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
Article 25. Aliens enjoy in Nicaragua all the civil rights and guarantees that are granted to Nicaraguans, with the restrictions established by law.
They are bound to obey the laws, to respect the authorities, and to pay all the regular and special taxes to which Nicaraguans are subject.
Article 26. Aliens are prohibited from intervening, directly or indirectly, in the national or international political activities of the country.
For violating this provision, without prejudice to any liability that may be incurred, they may be expelled without trial by the president of the republic in council of ministers, unless the alien has a Nicaraguan spouse or a child by a Nicaraguan, recognized prior to the events that led to the expulsion.
Article 27. Aliens may not make claims or demand indemnification of any kind from the state except in the cases and in the manner in which Nicaraguans may do so.
Article 28. The rules and conditions for the expulsion of aliens from national territory, as well as the cases in which they may be denied the right to enter or remain in the country, shall be determined by law.
Article 29. Aliens may not resort to diplomatic channels except in case of denial of justice. The fact that a decision is unfavorable to the claimant is not to be understood as a denial of justice. Those who violate this provision shall lose the right to reside in the country.
Article 30. Aliens may hold public positions in the offices of social welfare and artistic planning (asistencia social y ornato) or in those that require special technical knowledge, provided such positions do not involve authority or jurisdiction.
Article 31. Aliens may not be extradited for political crimes or for common crimes related thereto. The characteristics of each type are determined by law and treaties.
TITLE IV
Citizenship
Article 32. The following are citizens: Nicaraguans over twenty-one years of age; those over eighteen who know how to read and write or are married; and those under eighteen who have completed secondary education.
Article 33. The following are rights of the citizen: to hold public office, to meet, associate, and make petitions in the manner prescribed by law.
Article 34. The following are obligations of the citizen:
1) To register in the electoral registers when the law so requires;
2) To vote in popular elections; and
3) To hold council offices, unless lawfully excused.
These obligations and the penalties for their violation shall be determined by law.
Article 35. The rights of citizenship shall be suspended:
1) For mental incapacity;
2) By warrant for arrest or indictment or for a crime subject to corporal rather than correctional punishment;
3) For the imposition of corporal rather than correctional punishment;
4) For being a fraudulent debtor;
5) For habitual vagrancy, drunkenness, or drug addiction;
6) For committing violence, coercion, corruption, or fraud in elections, or for advocating or openly approving abstention from voting;
7) For ingratitude to parents or unjustified abandonment of minor children;
8) For giving aid against Nicaragua to another country or to an alien, in any diplomatic claim or before an international tribunal; and
9) In other cases in which suspension is imposed by law.
For suspension based on grounds 1), 4), 5), 6), 7), and 9), a final judicial decision shall be required.
Except for those who advocate or openly approve abstention from voting, in all cases of this article the right of a citizen to vote is also suspended.
The manner of recovering the exercise of citizenship shall be established by law.
Article 36. The popular vote is personal and may not be delegated. It is equal, direct and secret.
TITLE V
Rights and Guarantees
Rights and Guarantees
General Provisions
Article 37. All Nicaraguans are equal before the law. In Nicaragua privilege by reason of birth, social condition or race, or for any reason other than capacity or virtue, is not recognized.
Article 38. Human life is inviolable. However, the death penalty is established for the following crimes: high treason committed during a war against a foreign enemy; serious crimes of a purely military nature, and crimes of murder, patricide, or arson or robbery followed by death, and accompanied by serious circumstances determined by law.
Article 39. The state guarantees individual freedom. It may not be restricted except in conformity with the laws.
Article 40. No one may be detained except upon the written order of a competent official. In case of flagrante delicto, the perpetrator may be arrested even by a private individual for delivery to the authority having the power to arrest.
Any order of detention that does not emanate from a competent authority or that is issued without the legal formalities is punishable.
Article 41. Every detained person shall be set free or delivered to the competent judge within twenty-four hours after his detention, not counting the time needed for travel.
Article 42. Any person who is detained or threatened with detention, or any other inhabitant of the republic in his behalf, may petition a competent court, orally or in writing, to issue a writ of habeas corpus.
Article 43. Actions or omissions shall be punished only when they are declared punishable by law prior to their commission.
Article 44. Trial shall be public. The defendant, either personally or by attorney, shall have the right to intervene beginning in the preliminary inquiry stage (sumario).
Article 45. Trial by jury is established for criminal cases involving the crimes established by law.
Article 46. Any detention for investigation shall be either revoked or converted into imprisonment within ten days after the person detained has been placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority, not counting the time needed for travel.
When minors are involved, they may be sent to special rehabilitation institutions, in accordance with the law.
Article 47. No warrant for arrest shall be issued except upon clear proof of the commission of a crime and upon at least a serious presumption of the identity of the perpetrator.
