Part 165

Article 96. The Judges of the Supreme Court and of the lower National-Tribunals, shall keep their places quamdiu se bene gesserit, and shall receive for their services a compensation determined by law, which shall not be diminished in any manner whatever during their continuance in office.

Article 97. No one can be a member of the Supreme Court of Justice, unless he shall have been an attorney at law of the Nation for eight years, and shall possess the qualifications required for a Senator.

Article 98. At the first installation of the Supreme Court, the individuals appointed shall take an oath administered by the President of the Nation, to discharge their functions, by the good and legal administration of Justice according to the prescriptions of this Constitution. Thereafter, the oath shall be taken before the President of the Court itself.

Article 99. The Supreme Court shall establish its own internal and economical regulations, and shall appoint its subaltern employés.

Chapter II.

Article 100. The Judicial power of the Supreme Court and the lower National-Tribunals, shall extend to all cases arising under this Constitution, the laws of the Nation with the reserve made in clause 11 of Article 67, and by treaties with foreign nations; to all cases affecting ambassadors, public Ministers and foreign Consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Nation shall be party; to controversies between two or more Provinces; between a Province and the citizens of another; between the citizens of different Provinces; and between a Province or its citizens, against a foreign State or citizen.

Article 101. In these cases the Supreme Court shall exercise an appelate jurisdiction according to such rules and exceptions as Congress may prescribe; but in all cases affecting ambassadors, ministers and foreign consuls, or those in which a Province shall be a party, it shall exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction.

Article 102. The trial of all ordinary crimes except in cases of impeachment, shall terminate by jury, so soon as this institution be established in the Republic. These trials shall be held in the same Province where the crimes shall have been committed, but when not committed within the frontiers of the Nation, but against International Law, Congress shall determine by a special law the place where the trial shall take effect.

Article 103. Treason against the Nation shall only consist in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Congress shall fix by a special law the punishment of treason; but it cannot go beyond the person of the criminal, and no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood to relatives of any grade whatever.

Article 104. The Provinces keep all the powers not delegated by this Constitution to the Federal Government, and those which were expressly reserved by special compacts at the time of their incorporation.

Article 105. They create their own local institutions and are governed by these. They elect their own Governors, their Legislators and other Provincial functionaries, without intervention from the Federal Government.

Article 106. Each Province shall make its own Constitution in conformity with the dispositions of Article 5.

Article 107. The Provinces with the consent of Congress can celebrate contracts among themselves for the purposes of administering justice and promoting economical interests and works of common utility, and also, can pass protective laws for the purpose with their own resources, of promoting manufactures, immigration, the building of railways and canals, the peopling of their lands, the introduction and establishment of new industries, the import of foreign-capital and the exploration of their rivers.

{518}

Article 108. The Provinces cannot exercise any powers delegated to the Nation. They cannot celebrate compacts of a political character, nor make laws on commerce or internal or external navigation; nor establish Provincial Custom-Houses, nor coin money, nor establish Banks of emission, without authority of Congress; nor make civil, commercial, penal or mining Codes after Congress shall have sanctioned those provided for in this Constitution; nor pass laws upon citizenship or naturalization; bankruptcy, counterfeiting money or public State-documents; nor lay tonnage dues; nor arm vessels of war or raise armies, save in the case of foreign invasion, or of a danger so imminent that it admits of no delay, and then an account thereof must be immediately given to the Federal Government; or name or receive foreign agents; or admit new religious orders.

Article 109. No Province can declare or make war to another Province. Its complaints must be submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice and be settled by it. Hostilities de facto are acts of civil-war and qualified as seditious and tumultuous, which the General Government must repress and suffocate according to law.

Article 110. The Provincial Governors are the natural agents of the Federal Government to cause the fulfilment of the laws of the Nation.

See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1880-1891.

CONSTITUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: End----------

CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE. Introduced in 1867.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1866-1867, and 1866-1887.

CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1884.

CONSTITUTION OF BOLIVIA.

See PERU: A. D. 1825-1826, and 1826-1876.

End----------

CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL.

