works after indemnity and condemnation;
3d, The inviolability and secrecy of correspondence and other private papers;
4th, The domestic hearth, that can not be approached except to prevent the perpetration of crime, and this itself must be done in accordance with law;
5th, Personal liberty, and consequently (1) forced recruiting for armed service is abolished, (2) slavery is forever proscribed, (3) slaves that tread the soil of Venezuela are free, and (4) nobody is obliged to do that which the law does not command, nor is impeded from doing that which it does not prohibit;
6th, The freedom of thought, expressed by word or through the press, is without any restriction to be submitted to previous censure. In cases of calumny or injury or prejudice to a third party, the aggrieved party shall have every facility to have his complaints investigated before competent tribunals of justice in accordance with the common laws;
7th, The liberty of traveling without passport, to change the domicil, observing the legal formalities, and to depart from and return to the Republic, carrying off and bringing back his or her property;
8th, The liberty of industry and consequently the proprietorship of discoveries and productions. The law will assign to the proprietors a temporary privilege or the mode of indemnity in case that the author agrees to its publication;
9th, The liberty of reunion and assembling without arms, publicly or privately, the authorities being prohibited from exercising any act of inspection or coercion;
10th, The liberty of petition, with the right of obtaining action by resolution; petition can be made by any functionary, authority or corporation. If the petition shall be made in the name of various persons, the first five will respond for the authenticity of the signatures and all for the truth of the assertions;
11th, The liberty of suffrage at popular elections without any restriction except to males under eighteen years of age;
12th, The liberty of instruction will be protected to every extent. The public power is obliged to establish gratuitous instruction in primary schools, the arts, and trades;
13th, Religious liberty;
14th, Individual security, and, therefore (1) no Venezuelan can be imprisoned or arrested in punishment for debts not founded in fraud or crime; (2) nor to be obliged to lodge or quarter soldiers in his house; (3) nor to be judged by special commissions or tribunals, but by his natural judges and by virtue of laws dictated before the commission of the crime or act to be judged; (4) nor to be imprisoned nor arrested without previous summary information that a crime meriting corporal punishment has been committed, and a written order from the functionary that orders the imprisonment, stating the cause of arrest, unless the person may be caught in the commission of the crime; (5) nor to be placed in solitary confinement for any cause; (6) nor to be obliged to give evidence, in criminal causes, against himself or his blood relations within the fourth degree of consanguinity or against his relations by marriage within the second degree, or against husband or wife; (7) nor to remain in prison when the reasons that caused the imprisonment have been dissipated; (8) nor to be sentenced to corporal punishment for more than ten years; (9) nor to remain deprived of his liberty for political reasons when order is reestablished.
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Article. 15. Equality: in virtue of which (1) all must be judged by the very same laws and subject to equal duty, service and contributions; (2) no titles of nobility, hereditary honors, and distinctions will be conceded, nor employments or offices the salaries or emoluments of which continue after the termination of service; (3) no other official salutation than "citizen" and "you" will be given to employés and corporations. The present enumeration does not impose upon the States the obligation to accord other guarantees to their inhabitants.
Article 16. The laws in the States will prescribe penalties for the infractions of these guarantees, establishing modes of procedure to make them effective.
Article 17. Those who may issue, sign, or execute, or order executed any decrees, orders, or resolutions that violate or in any manner infringe upon the guarantees accorded to Venezuelans are culpable and must be punished according to the law. Every citizen is empowered to bring charges.
Article 18. The National Legislature will be composed of two chambers, one of Senators and another of Deputies.
Article 19. The States will determine the mode of election of Deputies.
Article 20. To form the Chamber of Deputies, each State will name, by popular election in accordance with paragraph 22 of Article 13 of this Constitution, one Deputy for each thirty-five thousand inhabitants and another for an excess not under fifteen thousand. In the same manner it will elect alternates in equal number to the principals.
Article 21. The Deputies will hold office for four years, when they will be renewed in their entirety.
Article 22. The prerogatives of the chamber of Deputies are:
First, to examine the annual account that the President of the United States of Venezuela must render;
Second, to pass a vote of censure of the Ministers of the Cabinet, in which event their posts will be vacant;
Third, to hear charges against the persons in charge of the office of the National Executive for treason to the country, for infraction of the constitution, or for ordinary crimes; against the ministers and other National employés for infraction of the Constitution and laws and for fault in the discharge of their duties according to article 75 of this constitution and of the general laws of the Republic. This attribute is preventative and neither contracts nor diminishes those that other authorities have to judge and punish.