Article 48. Any restriction on personal liberty for purely civil obligations is prohibited, except for compulsion provided by law.
Article 49. There is no fuero atractivo (right of a court to hear cases outside of its regular jurisdiction). No one may be removed from his lawful judge, or taken to an exceptional jurisdiction, except as provided by a law in existence prior to the events that led to the trial.
Article 50. No one may be deprived of the right of defense.
Article 51. Punishment does not extend beyond the person guilty.
Article 52. Prisons are establishments for security, the protection of society, the rehabilitation of convicts, and training for work. Any act of cruelty or torture against persons detained, tried, or convicted is prohibited. The violation of this guarantee constitutes a crime.
Article 53. No one may be forced to testify against himself in a criminal, correctional, or police matter, or against his spouse or relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity.
Article 54. The state may not deliver up its nationals; but if extradition is requested, it must place them on trial for the common crime committed.
Article 55. The territory of Nicaragua shall be an asylum for every person persecuted for political reasons. No extradition shall be granted for a political crime or common crimes related thereto. If for any other reason he should be ordered expelled, he may never be sent to the country where he is persecuted.
Article 56. It is prohibited to enact laws of banishment or that establish infamous punishment or punishment of more than thirty years' duration.
Article 57. In the event that a constitutional precept is violated to the detriment of any person, the order of a superior does not exempt from liability the agent who carries it out. Those in active military service are exempted from this provision, and with respect to them liability falls upon the superior who gave the order.
Article 58. The state guarantees the inviolability of the home, the dwelling, and of any other private premises of persons, which may be entered only by authorized officials, in the following cases:
1) In the actual pursuit of an offender;
2) To remove a criminal surprised in flagrante delicto;
3) Upon request made from within the dwelling, because of a crime being committed therein, or because of scandalous disorder requiring prompt action;
4) In case of fire, earthquake, flood, epidemic or analogous disaster;
5) For any statistical visit or inspection or for sanitary or hygienic work;
6) To liberate a person being unlawfully held;
7) To obtain objects sought under writ when there is at least prima facie proof of the existence of said objects in the house to be entered;
8) To enforce a decision, mandate, or order legally issued;
9) To apprehend a criminal for whose detention or arrest a warrant has been issued, when there is at least prima facie proof that he is concealed in the house to be entered.
In the last four cases entry may not be made except pursuant to a written order stating the grounds therefor, issued by a competent authority; and the consent of the head of the household shall be necessary if it is to be carried out between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Article 59. Every person may circulate freely throughout the national territory and choose his residence and domicile therein without being compelled to change it, except by virtue of a final judgment or in those cases of infectious and contagious diseases defined and regulated by law which require the isolation of the patient to prevent contagion.
Article 60. The right to emigrate and immigrate is recognized, with the limitations established by law.
Article 61. No person is obligated to do what the law does not order or is prevented from doing what it does not prohibit.
Article 62. No international agreements may be concluded providing for the application to Nicaraguans of repressive laws such as the so-called blacklists or proclaimed lists, issued in time of war by foreign countries.
Neither may such laws affecting Nicaraguans be enacted in Nicaragua.
Article 63. The application of appropriations of any kind made according to law for purposes of social interest may not be changed or modified either by the law or by act of any official.
The state shall control the management and expenditure of such appropriations.
Article 64. The cultural heritage of the nation is under the protection and care of the state. All archeological, artistic, and historical wealth is part of that heritage and its exportation is prohibited.
The law may regulate its alienation within the country.
Article 65. The state recognizes unrestricted freedom of trade, as well as of contract and industry. However, for reasons of general or national interest, transitory restrictions on this freedom may be established by law.
The law shall set forth the requirements for exercising this freedom and the guarantees for protection thereof.
Article 66. A state of economic emergency may be decreed when the equilibrium of the monetary economy, the protection of the external financial position, or the stability and social well-being of the nation so requires.
Article 67. Monopolies in the private interest and any industrial or commercial market cornering are prohibited. Also prohibited is the granting of concessions involving the establishment of monopolies over the natural resources of the state.
Any action taken by the state to prevent monopolistic practices or tendencies is of public interest; the law may establish monopolies and state stores (estancos) only in the national interest and for the benefit of the state or the municipalities.
However, the law may grant privileges for a limited time to inventors or persons who devise improvements in the field of industry.
Article 68. All services must be equitably renumerated, with the exception of those that must be gratuitously performed by virtue of law or a judgment based thereon.
Article 69. Usury is prohibited. The law setting a maximum limit on interest rates for money is a public order. The same law shall determine the penalty to be applied to the violation thereof.
Article 70. Unions or associations may be established for any lawful purpose, but it is the function of the state to authorize corporate, moral, cultural, economic, scientific, and technical organizations.