The following text of the Constitution of the United States of Brazil, adopted February 24, 1891, is taken from a translation published in Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau of American Republics, Washington:

We, the representatives of the Brazilian people, united in constitutional congress, to organize a free and democratic regime, do establish, decree and promulgate the following constitution of the Republic of the United States of Brazil:

Article 1. The Brazilian nation, adopting as a form of government the Federal Republic proclaimed November 15, 1889, constitutes itself, by the perpetual and indissoluble union of its former provinces, the United States of Brazil.

Article 2. Each of the former provinces shall constitute a State, and the former municipal district shall form the Federal District, continuing to be the capital of the Union until the following article shall be carried in to effect.

Article 3. In the center there is allotted as the property of the Union a zone of 14,400 square kilometres, which in due time shall be laid off for the establishment of the future federal capital. _Sole paragraph._—After the change of site of the capital, the present Federal District shall constitute a State.

Article 4. The States shall have the right to incorporate themselves one with another, sub-divide themselves, dismember themselves to join with others or form new States, with the consent of the respective local legislatures in two successive annual sessions and the approval of the national Congress.

Article 5. It shall be the duty of each State to provide, at its own expense, for the necessities of its government and administration; but the Union shall extend assistance to any State which, in case of public calamity, shall demand it.

Article 6. The Federal Government shall not interfere in matters pertaining peculiarly to the States, save: (1) To repel foreign invasion, or the invasion of one State by another. (2) To maintain the federative republican form of government. (3) To reestablish order and tranquillity in the States at the request of the respective governments. (4) To assure the execution of the laws and federal decrees.

Article 7. It is the exclusive prerogative of the Union to decree: (1) Duties on imports from foreign countries. (2) Duties of entry, departure, and stay of vessels; the coasting trade for national articles being free of duties, as well as for foreign merchandise that has already paid an import duty. (3) Stamp duties, save the restrictions imposed by article 9, §1. No.1. (4) Postal and federal telegraphic taxes. §1. The Union alone shall have the power: (1) To establish banks of emission. (2) To create and maintain custom-houses. §2. The taxes decreed by the Union shall be uniform for all the States. §3. The laws of the Union and the acts and decisions of its authorities shall be executed throughout the country by federal officials, except that the enforcement of the former may be committed to the governments of the States, with the consent of the said States.

Article 8. The Federal Government is forbidden to make distinctions and preferences in favor of the ports of any of the States against those of others.

Article 9. The States alone are competent to decree taxes: (1) On the exportation of merchandise of their own production. (2) On landed property. (3) On the transmission of property. (4) On industries and professions. § 1. The States also have the exclusive right to decree: (1) Stamp duties on instruments emanating from their respective governments and business of their internal economy. (2) Contributions touching their own telegraphs and postal service. § 2. The products of the other States are exempt from imposts in the State whence they are exported. §3. It is lawful for a State to levy duties on imports of foreign goods only when intended for consumption in its own territory; but it shall, in such case, cover into the federal treasury the amount of duties collected. §4. The right is reserved to the States of establishing telegraph lines between the different points of their own territory, and between these and those of other States not served by federal lines; but the Union may take possession of them when the general welfare shall require.

{519}

Article 10. The several States are prohibited from taxing the federal property or revenue, or anything in the service of the Union, and vice versa.

Article 11. It is forbidden to the States, as well as to the Unions: (1) To impose duties on the products of the other States, or of foreign countries, in transit through the territory of any State, or from one State to another, as also on the vehicles, whether by land or water, by which they are transported. (2) To establish, aid, or embarrass the exercise of religious worship. (3) To enact ex post facto laws.

Article 12. In addition to the sources of revenue set forth in articles 7 and 9, it shall be lawful for the Union, as well as for the States, cumulatively or otherwise, to create any others whatsoever which may not be in contravention of the terms of articles 7, 9, and 11, § 1.

Article 13. The right or the Union and of the States to legislate in regard to railways and navigation of internal waters shall be regulated by federal law. _Sole paragraph_.—The coastwise trade shall be carried on in national vessels.

Article 14. The land and naval forces are permanent national institutions, intended for the defense of the country from foreign attack and the maintenance of the laws of the land. Within the limits of the law, the armed forces are from their nature held to obedience, each rank to its superior, and bound to support all constitutional institutions.