Article 23. When a charge is instituted by a Deputy or by any corporation or individual the following rules will be observed:
(1) there will be appointed, in secret session, a commission of three deputies;
(2) the commission will, within three days, render an opinion, declaring whether or not there is foundation for instituting a cause;
(3) the Chamber will consider the information and decide upon the cause by the vote of an absolute majority of the members present, the accusing Deputy abstaining from voting.
Article 24. The declaration that there is foundation for the cause operates to suspend from office the accused and incapacitates him for the discharge of any public function during the trial.
Article 25. To form this Chamber each State, through its respective legislature, will elect three principal Senators and an equal number of alternates to supply the vacancies that may occur.
Article 26. To be a Senator it is required that he shall be a Venezuelan by birth and thirty years of age.
Article 27. The Senators will occupy their posts for four years and be renewed in their entirety.
Article 28. It is the prerogative of the Senate to substantiate and decide the causes initiated in the Chamber of Deputies.
Article 29. If the cause may not have been concluded during the sessions, the Senate will continue assembled for this purpose only until the cause is finished.
Article 30. The National Legislature will assemble on the 20th day of February of each year or as soon thereafter as possible at the capital of the United States without the necessity of previous notice. The sessions will last for seventy days to be prolonged until ninety days at the judgment of the majority.
Article 31. The Chambers will open their sessions with two-thirds of their number at least; and, in default of this number, those present will assemble in preparatory commission and adopt measures for the concurrence of the absentees.
Article 32. The sessions having been opened, they may be continued by two-thirds of those that may have installed them, provided that the number be not less than half of all the members elected.
Article 33. Although the Chambers deliberate separately, they may assemble together in the Congress when the constitution and laws provide for it or when one of the two Chambers may deem it necessary. If the Chamber that is invited shall agree, it remains to it to fix the day and the hour of the joint session.
Article 34. The sessions will be public and secret at the will of the Chamber.
Article 35. The Chambers have the right:
(1) to make rules to be observed in the sessions and to regulate the debates;
(2) to correct infractors;
(3) to establish the police force in the hall of sessions;
(4) to punish or correct spectators who create disorder;
(5) to remove the obstacles to the free exercise of their functions;
(6) to command the execution of their private resolutions;
(7) to judge of the qualifications of their members and to consider their resignations.
Article 36. One of the Chambers cannot suspend its sessions nor change its place of meeting without the consent of the other; in case of disagreement they will reassemble together and execute that which the majority resolves.
Article 37. The exercise of any other public function, during the sessions, is incompatible with those of a Senator or Deputy. The law will specify the remunerations that the members of the national Legislature shall receive for their services. And whenever an increase of said remunerations is decreed, the law that sanctions it will not begin to be in force until the following period when the Chambers that sanctioned it shall have been renewed in their entirety.
Article 38. The Senators and Deputies shall enjoy immunity from the 20th day of January of each year until thirty days after the close of the sessions and this consists in the suspension of all civil or criminal proceeding, whatever may be its origin or nature; when anyone shall perpetrate an act that merits corporal punishment the investigation shall continue until the end of the summing up and shall remain in this state while the term of immunity continues.
Article 39. The Congress will be presided over by the President of the Senate and the presiding officer of the Chamber of Deputies will act as Vice-President.
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Article 40. The members of the Chambers are not responsible for the opinions they express or the discourses they pronounce in session.
Article 41. Senators and deputies that accept office or commission from the National Executive thereby leave vacant the posts of legislators in the Chambers to which they were elected.
Article 42. Nor can senators and deputies make contracts with the general Government or conduct the prosecution of claims of others against it.