Article 71. No one may be molested or persecuted for expressing his opinions or for any lawful act.
Private actions that do not violate morality or the public order or that do not injure third parties remain outside the scope of the law.
No political propaganda may be made, in any form, by members of the clergy, laymen, or ministers of any cult by invoking religious motives or using the religious beliefs of the people. Furthermore, no criticism of the laws of the state, the government, or in particular public officials is permitted in temples in connection with acts of worship or religious services.
Article 72. Every person may communicate his ideas in oral or written form and publish them without prior censorship; but each one shall be liable for any abuses committed in the exercise of this right, in the instances and manner prescribed by law.
Under no circumstances shall printing presses, the accessories thereof, or any other material means used to propagate ideas be confiscated as instruments of an offense.
Public shows may be subject to censorship as established by law.
Article 73. The right to meet in the open and the right of public demonstration shall be regulated by the police laws. If the meeting is indoors, peaceful, and without arms, no prior permit is required.
Article 74. The state prohibits the formation and activities of the Communist Party and those parties that maintain similar ideologies, as well as any other party organized on an international basis. Individuals who belong to them may not hold any public office, without prejudice to other penalties that the law may provide. Nevertheless, the state shall protect any lawful activity intended for the reconstruction of Central American unity.
Article 75. Every person has the right to address petitions or claims in writing to the public powers and the authorities. The latter are obligated to act on such petitions or claims and to make known the results.
Article 76. No public power or official may take action on cases pending before the competent authority.
Article 77. The opening of closed trials or cases is prohibited. In criminal cases, however, the defendant may be granted a review of a closed case when more than a correctional penalty has been imposed. If in the review it is admitted that an error has been made, the state shall compensate the person unjustly punished.
Article 78. The registry of civil status is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state.
Article 79. No law shall have retroactive effect, except in criminal matters in favor of the defendant.
Article 80. The inviolability of correspondence in all its forms and of private papers and documents is guaranteed. They may never be opened, searched, or intercepted, except by virtue of a previous law and by order of a competent authority.
Letters, documents and other private papers unlawfully obtained shall have no legal effect whatever in a trial or elsewhere.
Article 81. The enumeration of rights, duties, and guarantees, made in the Constitution does not exclude others that are inherent in the individual or that are derived from the established form of government.
Property
Article 82. Property is inviolable. No one may be deprived of his property except by court decision, a general tax, or for public use or social interest and upon prior payment in cash of just compensation in accordance with the law.
In the event of a national emergency or public disaster, or for agrarian reform purposes in the case of uncultivated large landholdings (latifundios), compensation may be made through bonds, the maturity, interest, and terms of which shall be determined by law.
Article 83. The state guarantees and protects intellectual property, the rights of authors, inventors, and artists. The law shall regulate their exercise and duration.
Article 84. Property, by virtue of its social function, imposes obligations. The law shall determine their content, nature, and extent.
Article 85. The right of property, as far as its exercise is concerned, is subject to the limitations imposed by the maintenance and progress of the social order. The law may impose obligations or easements of public use and may regulate questions of rent.
Article 86. Property, regardless of who may be its owner, is governed exclusively by the laws of the republic and is subject to public charges, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.
Article 87. For reasons of public or social interest, the law may establish restrictions or prohibitions on the acquisition and transfer of certain kinds of property because of its nature, condition, or location in the territory.
Only native Nicaraguans covered by the terms of paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of Article 17 of this Constitution, and corporations of whose capital fifty-one percent or more is owned by Nicaraguans included in the categories specified in the aforementioned paragraphs, may own or be in possession of real property located in a stretch of land twenty kilometers wide along the whole length of both land borders. Excepted from this provision are natives of states whose laws do not contain similar prohibitions, as well as priorly acquired rights.
Article 88. The state must oversee the operation of enterprises, in order to guarantee the safety and health of the workers.
Article 89. The state may, for reasons of public interest, intervene in the operation and management of public service enterprises, and even nationalize them, subject to prior compensation.
Article 90. The state shall encourage the proper division of large landholdings (latifundos) and shall favor the preservation and spread of medium and small rural holdings.
Article 91. There is no confiscation of property; neither shall property be seized or controlled for political reasons. However, the property of nationals of an enemy country may be confiscated, seized, or controlled, and if such a national is married to a Nicaraguan or has Nicaraguan children, fifty percent of the property confiscated and fifty percent of the income from the property seized or controlled shall be applied to the benefit of the spouse and children. The proceeds from the property confiscated, seized, or controlled, or the remaining amount, as the case may be, shall be applied in the first place to compensate for confiscations and other damages suffered by Nicaraguans at the hands of the enemy country.
