Constitution of Murcielago

From Roach Busters

The right to own property is guaranteed.

The law shall prescribe the manner in which property is to be acquired, used, enjoyed, and disposed of and the limitations and obligations thereon which ensure its social function and render it accessible to all. The social function of property includes whatever may be required by the general interests of the State, public benefits and health, a better utilization of the productive sources and energies in the service of the community, and a raising of the living conditions of the people as a whole.

Whenever the interest of the national community so demands, the law may nationalize or reserve to the State exclusive domain over natural resources, production goods, or others, declared to be of preeminent importance to the economic, social or cultural life of the country. It shall seek, likewise, a suitable distribution of property and the establishment of family "homesteads".

The State has absolute, exclusive, inalienable, and imprescriptible ownership over all mines, guano and nitrate deposits, metalliferous sands, salt deposits, deposits of coal and hydrocarbons, and other fossil substances, with the exception of surface clays.

The law shall determine which of the substances referred to in the preceding paragraph — among which liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons may not be considered — may be the subject of exploration or production concessions; the procedure and safeguards in connection with the granting and enjoyment of such concessions; the subject matter they will cover; the rights and obligations to which they shall give rise; and the activity that concessionaries must carry out in the public interest in order to be entitled to legal protection of rights (amparo) and guaranties. The concession shall be subject to annulment if the requirements prescribed by the law to maintain it are not met.

The law shall ensure protection of the rights of the concessionaire particularly his power to defend those rights against third parties and to use, to enjoy, and to dispose of them by an act inter vivos or mortis causa, without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph. As to matters concerning the granting, use, or cancellation of concessions which the law makes subject to the decisions of the administrative authorities — which shall not include those referring to the establishment of the requirements for mining rights (amparo) — a claim may always be brought in the ordinary courts of justice.

No one may be deprived of his property except by virtue of a general or special law which authorizes expropriation on grounds of public benefit or social interest, defined by the lawmaker. The expropriated owner shall always have the right to compensation, the amount and terms of payment of which shall be equitably determined by taking into consideration the interest of the community and of the expropriated owner. The law shall prescribe the rules for fixing the compensation, the court which is to hear claims concerning the amount, which shall in all cases rule according to law, the manner of discharging this obligation, and the time and manner in which the expropriator shall take material possession of the expropriated property.

Whenever the expropriation of rural property is concerned, the compensation shall be equivalent to the assessed valuation in effect for purposes of the land tax, plus the value of improvements not included in such valuation, and it may be paid partly in cash and partly in installments over a period of not more than thirty years, all in the manner and under conditions specified by law.

In the case of nationalization of mining activities or companies classified by law as gran minería (major mining industry), the nationalization shall include the companies or activities themselves, rights in them, or their total or partial assets. The nationalization may also be extended to assets of third parties of any kind whatsoever that are directly and necessarily intended for the normal operation of those activities or companies. The amount of the compensation, or compensations, as the case may be, shall be determined on the basis of the original cost of such assets, less amortization, depreciation, write-offs (castigos), and devaluation through obsolescence. All or part of the excess profits that nationalized companies have obtained may also be deducted from the compensation. Unless the party affected agrees to some other form of payment, the compensation shall be paid in legal tender over a period of not more than 30 years and on terms to be determined by law. The State may take physical possession of the assets subject to the nationalization immediately after the present law enters into force. The party affected may bring action against the State, insofar as the nationalization is concerned, only to assert the right to above indicated compensation. The law shall determine that partners or shareholders of nationalized companies shall have no rights to assert, either against the State or against each other, other than the right to collect their proportionate share of the compensation received by the respective companies. Likewise, insofar as the State is concerned, the law may provide that third parties, with exception of workers in the nationalized activity or company, may assert their rights only against the compensation.

The law may reserve to the national domain for public use all waters existing within the national territory and may expropriate those under private ownership in order to incorporate them in that domain. In such a case, owners of expropriated waters may continue to use them as concessionaries of a right of appropriation and they shall have the right to compensation only when, by total or partial denial of that right, they are effectively deprived of sufficient water to meet, by reasonable and beneficial use, the same needs that were met prior to denial of the right.

Small rural property holdings worked by the owner and the housing inhabited by its proprietor may not be expropriated without previous payment of compensation.

In cases where the State, or its agencies, have concluded or hereafter conclude, with due authorization or approval of law, contracts or agreements of any kind, binding them to maintain in favor of specified private parties any exceptional legal rules or special administrative treatment, such contracts or agreements may be amended or cancelled by law should the national interest so require.

In specified cases, when application of the preceding paragraph results in direct, present, and real damage, the law may provide compensation for the affected parties.