Article 43. The National Legislature has the following prerogatives:
(1) to dissolve the controversies that may arise between two or more States;
(2) to locate the Federal District in an unpopulated territory not exceeding three miles square, where will be constructed the capital city of the Republic. This district will be neutral territory, and no other elections will be there held than those that the law determines for the locality, The district will be provisionally that which the constituent assembly designated or that which the National Legislature may designate;
(3) to organize everything relating to the custom-houses, whose income will constitute the treasure of the Union until these incomes are supplied from other sources;
(4) to dispose in everything relating to the habitation and security of ports and seacoasts;
(5) to create and organize the postal service and to fix the charges for transportation of correspondence;
(6) to form the National Codes in accordance with paragraph 19, article 13 of this Constitution;
(7) to fix the value, type law, weight, and coinage of national money, and to regulate the admission and circulation of foreign money;
(8) to designate the coat-of-arms and the national flag which will be the same for all the States;
(9) to create, abolish, and fix salaries for national offices;
(10) to determine everything in relation to the national debt;
(11) to contract loans upon the credit of the nation;
(12) to dictate necessary measures to perfect the census of the current population and the national statistics;
(13) to annually fix the armed forces by sea and land and to dictate the army regulations;
(14) to decree rules for the formation and substitution of the forces referred to in the preceding clause;
(15) to declare war and to require the National Executive to negotiate peace;
(16) to ratify or reject the contracts for national public works made by the President with the approval of the Federal Council, without which requisite they will not be carried into effect;
[Transcriber's note: (17) is missing.]
(18) to annually fix the estimates for public expenses;
(19) to promote whatever conduces to the prosperity of the country and to its advancement in the general knowledge of the arts and sciences;
(20) to fix and regulate the national weights and measures;
(21) to grant amnesties;
(22) to establish, under the names of territories, special regulations for the government of regions inhabited by unconquered and uncivilized Indians. Such territories will be under the immediate supervision of the Executive of the Union;
(23) to establish the modes of procedure and to designate the penalties to be imposed by the Senate in the trials originated in the Chamber of Deputies;
(24) to increase the basis of population for the election of deputies;
(25) to permit or refuse the admission of foreigners into the service of the Republic;
(26) to make laws in respect to retirements from the military service and army pensions;
(27) to dictate the law of responsibility on the part of all national employés and those of the States for infraction of the constitution and the general laws of the Union;
(28) to determine the mode of conceding military rank or promotion;
(29) to elect the Federal Council provided for in this constitution and to convoke the alternates of the senators and deputies who may have been chosen for it.
Article 44. Besides the preceding enumeration the National Legislature may pass such laws of general character as may be necessary, but in no case can they be promulgated, much less executed, if they conflict with this constitution, which defines the prerogatives of the public powers in Venezuela.
Article 45. The laws and decrees of the National Legislature may be proposed by the members of either chamber, provided that the respective projects are conformed to the rules established for the Parliament of Venezuela.
Article 46. After a project may have been presented, it will be read and considered in order to be admitted; and if it is, it must undergo three discussions, with an interval of at least one day between each, observing the rules established for debate.
Article 47. The projects approved in the chamber in which they were originated will be passed to the other for the purposes indicated in the preceding article, and if they are not rejected they will be returned to the chamber whence they originated, with the amendments they may have undergone.
Article 48. If the chamber of their origin does not agree to the amendments, it may insist and send its written reasons to the other. They may also assemble together in Congress and deliberate, in general commission, over the mode of agreement, but if this can not be reached, the project will be of no effect after the chamber of its origin separately decides upon the ratification of its insistence.
Article 49. Upon the passing of the projects from one to the other chamber, the days on which they have been discussed will be stated.
Article 50. The law reforming another law must be fully engrossed and the former law, in all its parts, will be annulled.
Article 51. In the laws this form will be used: "The Congress of the United States of Venezuela decrees."
Article 52. The projects defeated in one legislature cannot be reintroduced except in another.
Article 53. The projects pending in a chamber at the close of the sessions must undergo the same three discussions in succeeding legislatures.
Article 54. Laws are annulled with the same formalities established for their sanction.
Article 55. When the ministers of Cabinet may have sustained, in a chamber, the unconstitutionality of a project by word or in writing, and, notwithstanding this, it may have been sanctioned as law, the National Executive, with the affirmative vote of the Federal Council, will suspend its execution and apply to the legislatures of the States, asking their vote in the matter.
Article 56. In case of the foregoing article, each State will represent one vote expressed by the majority of the members of the legislature present, and the result will be sent to the High Federal Court in this form: "I confirm" or "I reject."
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Article 57. If a majority of the legislatures of the States agree with the Federal Executive, the High Federal Court will confirm the suspension, and the Federal Executive himself will render an account to the next Congress relative to all that has been done in the matter.
Article 58. The laws will not be observed until after being published in the solemn form established.
Article 59. The faculty conceded to sanction a law is not to be delegated.