The authorities who transgress this provision shall be held at all times liable, personally and with their own property, for the damage inflicted.
Article 92. The right to reclaim property that has been unlawfully confiscated is imprescriptible.
Article 93. Any person may freely dispose of his property by any legal title. With respect to wills, they shall abide by the law regarding the conjugal portion and allowance for support.
Any entailment of property is prohibited, except those established for the purpose of constituting a family estate or in favor of social welfare establishments and official educational and cultural centers.
Trusts shall be regulated by law.
Article 94. The right of ownership of patents, trademarks, models and distinctive marks, or commercial, agricultural, and industrial names is guaranteed, in accordance with the law.
Article 95. A law of a general nature shall establish the basic conditions under which the state may grant concessions for exploitation of natural resources.
The Family
Article 96. Marriage, the family, and motherhood are under the protection and defense of the state.
Article 97. Education is a primary duty of parents and a right of children.
Article 98. Parents lacking economic resources are entitled to request the assistance of the state to educate their offspring.
Article 99. The state shall procure the grant of special subsidies to families with numerous children.
Article 100. Parents have the same obligations toward children born out of wedlock as they do toward those born in wedlock.
Article 101. The right is established to investigate paternity in accordance with the laws.
Article 102. The family estate is established on the basis that it shall be inalienable, unattachable, and exempt from every public charge.
This principle shall be regulated by law.
Work
Article 103. The state guarantees freedom of labor in order that everyone may freely devote himself to the profession, trade, or calling that he believes best, provided it is not contrary to morality, health, or public security.
Article 104. Work is a right and a duty.
The state shall make every effort to ensure that all able persons, with preference to nationals, have a renumerative occupation under conditions that do not constitute an imposition on their freedom or dignity.
Article 105. Workers are guaranteed:
1) Moral and civic independence;
2) Obligatory weekly rest, paid in the instances and manner established by law;
3) A maximum workday no longer than the hours fixed and regulated by law, according to the nature of the work. Exempted from this limitation are managers, administrators, agents, and all those who, owing to the nature of their work, are not subject to fixed working hours;
4) An equal salary or wage for equal work performed with equal efficiency;
5) A minimum salary or wage that will assure them a degree of well-being compatible with human dignity. This salary or wage shall be fixed in accordance with the conditions and needs of each region, for the various types of work;
6) The payment of the salary or wages in legal tender, on a workday, at the place where the service is rendered, at the time and in the amount provided in the contract or presumed from the work relationship, which time cannot be greater than a week for laborers or fifteen days for employees;
In no case may payment be made in merchanise, scrip, tokens, or other symbols pretending to take the place of money;
7) Compensation for accidents and occupational hazards in the cases and manner determined by law;
8) Special regulations of the work of women and minors;
9) Medical assistance furnished by the social institutions that may be established for that purpose;
10) For pregnant women, a rest of at least twenty days before and forty days after childbirth. This rest shall be paid for by her employer, provided she has worked for him six consecutive months;
11) Double pay for overtime and night work, except for night work that is performed periodically in shifts and with the limitations provided by law;
12) Prohibition of attachments, setoffs, or discounts affecting the minimum wage, except when the attachment is carried out pursuant to a judgment for alimony or support;
13) Fifteen days paid vacation after six months of continuous work for the same employer. Of this vacation, one week must be spent in rest, and the remaining time the worker or employee may continue working;
14) In cases of unfair discharge or expiration of the work contract, proportional paid vacations, in the manner prescribed by law;
15) Not to be discharged, when the contract is for an indefinite time, without one month's notice, unless legal grounds exist for discharging the worker or employee; and
16) The right to strike and effect work stoppages in the instances and manner established by law.
The guarantees set forth in paragraphs 2, 7, 10, 13, 14, and 15 shall be fully applicable to day laborers and other agricultural workers until special laws are enacted to govern their applicability, nature, and scope.
With respect to small industrial enterprises and domestic services, the law shall regulate the applicability, nature and extent of the guarantees set forth in paragraphs 2, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, and 16.
With respect to public officials and employees, state institutions, the National District and municipalities, they shall be governed by the provisions of the relevant title of the Constitution and by special laws.
Article 106. In labor matters, the following conditions shall be void and not binding on the contracting parties:
1) Those that abridge or change the guarantees and rights recognized by the Constitution and the laws of public order;
2) Those that involve a direct or indirect obligation to purchase consumer goods in particular places;
3) Those that provide that the contract is to last more than two years, except for the instances established by law for the benefit of the worker.
Article 107. Social security is a duty of the state, and it shall operate through rational contributions made by the state, employers, and labor. It shall cover, gradually and progressively, cases of illness, maternity, disability, old age, death, widowhood, orphanhood, occupational hazards, and other benefits established by law.
Education
Article 108.
