History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-Elba

Nation, of the reforms provided by the Constitution, and recommending to its consideration such measures as may be judged necessary and convenient. 12. He prolongs the ordinary meetings of Congress or convokes it in extra session, when a question of progress or an important interest so requires. 13. He collects the rents of the Nation and decrees their expenditure in conformity to the law or estimates of the Public expenses. 14. He negotiates and signs those treaties of peace, of commerce, of navigation, of alliance, of boundaries and of neutrality, requisite to maintain good relations with foreign powers; he receives their Ministers and admits their Consuls. 15. He is commander in chief of all the sea and land forces of the Nation. 16. He confers, by and with the consent of the Senate, the high military grades in the army and navy of the Nation; and by himself on the field of battle. 17. He disposes of the land and sea forces, and takes charge of their organization and distribution according to the requirements of the Nation. 18. By the authority and approval of Congress, he declares war and grants letters of marque and reprisal. {517} 19. By and with the consent of the Senate, in case of foreign aggression and for a limited time, he declares martial law in one or more points of the Nation. In case of internal commotion he has this power only when Congress is in recess, because it is an attribute which belongs to this body. The President exercises it under the limitations mentioned in Article 23. 20. He may require from the chiefs of all the branches and departments of the Administration, and through them from all other employés, such reports as he may believe necessary, and they are compelled to give them. 21. He cannot absent himself from the capital of the Nation without permission of Congress. During the recess he can only do so without permission on account of important objects of public service. 22. The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end of their next session. Chapter IV. Article 87. Five Minister-Secretaries; to wit, of the Interior; of Foreign Affairs; of Finance; of Justice, Worship and Public Instruction; and of War and the Navy; shall have under their charge the dispatch of National affairs, and they shall counter-sign and legalize the acts of the President by means of their signatures, without which requisite they shall not be efficacious. A law shall determine the respective duties of the Ministers. Article 88. Each Minister is responsible for the acts which he legalizes, and collectively, for those which he agrees to with his colleagues. Article 89. The Ministers cannot determine anything whatever, by themselves, except what concerns the economical and administrative regimen of their respective Departments. Article 90. As soon as Congress opens, the Ministers shall present to it a detailed report of the State of the Nation, in all that relates to their respective Departments. Article 91. They cannot be Senators or Deputies without resigning their places as Ministers. Article 92. The Ministers can assist at the meetings of Congress and take part in its debates, but they cannot vote. Article 93. They shall receive for their services a compensation established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished, in favor or against, the actual incumbents. Section III.--Chapter I. Article 94. The Judicial Power of the Nation shall be exercised by a Supreme Court of Justice, and by such other inferior Tribunals as Congress may establish within the dominion of the Nation. Article 95. The President of the Nation cannot in any case whatever, exercise Judicial powers, arrogate to himself any knowledge of pending causes, or reopen those which have terminated. 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. Article 37. A bill, after being passed in one of the chambers, shall be submitted to the other, and, if the latter shall approve the same, it shall send it to the executive, who, if he approve it, shall sanction and promulgate it. § 1. If, however, the President of the Republic shall consider it unconstitutional, or contrary to the good of the nation, he shall refuse his sanction to the same within 10 working days, counted from that on which he received it (the bill), and shall return it, within the same period, to the chamber in which it originated, with his reasons for his refusal. § 2. The failure of the executive to signify his disapproval within the above-named 10 days shall be considered as an approval, and in case his sanction be refused after the close of the session of the Congress, the President shall make public his reasons therefor. {521} § 3. The bill sent back to the chamber where it originated shall be discussed and voted upon by call of names, and shall be considered as passed if it obtain two-thirds of the votes of the members present; and, in this case, it shall be sent to the other chamber, whence, if it receive the same majority, it shall return, as a law, to the executive to be formally promulgated. § 4. The sanction and promulgation shall be effected in the following forms: (1) The national Congress enacts and I sanction the following law (or resolution). (2) The national Congress enacts and I promulgate the following law (or resolution). Article 38. If the law be not promulgated by the President of the Republic within 48 hours, in the cases provided for in §§ 2 and 3 of the preceding article, the president of the Senate, or the vice president, if the former shall not do so in the same space of time, shall promulgate it, making use of the following formula: I, president (or vice president) of the Senate, make known to whomsoever these presents may come, that the national Congress enacts and promulgates the following law (or resolution). Article. 