Article 60. No legislative disposition will have a retroactive effect, except in matters of judicial procedure and that which imposes a lighter penalty.
Article 61. There will be a Federal Council composed of one senator and one deputy for each State and of one more deputy for the Federal District, who will be elected by the Congress each two years from among the respective representations of the States composing the Federation and from that of the Federal District. This election will take place in the first fifteen days of the meeting of Congress, in the first and third year of the constitutional period.
Article 62. The Federal Council elects from its members the President of the United States of Venezuela, and in the same manner the person who shall act in his stead in case of his temporal or permanent disability during his term. The election of a person to be President of the United States of Venezuela who is not a member of the Federal Council, as well as of those who may have to act in his stead in case of his temporal or permanent disability, is null of right and void of efficacy.
Article 63. The members of the Federal Council hold office for two years, the same as the President of the United States of Venezuela, whose term is of equal duration; and neither he nor they can be reëlected for the term immediately succeeding, although they may return to occupy` their posts as legislators in the chambers to which they belong.
Article 64. The Federal Council resides in the district and exercises the functions prescribed in this constitution. It cannot deliberate with less than an absolute majority of all its members; it dictates the interior regulations to be observed in its deliberations, and annually appoints the person who shall preside over its sessions.
Article 65. The prerogatives of the President of Venezuela are:
(1) To appoint and remove the cabinet ministers;
(2) to preside over the cabinet, in whose discussions he will have a vote, and to inform the Council of all the matters that refer to the General Administration;
(3) to receive and welcome public ministers;
(4) to sign the official letters to the Sovereigns or Presidents of other countries;
(5) to order the execution of the laws and decrees of the National Legislature, and to take care that they are complied with and executed;
(6) to promulgate the resolutions and decrees that may have been proposed and received the approbation of the Federal Council, in conformity with article 66 of this constitution;
(7) to organize the Federal District and to act therein as the chief civil and political authority established by this constitution;
(8) to issue registers of navigation to national vessels;
(9) to render an account to Congress, within the first eight days of its annual session, of the cases in which, with the approval of the Federal Council, he may have exercised all or any of the faculties accorded to him in article 66 of this compact;
(10) to discharge the other functions that the national laws entrust to him.
Article 66. Besides the foregoing prerogatives, that are personal to the president of the United States of Venezuela, he can, with the deliberate vote of the Federal Council, exercise the following:
(1) To protect the Nation from all exterior attack;
(2) to administer the public lands, mines, and salt mines of the States as their delegate;
(3) to convoke the National Legislature in its regular sessions, and in extraordinary session when the gravity of any subject demands it;
(4) to nominate persons for diplomatic positions, consuls-general, and consuls; those named for the first and second positions must be Venezuelans by birth;
(5) to direct negotiations and celebrate all kinds of treaties with other nations, submitting these to the National Legislature;
(6) to celebrate contracts of national interest in accordance with the laws and to submit them the legislatures for their approval;
(7) to nominate the employés of hacienda, which nominations are not to be made by any other authority. It is required that these employés shall be Venezuelan by birth;
(8) to remove and suspend employés of his own free motion, ordering them to be tried if there should be cause for it;
(9) to declare war in the name of the Republic when Congress shall have decreed it;
(10) in the case of foreign war he can,
first, demand from the States the assistance necessary for the national defense;
second, require, in anticipation, the contributions and negotiate the loans decreed by the National Legislature;
third, arrest or expel persons who pertain to the nation with which war is carried on and who may be opposed to the defense of the country;
fourth, to suspend the guaranties that may be incompatible with the defense of the country, except that of life;
fifth, to select the place to which the General Power of the Federation may be provisionally translated when there may be grave reasons for it;
sixth, to bring to trial for treason to the country those Venezuelans who may be, in any manner, hostile to the national defense;
seventh, to issue registers to corsairs and privateers and to prescribe the laws that they must observe in cases of capture;
(11) to employ the public force and the powers contained in numbers 1, 2, and 5 of the preceding clause with the object of reëstablishing constitutional order in case of armed insurrection against the institutions of the Nation;
(12) to dispose of the public force for the purpose of quelling every armed collision between two or more States, requiring them to lay down their arms and submit their controversies to the arbitration to which they are pledged by number 30, article 14 of this constitution;
(13) to direct the war and to appoint the person who shall command the army;
(14) to organize the national force in time of peace;
(15) to concede general or particular exemptions;
(16) to defend the territory designated for the Federal District when there may be reasons to apprehend that it will be invaded by hostile forces.