Article 15. The legislative, executive, and judicial powers are organs of the national sovereignty, harmonious and independent among themselves.

Article 16. The legislative power is vested in the national Congress, with the sanction of the President of the Republic. § 1. The national Congress is composed of two branches, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. § 2. The elections for senators and for deputies shall be held simultaneously throughout the country. § 3. No person shall be senator and deputy at the same time.

Article 17. The Congress shall assemble in the federal capital on the 3d day of May of each year, unless some other day shall be fixed by law, without being convoked, and shall continue in session 4 months from the date of the opening, and may be prorogued, adjourned, or convoked in extraordinary session. § 1. The Congress alone shall have the power to deliberate on the prorogation or extension of its session. § 2. Each legislature shall last for 3 years. § 3. The governor of any State in which there shall be a vacancy in the representation, including the case of resignation, shall order a new election to be held at once.

Article 18. The Chamber and the Senate shall hold their sessions apart and in public, unless otherwise resolved by a majority vote, and shall deliberate only when, in each of the chambers, there shall be present an absolute majority of its members. _Sole paragraph_.—To each of the chambers shall belong the right to verify and recognize the powers of its members, to choose its own presiding officers, to organize its internal government, to regulate the service of its own police rules, and to choose its own secretaries.

Article 19. The deputies and senators can not be held to account for their opinions, expressions, and votes in the discharge of their mandate.

Article 20. Deputies and senators, from the time of receiving their certificate of election until a new election, can not be arrested or proceeded against criminally without the permission of their respective chambers, except in the case of a flagrant crime, in which bail is inadmissible. In such case, the prosecution being carried to exclusive decision, the prosecuting authority shall send the court records to the respective chamber for its decision on the prosecution of the charge, unless the accused shall prefer immediate judgment.

Article 21. The members of the two chambers, on taking their seats, shall take a formal obligation, in public session, to perform their duties faithfully.

Article 22. During the sessions the senators and deputies shall receive an equal pecuniary salary and mileage, which shall be fixed by Congress at the end of each session for the following one.

Article 23. No member of the Congress, from the time of his election, can make contracts with the executive power or receive from it any paid commission or employment. § 1. Exceptions to this prohibition are: (1) Diplomatic missions. (2) Commissions or military commands. (3) Advancement in rank and legal promotion.

§ 2. No deputy or senator, however, can accept an appointment for any mission, commission, or command mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2 of the preceding paragraph, without the consent of the chamber to which he belongs, when such acceptance would prevent the exercise of his legislative duties, except in case of war or such as involve the honor or integrity of the nation.

Article 24. No deputy or senator can be president or form part of a directory of any bank, company, or enterprise which enjoys the favors of the Federal Government defined in and by law. _Sole paragraph._—Nonobservance of the provisions of the foregoing article by any deputy or senator shall involve the loss of his seat.

Article 25. The legislative commission shall be incompatible with the exercise of any other functions during the sessions.

Article 26. The conditions for eligibility to the national Congress are: (1) To be in possession of the rights of Brazilian citizenship and to be registered as a voter. (2) For the Chamber, to have been for more than 4 years a Brazilian citizen; and for the Senate, for more than 6 years. This provision does not include those citizens referred to in No.4, article 69.

Article 27. The Congress shall by special legislation declare the cases of electoral incompetency.

Article 28. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the representatives of the people, elected by the States and the Federal District by direct suffrage, the representation of the minority being guarantied.

§ 1. The number of the deputies shall be fixed by law in such a way as not to exceed one for each 70,000 inhabitants, and that there shall not be less than four for each State. § 2. To this end the Federal Government shall at once order a census to be taken of the population of the Republic, which shall be revised every 10 years.

Article 29. To the Chamber belongs the initiative in the adjournment of the legislative sessions and in all legislation in regard to taxation, to the determination of the size of the army and navy, in the discussion of propositions from the executive power, and in the decision to proceed or not in charges against the President of the Republic under the terms of article 53, and against the ministers of state in crimes connected with those of the said President.

{520}

Article 30. The Senate shall be composed of citizens eligible under the terms of article 26 and more than 35 years of age, to the number of three senators for each State and three for the Federal District, chosen in the same manner as the deputies.

