Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua, 1974
From Roach Busters
we, the representatives of the people of Nicaragua,
meeting in National Constituent Assembly,
decree and sanction the following
Contents |
CONSTITUTION
TITLE I
The Nation and the State
Article 1. Nicaragua is a nation constituted as a unitary, free, sovereign, and independent state.
Article 2. Political power resides in the people, who exercise it through their representatives in the government of the state.
No other person or meeting of persons can assume that power or representation. Violation of this precept constitutes a crime.
Article 3. The national territory extends, under the full sovereignty of the state, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and from the republic of Honduras to the republic of Costa Rica. It also includes with the same status the adjacent islands, keys, headlands, banks, the submerged lands, the territorial sea and the continental shelf, as well as the air space, the stratosphere, and the entire undersea area of its sovereign domain according to international law.
Article 4. The sovereignty of the state is absolute and may not be delegated; and, as with the territory, it is indivisible, inalienable, and imprescriptible.
The government of the state is authorized to enter into treaties for the use of its natural and geographic resources for the benefit of the people and for the temporary use of a part of Nicaraguan territory, provided the exclusive purpose thereof is national or constitutional defense and, in both cases, sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected.
In any event, such use is restricted to the time absolutely essential and may be ordered to cease at any time by decision of the Government of Nicaragua exclusively.
Article 5. To rebuild the Central American nation is a permanent aspiration of the people of Nicaragua.
To this end, treaties may be concluded to promote the total union of Central America or its progressive political, juridical, social, cultural, and economic integration.
Article 6. Spanish is the national and official language of the state.
Article 7. The state has no official religion.
Article 8. Nicaragua proscribes all types of political, military, and economic aggression, and intervention in the affairs of other states. It recognizes the right of self-determination of peoples, arbitration as a method of solving international disputes, and the other accepted principles that constitute American international law.
The Government
Article 9. The government of the state is republican and democratic-representative.
Article 10. The branches of the government are the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the electoral branch.
Article 11. In the organization of the powers and institutions of the state, the principle of minority representation is established.
Article 12. The branches of the government shall function harmoniously in accomplishing the aims of the state. In the exercise of their particular functions, they are limited and independent.
Article 13. The branches of the government and public officials do not have, even under the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, greater authority or power than that expressly granted to them by law.
Article 14. For purposes of political organization the territory is divided into departments, and these into municipalities. There is also a National District.
Article 15. The city of Managua is the capital of the republic and the seat of the branches of the government.
TITLE II
Nationality
Article 16. Nicaraguans are either native or naturalized.
Article 17. Natives are:
1) Those born in the territory of Nicaragua. Children of aliens in the service of their governments are excepted, unless the child is registered in the Civil Registry by the will of the person having patria potestas over the minor while the latter is under age, or by his own will within three years following his eighteenth birthday;
2) Children of a Nicaraguan father or mother, born abroad, when they have Nicaraguan nationality by the law of the place of birth, or, having the right to choose, they elect to be Nicaraguan; or from the time they reside in Nicaragua, provided they have not chosen the other nationality or, if they have, by renouncing it. Such persons are Nicaraguan even for the purposes for which the Constitution or the laws require birth in national territory;
3) Children of Nicaraguans born abroad, provided that, at the time, the father or the mother were in the service of the republic in a foreign country, even for the purposes for which the Constitution or the laws require birth in national territory;
4) Infants of unknown parentage found in Nicaraguan territory;
5) Natives of the other republics of Central America, residing in Nicaragua, who personally declare before a competent authority their desire to be Nicaraguan, provided that reciprocity exists in the country of origin and that it extends to them; and
6) Those born aboard Nicaraguan aircraft or seacraft, outside the jurisdiction of another state, with the exception established in paragraph (1) of this Article.
Article 18. The following are naturalized Nicaraguans:
1) Aliens who have acquired Nicaraguan nationality; and
2) Alien infants legally adopted by Nicaraguans.
Article 19. The following may acquire Nicaraguan nationality through naturalization by declaring their will to that effect and renouncing beforehand their present nationality:
1) Immigrants who are a part of selected groups brought by the government for agricultural or industrial purposes, after one year of residence;
2) Natives of Spain or countries of America having a period of residence in Nicaragua of more than two years. Naturalization requirements for this category may be amended through treaties, on the basis of reciprocity;
3) Other aliens having a period of residence in Nicaragua of more than ten years; and
4) Aliens married to Nicaraguans.
Article 20. Neither marriage nor its dissolution shall affect the nationality of the spouses or their children.
Article 21. Nicaraguan nationality is lost:
1) By voluntary naturalization in a foreign country outside of Central America. A native Nicaraguan who loses it in this way shall recover his Nicaraguan nationality if at any time he returns to Nicaragua;
2) By cancelation of the certificate of naturalization;
3) By the voluntary absence of a naturalized Nicaraguan from the territory for more than five consecutive years, unless he shows that he has remained bound to the country;
4) When naturalized persons are convicted of treason against the country or they propagate political doctrines or ideologies that tend to destroy the republican or democratic form of government. In such cases, nationality may not be recovered.
The law shall regulate all matters pertaining to naturalization.
Article 22. No naturalized Nicaraguan may carry out, on behalf of Nicaragua, diplomatic functions in his country of origin.
Article 23. Nicaraguans are bound to:
1) Serve and defend the fatherland;
2) Abide by the Constitution and the laws of the republic;
3) Contribute with their work to the overall development of the nation and its spiritual, moral, material, and cultural aggrandizement; and
4) Contribute towards public expenditures in the manner and to the extend prescribed by law.
Article 24. Nicaraguans cannot demand indemnity from the state for injuries to their person or property caused by acts that were not performed by legitimate officials in the exercise of their functions.
TITLE III
Aliens