Article 67. The President of the United States of Venezuela shall have the ministers for his cabinet that the law designates. It will determine their functions and duties and will organize their bureaus.
Article 68. To be a minister of the cabinet it is required that the person shall be twenty-five years of age, a Venezuelan by birth or five years of naturalization.
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Article 69. The ministers are the natural and proper organs of the President of the United States of Venezuela. All his acts must be subscribed by them and without such requisite they will not be complied with nor executed by the authorities, employees, or private persons.
Article 70. All the acts of the ministers must be conformed to this Constitution and the laws; their personal responsibility is not saved, although they may have the written order of the President.
Article 71. The settlement of all business, except the fiscal affairs of the bureaus, will be determined in the council of ministers, and their responsibility is collective and consolidated.
Article 72. The ministers, within the five first sessions of each year, will render an account to the Chambers of what they may have done or propose to do in their respective branches. They will also render written or verbal reports that may be requested of them, reserving only that which, in diplomatic affairs, it may not be convenient to publish.
Article 73. Within the same period, they will present to the National Legislature the estimates of public expenditures and the general account of the past year.
Article 74. The ministers have the right to be heard in the Chambers, and are obliged to attend when they may be called upon for information.
Article 75. The ministers are responsible:
(1) for treason to the country;
(2) for infraction of this Constitution or the laws;
(3) for malversation of the public funds;
(4) for exceeding the estimates in their expenditures;
(5) for subornation or bribery in the affairs under their charge or in the nominations for public employees;
(6) for failure in compliance with the decisions of the Federal Council.
Article 76. The High Federal Court will be composed of as many judges as there may be States of the Federation and with the following qualities:
(1) A judge must be a Venezuelan by birth;
(2) he must be thirty years of age.
Article 77. For the nomination of judges of the High Federal Court the Congress will convene on the fifteenth day of its regular sessions and will proceed to group together the representation of each State from which to form a list of as many candidates for principal judges and an equal number of alternates as there may be States of the Federation. The Congress, in the same or following session, will elect one principal and one alternate for each State, selecting them from the respective lists.
Article 78. The law will determine the different functions of the judges and other officers of the High Federal Court.
Article 79. The judges and their respective alternates will hold office for four years. The principals and their alternates in office can not accept during this period any office in the gift of the executive without previous resignation and lawful acceptance. The infraction of this disposition will be punished with four years of disability to hold public office in Venezuela.
Article 80. The matters within the competence of the High Federal Court are:
(1) to take cognizance of civil or criminal causes that may be instituted against diplomatic officers in those cases permitted by the law of nations;
(2) to take cognizance of causes ordered by the President to be instituted against cabinet ministers when they may be accused according to the cases provided for in this Constitution. In the matter of the necessity of suspension from office, they will request the President to that effect and he will comply;
[Transcriber's note: (3) is absent.]
(4) to have jurisdiction of the causes of responsibility instituted against diplomatic agents accredited to another nation for the wrong discharge of their functions;
(5) to have jurisdiction in civil trials when the nation is defendant and the law sanctions it;
(6) to dissipate the controversies that may arise between the officials of different States in political order in the matter of jurisdiction or competence;
(7) to take cognizance of all matters of political nature that the States desire to submit for their consideration;
(8) to declare which may be the law in force when the national and State laws may be found to conflict with each other;
(9) to have jurisdiction in the controversies that may result from contracts or negotiations celebrated by the president of the federation;
(10) to have jurisdiction in causes of imprisonment;
(11) to exercise other prerogatives provided for by law.
Article 81. The Court of Appeals referred to in paragraph 20, article 13 of this Constitution, is the tribunal of the states; it will be composed of as many judges as there are states of the federation, and their terms of office will last for four years.
Article 82. A judge of the Court of Appeals must have the following qualifications:
(1) he must be an attorney at law in the exercise of his profession, and must have had at least six years practice;
(2) he must be a Venezuelan, thirty years of age.
Article 83. Every four years the legislature of each State will form a list of as many attorneys, with the qualifications expressed in the preceding article, as there are States, and will remit it, duly certified, to the Federal Council in order that this body, from the respective lists, may select a judge for each State in the organization of this high tribunal.