Article 31. The mandate of a senator shall continue for 9 years, and one-third of the Senate shall be renewed every 3 years. _Sole paragraph_.—A senator elected in place of another shall exercise his mandate during the remainder of the term of the latter.

Article 32. The Vice President of the Republic shall be the president of the Senate, where he shall vote only in case of tie, and shall be replaced in case of absence or impediment by the vice president of that body.

Article 33. The Senate alone shall have the power to try and sentence the President of the Republic and the other federal officers designated by the constitution, under the conditions and in the manner which it prescribes. § 1. The Senate, when sitting as a tribunal of justice, shall be presided over by the president of the federal supreme court. § 2. It shall not pass sentence of condemnation unless two-thirds of its members be present. § 3. It shall not impose other penalties than the loss of office and prohibition from holding any other, without prejudice to the action of ordinary justice against the condemned.

Article 34. The national Congress shall have exclusive power: (1) To estimate the revenue, and fix the expenditures of the Federal Government annually, and take account of the receipts and expenditures of each financial budget. (2) To authorize the executive to contract loans and make other operations of credit. (3) To legislate in regard to the public debt and furnish means for its payment. (4) To control the collection and disposition of the national revenue. (5) To regulate international commerce, as well as that of the States with each other and with the Federal District; to establish and regulate the collection of customs duties in the ports, create or abolish warehouses of deposit. (6) To legislate in regard to navigation of rivers running through more than one State, or through foreign territory. (7) To determine the weight, value, inscription, type, and denomination of the currency. (8) To create banks of emission, legislate in regard to this emission and to tax it. (9) To fix the standard of weights and measures. (10) To determine definitely the boundaries of the States between each other, those of the Federal District, and those of the national territory with the adjoining nations. (11) To authorize the Government to declare war, if there be no recourse to arbitration or in case of failure of this, and to make peace. (12) To decide definitively in regard to treaties and conventions with foreign nations. (13) To remove the capital of the Union. (14) To extend aid to the States in the case referred to in article 5. (15) To legislate in regard to federal postal and telegraph service. (16) To adopt the necessary measures for the protection of the frontiers. (17) To fix every year the number of the land and naval forces. (18) To make laws for the organization of the army and navy. (19) To grant or refuse to foreign forces passage through the territory of the country to carry on military operations. (20) To mobilize and make use of the national guard or local militia in the cases designated by the Constitution. (21) To declare a state of siege at one or more points in the national territory, in the emergency of an attack by foreign forces, or internal disturbance, and to approve or suspend the state of siege proclaimed by the executive power or its responsible agents in the absence of the Congress. (22) To regulate the conditions and methods of elections for federal offices throughout the country. (23) To legislate upon the civil, criminal, and commercial laws and legal procedures of the federal judiciary. (24) To establish uniform naturalization laws. (25) To create and abolish federal public offices, to fix the duties of the same, and designate their salaries. (26) To organize the federal judiciary according to the terms of article 55 and the succeeding, section 3. (27) To grant amnesty. (28) To commute and pardon penalties imposed upon federal officers for offenses arising from their responsibility. (29) To make laws regarding Government lands and mines. (30) To legislate in regard to the municipal organization of the Federal District, as well as to the police, the superior instruction and other services which in the capital may be reserved for the Government of the Union. (31) To govern by special legislation those points of the territory of the Republic needed for the establishment of arsenals, other establishments or institutions for federal uses. (32) To settle cases of extradition between the States. (33) To enact such laws and resolutions as may be necessary for the exercise of the powers belonging to the Union. (34) To enact the organic laws necessary for the complete execution of the requirements of the Constitution. (35) To prorogue and adjourn its own sessions.

Article 35. It shall belong likewise to the Congress, but not exclusively: (1) To watch over the Constitution and the laws, and provide for necessities of a federal character. (2) To promote in the country the development of literature, the arts, and sciences, together with immigration, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, without privileges such as would obstruct the action of the local governments. (3) To create institutions of higher instruction and of high school education in the States. (4) To provide for high school instruction in the Federal District.

Article 36. Save the exceptions named in article 27, all bills may originate, indifferently, in the Chamber or in the Senate, and may be introduced by any of their members.