39. A bill from one chamber, amended in the other, shall return to the former, which, if it accept the amendments, shall send it, changed to conform with the same, to the executive. § 1. In the contrary case, it shall go back to the amending chamber, where the alterations shall be considered as approved, if they receive the vote of two-thirds of the members present; in the latter case, the bill shall return to the chamber where it originated, and there the amendments can be rejected only by a two-thirds vote. § 2. If the alterations be rejected by such vote, the bill shall be submitted without them to the approval of the executive. Article 40. Bills finally rejected or not approved, shall not be presented again in the same legislative session. Article 41. The executive power shall be exercised by the President of the United States of Brazil, as elective chief of the nation. § 1. The Vice President, elected simultaneously with the President, shall serve in place of the latter in case of impediment and succeed him in case of vacancy in the Presidency. § 2. In case of impediment or vacancy in the Vice Presidency, the following officers, in the order named, shall be called to the Presidency: The vice president of the Senate, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the federal supreme court. § 3. The following are the conditions of eligibility to the Presidency or Vice Presidency of the Republic: (1) Must be a native of Brazil. (2) Must be in the exercise of political rights. (3) Must be more than 35 years of age. Article 42. In case of vacancy from any cause in the Presidency or Vice Presidency before the expiration of the first 2 years of the Presidential term, a new election shall be held. Article 43. The President shall hold his office during 4 years, and is not eligible for reelection for the next succeeding term. § 1. The Vice President who shall fill the Presidency during the last year of the Presidential term shall not be eligible to the Presidency for the next term of that office. § 2. On the same day on which his Presidential term shall cease the President shall, without fail, cease to exercise the functions of his office, and the newly elected President shall at once succeed him. § 3. If the latter should be hindered or should fail to do so, the succession shall be effected in accordance with §§ 1 and 2 of article 41. § 4. The first Presidential term shall expire on the 15th of November, 1894. Article 44. On taking possession of his office, the President, in a session of the Congress, or, if it be not assembled, before the federal supreme court, shall pronounce the following affirmation: I promise to maintain the federal Constitution and comply with its provisions with perfect loyalty, to promote the general welfare of the Republic, to observe its laws, and support the union, integrity, and independence of the nation. Article 45. The President and Vice President shall not leave the national territory without the permission of the Congress, under penalty of loss of office. Article 46. The President and Vice President shall receive the salary fixed by the Congress in the preceding Presidential term. Article 47. The President and Vice President shall be chosen by direct suffrage of the nation and an absolute majority of the votes. § 1. The election shall take place on the first day of March in the last year of the Presidential term, and the counting of the votes cast at the different precincts shall at once be made in the respective capitals of the States and in the federal capital. The Congress shall make the count at its first session of the same year, with any number of members present. § 2. If none of those voted for shall have received an absolute majority, the Congress shall elect, by a majority of votes of those present, one of the two who, in the direct election, shall have received the highest number of votes. In case of a tie the older shall be considered elected. § 3. The manner of the election and of the counting of the votes shall be regulated by ordinary legislation. § 4. The relatives, both by consanguinity and by marriage, in the first and second degrees, of the President and Vice President shall be ineligible for the offices of President and Vice President, provided the said officials are in office at the time of the election or have left the office even 6 months before. Article 48. To the President of the Republic shall belong the exclusive right to-- (1) Sanction, promulgate, and make public the laws and resolutions of the Congress; issue decrees, instructions, and regulations for their faithful execution. (2) Choose and dismiss at will the cabinet officers. (3) Exercise or appoint some one to exercise supreme command over the land and naval forces of the United States of Brazil, as well as over the local police, when called to arms for the internal or external defense of the Union. (4) Govern and distribute, under the laws of the Congress, according to the necessities of the National Government, the land and naval forces. (5) Dispose of the offices, both military and civil, of a federal character, with the exceptions specified in the Constitution. (6) Pardon crimes and commute penalties for offenses subject to federal jurisdiction, save in the cases mentioned in article 34, No. 28, and article 52, § 2. (7) Declare war and make peace, under the provisions of article 34, No. 11. (8) Declare war at once in case of foreign invasion or aggression. {522} (9) Give an annual statement to the national Congress of the condition of the country, with a recommendation of pressing provisions and reforms, through a message, which he shall send to the secretary of the Senate on the day of the opening of the legislative session. (10) Convoke the Congress in extra session. (11) Appoint the federal judges when proposed by the supreme court. (12) Appoint the members of the federal supreme court and ministers of the diplomatic corps, with the approval of the senate; and, in the absence of the Congress, appoint them in commission until considered by the senate. (13) Appoint the other members of the diplomatic corps and consular agents. (14) Maintain relations with foreign states. (15) Declare, directly, or through his responsible agents, a state of siege at any point of the national territory, in case of foreign aggression or serious internal disturbance. (Article 6, No.3; article 34, No. 21; and article 80.) (16) Set on foot international negotiations, celebrate agreements, conventions, and treaties, always ad referendum to the Congress, and approve those made by the States in conformity with article 65, submitting them when necessary to the authority of the Congress. Article 49. The President of the Republic shall be assisted by the ministers of state (cabinet officers), agents of his confidence, who sign the acts and preside over their respective departments into which the federal administration is divided. Article 50. The cabinet ministers shall not exercise any other employment or function of a public nature, be eligible to the Presidency or Vice Presidency of the Union, or be elected deputy or senator. Sole paragraph. --Any deputy or senator, who shall accept the position of cabinet minister, shall lose his seat in the respective chamber, and a new election shall at once be held, in which he shall not be voted for. Article 51. The cabinet ministers shall not appear at the sessions of the Congress, and shall communicate with that body in writing only or by personal conference with the committees of the chambers. The annual report of the ministers shall be addressed to the President of the Republic, and distributed to all the members of the Congress. Article 52. The cabinet ministers shall not be responsible to the Congress or to the courts for advice given to the President of the Republic. § 1. They shall be responsible, nevertheless, with respect to their acts, for crimes defined in the law. § 2. For common crimes and those for which they are responsible they shall be prosecuted and tried by the federal supreme court, and for those committed jointly with the President of the Republic, by the authority competent to judge this latter. Article 53. The President of the United States of Brazil shall be brought to trial and judgment, after the Chamber of Deputies shall have decided that he should be tried on the charges made against him, in the federal supreme court, in the case of common crimes, and in those of responsibility, in the Senate. Sole paragraph .--As soon as it shall be decided to try him on the charges brought, the President shall be suspended in the exercise of the duties of his office. Article 54. Crimes of responsibility on the part of the President of the Republic are such as are directed against-- (1) The political existence of the Union. (2) The Constitution and the form of the Federal Government. (3) The free exercise of the political powers. (4) The legal enjoyment and exercise of political or individual rights. (5) The internal security of the country. (6) The purity of the administration. (7) The constitutional keeping and use of the public funds. (8) The financial legislation enacted by the Congress. § 1. These offenses shall be defined in a special law. § 2. Another law shall provide for the charges, the trial, and the judgment. § 3. Both these laws shall be enacted in the first session of the first Congress. Article 55. The judicial power of the Union shall be lodged in a federal supreme court, sitting in the capital of the Republic, and as many inferior federal courts and tribunals, distributed through the country, as the Congress shall create. Article 56. The federal supreme court shall be composed of fifteen justices, appointed under the provisions of article 48, No. 12, from among the oldest thirty citizens of well-known knowledge and reputation who may be eligible to the Senate. Article 57. The federal justices shall hold office for life, being removable solely by judicial sentence. § 1. Their salaries shall be fixed by law of the Congress, and can not be diminished. § 2. The Senate shall try the members of the federal supreme court for crimes of responsibility, and this latter the lower federal judges. Article 58. The federal courts shall choose their presidents from among their own members, and shall organize their respective clerical corps. § 1. In these corps the appointment and dismissal of the respective clerks, as well as the filling of the judicial offices in the respective judicial districts, shall belong to the presidents of the respective courts. § 2. The President of the Republic shall appoint from among the members of the federal supreme court the attorney-general of the Republic, whose duties shall be defined by law. Article 59. To the federal supreme court shall belong the duty of-- (1) Trying and judging by original and exclusive jurisdiction-- (a) The President of the Republic for common crimes, and the cabinet ministers in the cases specified in article 52. (b) The ministers of the diplomatic corps for common crimes and those of responsibility. (c) Cases and disputes between the States and the Union, or between the States one with another. (d) Disputes and claims between foreign states and the Union, or between foreign nations and the States. (e) Conflicts between the federal courts one with another, or between these and those of the States, as well as those between the courts of one State and those of another. (2) Deciding, on appeal, questions pronounced upon by the lower federal courts and tribunals, as well as those mentioned in § 1 of the present article and in article 60. (3) Reviewing the proceedings of finished trials, under the provisions of article 81. § 1. Decisions of State courts in last appeal can be carried to the federal supreme court-- (a) When the validity or application of the federal laws or treaties is called in question and the decision of the State court shall be against the same. (b) When the validity of laws or acts of the governments of the States in respect to the Constitution or of the federal laws is contested and the State court shall have decided in favor of the validity of the acts or laws in question. § 2. In the cases which involve the application of the laws of the States, the federal court shall consult the jurisprudence of the local tribunals, and vice versa, the State court shall consider that of the federal tribunals when the interpretation of the laws of the Union is involved. {523} Article 60. It shall belong to the federal courts to decide-- (a) Cases in which the plaintiff or the defendant shall rest the case on some provision of the federal Constitution. (b) All suits brought against the Government of the Union or the national treasury based on constitutional provisions, on the laws and regulations of the executive power, or on contracts made with the said Government. (c) Suits arising from compensations, claims, indemnification of damages, or any others whatsoever brought by the Government of the Union against private individuals, and vice versa. (d) Litigations between a State and the citizens of another, or between citizens of different States having differences in their laws. (e) Suits between foreign states and Brazilian citizens. (f) Actions begun by foreigners, and based either on contracts with the Federal Government or on conventions or treaties of the Union with other nations. (g) Questions of maritime law and navigation, whether on the sea or on the rivers and lakes of the country. (h) Questions of international law, whether criminal or civil. (i) Political crimes. § 1. Congress is forbidden to commit any part of the federal jurisdiction to the State courts. § 2. Sentences and orders of the federal judges will be executed by federal court officers, and the local police shall assist them when called upon by the same. Article 61. The decisions of the State courts or tribunals in matters within their competence shall put an end to the suits and questions, except as to (1) habeas corpus, or (2) effects of a foreigner deceased in cases not provided for by convention or treaty. In such cases there shall be voluntary recourse to the federal supreme court. Article 62. The State courts shall not have the power to intervene in questions submitted to the federal tribunals, or to annul, alter, or suspend the sentences or orders of these latter; and, reciprocally, the federal judiciary can not interfere in questions submitted to the State courts, or annul, alter, or suspend their decisions or orders, except in the cases provided in this Constitution. Article 63. Each State shall be governed by the constitution and laws which it shall adopt, respect being observed for the constitutional principles of the Union. Article 64. The unexplored mines and wild lands lying within the States shall belong to these States respectively; and to the Union only as much territory as may be necessary for the defense of the frontiers, for fortifications, military works, and federal railways. Sole paragraph .--The national properties, not necessary for the service of the Union, shall pass to the domain of the States in whose territory they may be situated. Article 65. The States shall have the right to-- (1) Conclude agreements and conventions among themselves, if such be not of a political character. (Article 48, No. 16.) (2) Exercise in general any and every power or right not denied expressly by the Constitution, or implicitly in its express terms. Article 66. It is forbidden to the States to-- (1) Refuse to recognize public documents of the Union, or of any of the States, of a legislative, administrative, or judicial character. (2) Reject the currency or notes issued by banks, which circulate by act of the Federal Government. (3) Make or declare war, one with another, or make reprisals. (4) Refuse the extradition of criminals demanded by the justice of other States, or of the Federal District, in conformity with the laws of Congress which relate to this subject. (Article 41, No. 32.) Article 67. Save the restrictions specified in the Constitution, and the federal laws, the Federal District shall be governed directly by the municipal authorities. Sole paragraph .--Expenses of a local character in the capital of the Republic must be provided for exclusively by the municipal authorities. Article 68. The States shall organize themselves in such a manner as to assure the autonomy of the municipalities in everything that concerns their peculiar interests. Article 69. The following shall be Brazilian citizens: (1) Natives of Brazil, though of foreign parentage (father), provided he be not in the service of his nation. (2) Sons of a Brazilian father, and illegitimate sons of a Brazilian mother, born in foreign parts, if they take up their residence (domicile) in the republic. (3) Sons of a Brazilian father who may be in another country in the service of the Republic, although they do not make their domicile in Brazil. (4) Foreigners, who, being in Brazil on the 15th of November, 1889, shall not declare, within 6 months from the time when the Constitution enters into force, their desire to preserve their original nationality. (5) Foreigners who possess property (real estate) in Brazil and are married to Brazilian women, or have Brazilian children, provided they reside in Brazil, unless they shall declare their intention of not changing their nationality. (6) Foreigners naturalized in any other way. Article 70. Citizens of more than 21 years of age, and registered according to law, shall be electors. § 1. The following shall not be registered as electors for federal or State elections: (1) Beggars. (2) Persons ignorant of the alphabet. (3) Soldiers on pay, except alumni of the military schools of higher instruction. (4) Members of monastic orders, companies, congregations, or communities of whatsoever denomination, who are subject to vows of obedience, rule, or statute, which implies the surrender of individual liberty. § 2. Citizens who can not be registered shall not be eligible. Article 71. The rights of the Brazilian citizen can be suspended or lost only in the following cases: § 1. The rights may be suspended-- (a) For physical or moral incapacity. (b) For criminal conviction, during the operation of the sentence. § 2. They may be lost-- (a) By naturalization in a foreign country. (b) By acceptance of employment or pension from a foreign power, without permission of the federal executive. § 3. The means of reacquiring lost rights of the Brazilian citizen shall be specified by federal law. Article 72. The Constitution secures to Brazilians and foreigners residing in the country the inviolability of their rights touching individual liberty, and security, and property, in the following terms: § 1. No person shall be forced to do, or leave undone, anything whatever, except by virtue of law. § 2. Before the law all persons are equal. The Republic does not recognize privileges of birth, or titles of nobility, and abolishes all existing honorary orders, with all their prerogatives and decorations, as well as all hereditary and conciliar titles. {524} § 3. All persons and religious professions may exercise, publicly and freely, the right of worship, and may associate themselves for that purpose, acquire property, observance being had to the provisions of the common law. § 4. The Republic recognizes only the civil marriage, the celebration of which shall be gratuitous. § 5. The cemeteries shall be secular in character, and be managed by the municipal authorities, being free to all religious sects for the exercise of their respective rites as regards their members, provided they do not offend public morals or the laws. § 6. The instruction given in the public institutions shall be secular. § 7. No sect or church shall receive official aid, nor be dependent on, nor connected with, the Government of the Union, or of the States. § 8. All persons have the right of free association and assembly, without arms; and the police force shall not intervene, except to maintain the public order. § 9. Any person whatsoever shall have the right to address, by