Article 84. After the Federal Council may have received the lists from all the States, it will proceed, in public session, to verify the election; forming thereafter a list of the attorneys not elected, in order that from this general list, which will be published in the official paper, the permanent vacancies that may occur in the Court of Appeals may be filled by lot. The temporary vacancies will be filled according to law.
Article 85. The Court of Appeals will have the following prerogatives:
(1) to take cognizance of criminal causes or those of responsibility that may be instituted against the high functionaries of the different States, applying the laws of the States themselves in matters of responsibility, and in case of omission of the promulgation of a law of constitutional precept, it will apply to the cause in question the general laws of the land;
(2) to take cognizance and to decide in cases of appeal in the form and terms directed by law;
(3) to annually report to the National Legislature the difficulties that stand in the way of uniformity in the matter of civil or criminal legislation;
(4) to dispose of the rivalries that may arise between the officers or functionaries of judicial order in the different States of the federation and amongst those of a single State, provided that the authority to settle them does not exist in the State.
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Article 86. The National Executive is exercised by the Federal Council, the President of the United States of Venezuela, or the person who fills his vacancies, in union with the cabinet ministers who are his organs. The President of Venezuela must be a Venezuelan by birth.
Article 87. The functions of National Executive can not be exercised outside of the federal district except in the case provided for in number 5, paragraph 10, article 66 of the Constitution. When the President, with the approval of the Council, shall take command of the army or absent himself from the district on account of matters of public interest that demand it, he can not exercise any functions and will be replaced by the Federal Council in accordance with article 62 of this Constitution.
Article 88. Everything that may not be expressly assigned to the general administration of the nation in this Constitution is reserved to the States.
Article 89. The tribunals of justice in the States are independent; the causes originated in them will be concluded in the same States without any other review than that of the Court of Appeals in the cases provided for by law.
Article 90. Every act of Congress and of the National Executive that violates the rights guaranteed to the States in this Constitution, or that attacks their independence, must be declared of no effect by the High Court, provided that a majority of the legislatures demands it.
Article 91. The public national force is divided into naval and land troops, and will be composed of the citizen militia that the States may organize according to law.
Article 92. The force at the disposal of the federation will be organized from citizens of a contingent furnished by each State in proportion to its population, calling to service those citizens that should render it according to their internal laws.
Article 93. In case of war the contingent can be augmented by bodies of citizen militia up to the number of men necessary to fill the draft of the National Government.
Article 94. The National Government may change the commanders of the public force supplied by the States in the cases and with the formalities provided for in the national military law and then their successors will be called for from the States.
Article 95. The military and civil authority can never be exercised by the same person or corporation.
Article 96. The nation, being in possession of the right of ecclesiastical patronage, will exercise it as the law upon the subject may direct.
Article 97. The Government of the Federation will have no other resident employees with jurisdiction or authority in the States than those of the States themselves. The officers of hacienda, those of the forces that garrison national fortresses, arsenals created by law, navy-yards, and habilitated ports, that only have jurisdiction in matters peculiar to their respective offices and within the limits of the forts and quarters that they command, are excepted; but even these must be subject to the general laws of the State in which they reside. All the elements of war now existing belong to the National Government; nevertheless it is not to be understood that the States are prohibited from acquiring those that they may need for domestic defense.
Article 98. The National Government can not station troops nor military officers with command in a State, although they may be from that or another State, without permission of the government of the State in which the force is to be stationed.
Article 99. Neither the National Executive nor those of the States can resort to armed intervention in the domestic contentions of a State; it is only permitted to them to tender their good offices to bring about a pacific solution in the case.
Article 100. In case of a permanent or temporary vacancy in the office of President of the United States of Venezuela, the States will be immediately informed as to who has supplied the vacancy.
Article 101. Exportation in Venezuela is free and no duty can be placed upon it.
Article 102. All usurped authority is without effect and its acts are null. Every order granted for a requisition, direct or indirect, by armed force or by an assemblage of people in subversive attitude is null of right and void of efficacy.
Article 103. The exercise of any function not conferred by the constitution or laws is prohibited to every corporation or authority.
Article 104. Any citizen may accuse the employees of the nation or the States before the chamber of deputies, before their respective superiors in office, or before the authorities designated by law.
Article 105. No payment shall be made from the National Treasury for which Congress has not expressly provided in the annual estimate, and those that may infringe this rule will be civilly responsible to the National Treasury for the sums they have paid out. In every payment from the public Treasury the ordinary expenses will be preferred to the extraordinary charges.
Article 106. The offices of collection and disbursement of the national taxes shall be always separate, and the officers of collection may disburse only the salaries of their respective employees.
Article 107. When, for any reason, the estimate of appropriations for a fiscal period have not been made, that of the immediately preceding period will continue in force.
Article 108. In time of elections, the public national force or that of the States themselves will remain closely quartered during the holding of popular elections.
Article 109. In international treaties of commerce and friendship this clause will be inserted, to wit: "all the disagreements between the contracting parties must be decided without an appeal to war, by the decision of a power or friendly powers."
Article 110. No individual can hold more than one office within the gift of Congress and the National Executive. The acceptance of any other is equivalent to resignation of the first. Officials that are removable will cease to hold office upon accepting the charge of a Senator or Deputy when they are dependents of the National Executive.
Article 111. The law will create and designate other national tribunals that may be necessary.
Article 112. National officers can not accept gifts, commissions, honors, or emoluments from a foreign nation without permission from the National Legislature.
Article 113. Armed force can not deliberate; it is passive and obedient. No armed body can make requisitions nor demand assistance of any kind, but from the civil authorities, and in the mode and form prescribed by law.
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Article 114. The Nation and the States will promote foreign immigration and colonization in accordance with their respective laws.
Article 115. A law will regulate the manner in which national officers, upon taking charge of their posts, shall take the oath to comply with their duties.
Article 116. The National Executive will negotiate with the Governments of America over treaties of alliance or confederation.
Article 117. The law of Nations forms a part of the National Legislation; its dispositions will be specially in force in cases of civil war, which can be terminated by treaties between the belligerents who will have to respect the humanitarian customs of Christians and civilized nations, the guarantee of life being, in every case, inviolable.
Article 118. This constitution can be reformed by the National Legislature if the legislatures of the States desire it, but there shall never be any reform except in the parts upon which the majority of the States coincide; also a reform can be made upon one or more points when two-thirds of the members of the National Legislature, deliberating separately and by the proceedings established to sanction the laws, shall accord it; but, in this second case, the amendment voted shall be submitted to the legislatures of the States, and it will stand sanctioned in the point or points that may have been ratified by them.
Article 119. This constitution will take effect from the day of its official promulgation in each State, and in all public acts and official documents there will be cited the date of the Federation to begin with February 20, 1859, and the date of the law to begin with March 28, 1864.
Article 120. The constitutional period for the offices of the General Administration of the Republic will continue to be computed from February 20, 1882, the date on which the reformed constitution took effect.
Article 121. For every act of civil and political life of the States of the Federation, its basis of population is that which is determined in the last census approved by the National Legislature.
Article 122. The Federal Constitution of April 27, 1881, is repealed. Done in Caracas, in the Palace of the Federal Legislative Corps, and sealed with the seal of Congress on the 9th day of April, 1891. The 28th year of the Law and the 33rd year of the Federation.
(Here follow the signatures of the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Second Vice-Presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, together with those of the Senators and Deputies of the various States, followed by those of the President and the ministers of his cabinet.)
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1869-1892.
CONSTITUTION OF VENEZUELA: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE WATAUGA ASSOCIATION (the first Western American Commonwealth).
See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1769-1772.
CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON.
The "Constitutions of Clarendon" were a series of declarations drawn up by a council which King Henry II. of England convened at Clarendon, near Winchester, in 1164, and which were intended to determine the law on various points in dispute between the Crown and the laity, on one side, and the Church on the other. The issues in question were those which brought Henry into collision with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. The general provisions embodied in the Constitutions of Clarendon "would now be scarcely challenged in the most Catholic country in the world.
1. During the vacancy of any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey, or priory of royal foundation, the estates were to be in the custody of the Crown. Elections to these preferments were to be held in the royal chapel, with the assent of the king and council.
2. In every suit to which a clerk was a party, proceedings were to commence before the king's justices, and these justices were to decide whether the case was to be tried before a spiritual or a civil court. If it was referred to a spiritual court, a civil officer was to attend to watch the trial, and if a clerk was found guilty of felony the Church was to cease to protect him.
3. No tenant-in-chief of the king, or officer of his household, was to be excommunicated, or his lands laid under an interdict, until application had been first made to the king, or, in his absence, to the chief justice.
4. Laymen were not to be indicted in a bishop's court, either for perjury or other similar offence, except in the bishop's presence by a lawful prosecutor and with lawful witnesses. If the accused was of so high rank that no prosecutor would appear, the bishop might require the sheriff to call a jury to inquire into the case.
5. Archbishops, bishops, and other great persons were forbidden to leave the realm without the king's permission.
6. Appeals were to be from the archdeacon to the bishop, from the bishop to the archbishop, from the archbishop to the king, and no further; that, by the king's mandate, the case might be ended in the archbishop's court.
The last article the king afterwards explained away. It was one of the most essential, but he was unable to maintain it; and he was rash, or he was ill-advised, in raising a second question, on which the pope would naturally be sensitive, before he had disposed of the first."
_J. A. Froude, Life and Times of Becket, pages 31-32._
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1162-1170.
CONSTITUTIONS, Roman Imperial.
See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).
CONSUL, Roman.
When the Romans had rid themselves of their kings and established a republic, or, rather, an aristocratic government, "the civil duties of the king were given to two magistrates, chosen for a year, who were at first called 'prætores' or generals, 'judices' or judges, or consules (cf. con 'together' and salio 'to leap') or 'colleagues.' In the matter of their power, no violent departure was made from the imperium of the king. The greatest limitation on the consuls was the short period for which they were at the head of the state; but even here they were thought of, by a fiction, as voluntarily abdicating at the expiration of their term, and as nominating their successors, although they were required to nominate the men who had already been selected in the 'comitia centuriata.' Another limitation was the result of the dual character of the magistracy. The imperium was not divided between the consuls, but each possessed it in full, as the king had before. When, therefore, they did not agree, the veto of the one prevailed over the proposal of the other, and there was no action."
_A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Constitution, chapter 4._
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"As judges, the consuls occupied altogether the place of the kings. They decided the legal disputes of the citizens either personally or by deputy. Their criminal jurisdiction was probably limited to the most important cases. ... In the warlike state of the Romans the military character of the consuls was no doubt most prominent and most important. When the consul led the army into the field he possessed the unlimited military power of the kings (the imperium). He was entrusted with the direction of the war, the distribution of the booty, and the first disposal of the conquered land. ... The oldest designation for the consuls, therefore, was derived from their military quality, for they were called prætors, that is, commanders. It was, however, precisely in war that the division of power among two colleagues must often have proved prejudicial ... and the necessity of unity in the direction of affairs was felt to be indispensable. The dictatorship served this purpose. By decree of the senate one of the consuls could be charged with naming a dictator for six months, and in this officer the full power of the king was revived for a limited period. The dictatorship was a formal suspension of the constitution of the republic. ... Military was substituted for common law, and Rome, during the time of the dictatorship, was in a state of siege."
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 2, chapter 1, and book 6, chapter 3-5._
In the later years of the Roman empire, "two consuls were created by the sovereigns of Rome and Constantinople for the sole purpose of giving al date to the year and a festival to the people. But the expenses of this festival, in which the wealthy and the vain aspired to surpass their predecessors, insensibly arose to the enormous sum of four score thousand pounds; the wisest senators declined a useless honour which involved the certain ruin of their families, and to this reluctance I should impute the frequent chasms in the last age of the consular Fasti. ... The succession of consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian [A. D. 541] whose despotic temper might be gratified by the final extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom. Yet the annual consulship still lived in the minds of the people; they fondly expected its speedy restoration ... and three centuries elapsed after the death of Justinian before that obsolete dignity, which had been suppressed by custom, could be abolished by law. The imperfect mode of distinguishing each year by the name of a magistrate was usefully supplied by the date of a permanent era."
_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 40. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_
"There were no consuls in 531 and 532. The Emperor held the office alone in 533, and with a colleague in 534. Belisarius was sole consul in 535. The two following years, having no consuls of their own, were styled the First and Second after the Consulship of Belisarius. John of Cappadocia gave his name to the year 538, and the years 539 and 540 had again consuls, though one only for each year. In 541 Albinus Basilius sat in the curule chair, and he was practically the last of the long list of warriors, orators, demagogues, courtiers, which began (in the year 500 B. C.) with the names of Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. All the rest of the years of Justinian, twenty-four in number, were reckoned as Post Consulatum Basilii."
_T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders.