Constitution of the Republic of Chile, 1925

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Contents 1 CONSTITUTION OF THEREPUBLIC OF CHILE 1.1 Chapter ITHE STATE, GOVERNMENT, AND SOVEREIGNTY 1.2 Chapter IINATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP 1.3 Chapter IIICONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES 1.4 Chapter IVTHE NATIONAL CONGRESS 1.4.1 THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES 1.4.2 THE SENATE 1.4.3 ATTRIBUTES OF CONGRESS 1.4.4 ENACTMENT OF THE LAWS 1.4.5 SESSIONS OF CONGRESS 1.5 Chapter VTHE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 1.5.1 MINISTERS OF STATE 1.6 Chapter VITHE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THEELECTORAL QUALIFICATION COURT 1.7 Chapter VIITHE JUDICIAL POWER 1.8 Chapter VIIIINTERNAL GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE 1.8.1 INTENDANTS 1.8.2 GOVERNORS 1.8.3 SUBDELEGATES 1.8.4 INSPECTORS 1.9 Chapter IXINTERNAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGIME 1.9.1 PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION 1.9.2 COMMUNAL ADMINISTRATION 1.9.3 ADMINISTRATIVE DECENTRALIZATION 1.10 Chapter XAMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

[edit] CONSTITUTION OF THE
REPUBLIC OF CHILE

[edit] Chapter I
THE STATE, GOVERNMENT, AND SOVEREIGNTY

Article 1. The State of Chile is unitary. Its government is republican and representatively democratic.

Article 2. The sovereignty is vested intrinsically in the nation, which delegates the exercise thereof to the authorities that this Constitution establishes.

Article 3. No person or assembly of persons has authority to arrogate the title or representation of the people, to usurp its rights, or to make demands in its name. Violation of this Article is sedition.

Article 4. No magistracy, or person, or assembly of persons, not even under the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, is empowered to assume any other authority or rights than those that have been expressly conferred upon them by the laws. Every act in contravention of this article is void.

[edit] Chapter II
NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP

Article 5. Chileans are:

1) Those born in the territory of Chile, excepting the children of foreigners who happen to be in Chile in the service of their government, and the children of transient foreigners, all of whom may choose between the nationality of their parents and that of Chile.

2) The children of a Chilean father or mother, born in foreign territory, by the sole act of becoming resident in Chile.

The children of Chileans born abroad, the father or mother being at that time in the service of the republic, are Chileans even for those purposes for which the fundamental, or any other laws, may require birth within Chilean territory.

3) Foreigners who may obtain letters of naturalization in conformity with the law, upon express renunciation of their former nationality. The renunciation of Spanish nationality shall not be required of persons born in Spain who have resided for more than ten years in Chile, provided that in their country this same right is extended to Chileans.

4) Those who have obtained a special grant of naturalization by law.

Naturalized persons will have the right to hold public office by popular election only after five years of being in possession of letters of naturalization.

The law shall prescribe the procedure for choosing between Chilean and foreign nationality, for the granting, denial or cancellation of letters of naturalization, and for the keeping of a register of all these proceedings.

Article 6. Chilean nationality is lost:

1) By naturalization in a foreign country, except in the case of those Chileans included in Nos. 1 and 2 of the preceding Article, who have been naturalized in Spain without the renunciation of their Chilean nationality.

2) By cancellation of the letters of naturalization, that may be reclaimed within a period of ten years before the Supreme Court, which will have jurisdiction in the matter. The interposition of this petition will suspend the effects of the cancellation of the letter of naturalization.

Letters of naturalization issued in favor of persons holding office by popular election cannot be canceled.

3) By lending aid during war to the enemies of Chile or their allies.

Those who have lost Chilean nationality for any of the reasons set forth in this Article cannot be rehabilitated except by law.

The reason for loss of Chilean nationality provided in No. 1 of this Article does not govern in those cases in which, by virtue of legal or constitutional provisions of other countries, Chileans resident therein must adopt the nationality of the country in which they reside as a condition for remaining there.

Article 7. Chileans who have attained twenty-one years of age, who can read and write, and are inscribed in the electoral registers are citizens with the right of suffrage.

These registers shall be open to public inspection and shall be valid for such time as the law may determine.

Inscriptions shall be continuous and shall be suspended only for the periods indicated by law.

In popular elections voting shall always be by secret ballot.

The law shall regulate the election registration system, the effectiveness of the records, voters' eligibility according to registration, voting procedure, and the election process.

Article 8. The exercise of the right of suffrage is suspended:

1) For physical or mental incapacity that may interfere with free and deliberative action.

2) When the citizen is under indictment for an offense subject to afflictive punishment.

The status of citizen with right of suffrage is lost:

1) By loss of Chilean nationality.

2) By sentence to afflictive punishment. Those who on this account may have lost the status of citizenship may petition for rehabilitation by the Senate.

[edit] Chapter III
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES

Article 9. The Constitution ensures to all the citizens the free exercise of political rights under a democratic, republican system.

All Chileans may freely join political parties that are recognized as juridical personalities and whose aims are to meet in a democratic manner to determine national policy.

Political parties shall enjoy the freedom to organize themselves as they see fit, to define and modify their declarations of principles and platforms and their agreements on concrete policy, to nominate candidates in elections of regidores, deputies, senators, and President of the Republic, to maintain offices for publicity and communications purposes and, in general, to develop their own activities. The law may set standards for the exclusive purpose of regulating the intervention of political parties in the generation of public powers.

Political parties shall have free access to the publicity and communications media owned or controlled by the State, under the conditions determined by law, on the basis of guaranteeing adequate expression to the various streams of opinion in proportion to the votes obtained by each party in the last general election of representatives and senators or regidores.

Article 10. The Constitution also ensures to all the inhabitants of the Republic:

1) Equality before the law. In Chile there is no privileged class.

In Chile there are no slaves, and he who sets foot upon its territory becomes free. Chileans cannot engage in the slave traffic. A foreigner who does so cannot live in Chile or be naturalized therein.

2) Practice of all beliefs, liberty of conscience and the free exercise of all religions not contrary to morality, good usage and public order. Therefore, the respective religious bodies have the right to erect and maintain houses of worship and accessory property under the conditions of security and hygiene as fixed by the laws and regulations.

The churches, creeds, and religious institutions of any ritual shall have the right in respect to their property that the laws now in force stipulate or recognize but they will be subject, under the guarantees of this Constitution, to the general law in the exercise of ownership of their future-acquired property.

Churches and accessory property intended for the service of any religious sect are exempt from taxation.

3) Freedom to express, without prior censorship, opinions, either orally or in writing, through the press, radio, television or any other medium, without prejudice to liability for offenses and abuses that may be committed in the exercise of this liberty in the manner and in the cases as determined by law. Upholding and publicizing any political idea may not constitute a crime or abuse.

Every natural or juridical person who has been offended or alluded to by some information has the right to clarification or rectification without cost, under the conditions determined by law, by the same publicity medium from which the information emanated.

All streams of opinion shall have the right to utilize, under the conditions of equality determined by law, publicity and communications media owned or used by private sources.

Every natural or juridical person, especially the universities and political parties, shall have the right to organize, found, and maintain newspapers, magazines, periodicals and radio transmitting stations, under the conditions established by law. Only by law may the system of ownership or operation of these communications media be modified. They may be expropriated only by law approved in each house by the affirmative vote of the majority of the members present.

The importation of and trading in books, printed matter and magazines shall be free without prejudice to the regulations and taxes that the law may impose. It is forbidden to discriminate arbitrarily between newspaper, periodical, magazine and other publishing firms, radio broadcasting and television stations in matters related to the sale or supplying, in any form, of paper, ink, machinery or other work materials, or relating to authorization or permits that may be necessary for such acquisitions within or outside the country.

Only the State and the universities shall have the right to establish and operate television stations, in compliance with the requirements of the law.

The circulation, shipment and transmittal, by any means, of writings, printed matter and news items that do not infringe upon good morals or property is guaranteed.

4) The right of assembly without prior license and without arms. In plazas, streets and other places of public use, assemblies will be governed by the general regulations established by law.

5) The right of association without prior license and in conformity with the law.

6) The right of presenting petitions to the constituted authority upon any matter of public or private interest, without any other limitation than that of using respectful and suitable language.

7) The freedom of education.

Basic education is compulsory.

Education is a primary function of the State, and it is accomplished by means of a national system of which the official and cooperating private educational institutions form part, in conformance with the plans and programs established by the educational authorities.

The administrative organization and the designation of the personnel of private institutions of learning shall be determined by the individual parties who establish them, subject to the legal requirements.

Only profit private institutions that provide free education shall receive a subsidy from the State that will guarantee their financial support, in accordance with the regulations established by law.

Education by a national system shall be democratic and pluralistic and shall not have any official party orientation. It shall be modified also in a democratic way, through free discussion in competent, pluralistic bodies.

There shall be a Superintendency of Public Education under the authority of the Government, and its Board shall be composed of representatives of all the sectors related to the national education system. The representation of these sectors shall be produced democratically.

The Superintendency of Education shall be responsible for the inspection of national education.

The competent technical bodies shall make the selection of textbooks on the basis of public competition, to which all qualified educators, regardless of their ideology, shall have access. There shall be equitable facilities for publishing and disseminating these textbooks, and the educational establishments shall be free to select those that they prefer.

The state and private universities accredited by the State have juridical personality with academic, administrative and financial autonomy. The State shall provide them with adequate funds so that they can carry out their functions fully, in accordance with the educational, scientific and cultural requirements of the country.

Admission to universities shall depend solely on the qualifications of the applicants, who shall have completed their intermediate education or its equivalent, which will enable them to comply with the academic requirements. The hiring and promotion of professors and researchers shall be made on the basis of their ability and competence.

Academic personnel are free to develop their work programs in accordance with their ideas but must offer their students the necessary information on the various doctrines and principles.

University students have the right to express their own ideas and to choose, whenever possible, their instruction and tutelage from the professors that they prefer.

8) Admission to any public employment or office without other conditions than those imposed by the law.

9) The equal apportionment of imposts and taxes in proportion to property, or in graduation or form as fixed by law, and the equal apportionment of other public burdens.

Direct or indirect levies can be imposed only by law, and without such special authorization every State authority and every individual is prohibited from imposing such, even though it be under pretext of urgency, of being in voluntary form, or of any other nature.

No kind of personal service or contribution can be exacted except by virtue of an order from the proper authority founded upon a law that authorizes the said exaction.

No armed body can make requisitions or exact any kind of aid except through the civil authorities and by order of the latter.

A special law shall prescribe the means for recruitment and replacement of the sea and land forces.

All Chileans able to bear arms, unless they be especially exempt by law, shall be inscribed in the military registers.

10) The right to ownership of property in its different forms.

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.

11) Exclusive property in every discovery or production, for such time as the laws may concede. If the law requires its expropriation, the author or inventor shall be given suitable indemnification.

12) Inviolability of the home.

The house of any person living in Chilean territory can be forcibly entered only for a special purpose, determined by law, and by virtue of an order from the competent authority.

13) Inviolability of epistolary and telegraphic correspondence and telephone communications. Public papers or effects shall not be opened, intercepted or registered except in the cases expressly designated by the law.

14) Freedom to work and job protection. Everyone has the right to employment, to freely choose his work, to sufficient remuneration that will ensure the worker and his family a minimum of well-being commensurate with human dignity, and to a fair share of the profits derived from his labor. Every worker has the right to association in his labor union or industry and the right to strike in accordance with the law.

Labor unions, federations and confederations shall enjoy juridical personality by the mere act of registering their charters and bylaws in the manner and under the conditions determined by law.

Labor unions are free to accomplish their own objectives.

No class of work or industry may be prohibited unless it infringes upon good morals, the public safety, or public health, or unless the national interest requires its prohibition and a law declares it so.

15) Freedom to reside in any part of the Republic, to move from one place to another, or to depart from the territory, under the conditions that the legal regulations be observed, and excepting always prejudice to a third party; otherwise, no one can be detained, prosecuted, arrested or deported except in the manner as determined by the laws.

16) The right to social security.

The State shall adopt all measures that will satisfy the social, economic and cultural rights necessary for the free development of the individual's status and human dignity by protecting all inhabitants and redistributing national income on a fair basis. The law must especially provide coverage for work accident risks, involuntary suspension or diminution of the individual work capacity, death of the head of the household, and involuntary work stoppage, as well as medical care, both preventive and curative, rehabilitation in case of accident, illness or maternity, and a family allowance to the head of the household.

The State shall provide social security coverage for work accident risks.

It is the duty of the State to provide for the public health and physical well-being of the inhabitants. Sufficient funds should be allocated each year for the maintenance of a national health service.

17) The right to participate actively in the social, cultural, civic, political and economic life for development of the individual to the fullest and his inclusion in the national community. The State must remove any obstacles that restrict the freedom and equality of persons and groups and shall guarantee and promote their access to all levels of education and culture and to the services necessary to attain these objectives through the systems and institutions indicated by law.

Community associations, centers for mothers, labor unions, cooperatives and other social organizations in which the people participate to solve their problems and cooperate in extending the services provided by the State and the municipalities shall have juridical personality and be endowed with independence and liberty to perform their functions for which they are responsible by law, and to organize their administrative bodies in a democratic manner through the exercise of free, secret voting for all members.

In no case may these institutions assume the name or representation of the people, nor may they attempt to exercise powers belonging to the State authority.

Article 11. No one can be sentenced unless he be legally tried in accordance with a law promulgated prior to the act upon which the trial is based.

Article 12. No one can be tried by special commissions, or otherwise than by the tribunal the law appoints and has previously constituted.

Article 13. No one can be arrested except by the order of a public functionary expressly empowered by law, and after such order has been made known to him, in legal form, unless he be surprised in flagrante delicto, and in this case for the sole purpose of being brought before the proper judge.

Article 14. No one can be arrested, subjected to preventive detention or imprisoned except in his dwelling or in public places intended for this purpose.

Those in charge of prisons cannot receive therein anyone in the character of arrested, indicted or imprisoned without transcribing in their registers the detention order issued by an authority having legal capacity. They may nevertheless receive within the precincts of the prison for detention those brought for the purpose of being presented before the proper judge, but under obligation to render an account to the latter within twenty-four hours.

Article 15. In case an authority orders the arrest of any person, he must, within the forty-eight hours following, make report thereof to the proper judge and place at his disposal the person detained.

Article 16. Every individual who may be arrested, charged, or imprisoned contrary to the provisions of the foregoing articles may apply, for himself, or by anyone in his name, to the judicial authority designated by law, petitioning that the legal requirements be observed. This judicial authority shall order the individual to be brought before him and his order shall be exactly obeyed by all those having charge of the prisons and places of detention. Informed of the facts he shall declare his immediate release, or cause the legal defects to be corrected, or put the individual at the disposition of the proper judge, proceeding throughout in a brief and summary manner, correcting the defects personally, or referring them for correction to whomever it may concern.

Article 17. No order of incommunication shall prevent the official in charge of a house of detention from visiting the person detained, charged, or imprisoned therein.

This official is obliged, provided that he person detained so requires, to transmit to the proper judge a copy of the order of arrest, or make demand that he be given a copy, or himself give a certificate that such a person is arrested, if at the time of his arrest the necessary order was overlooked.

Article 18. In criminal cases the accused shall not be obliged to testify under oath about his own actions, nor can his ascendants, descendents, spouse, or relations within the third degree of consanguinity or second of affinity, inclusive, be obliged so to testify.

Torture shall not be applied, nor in any case confiscation of property be imposed, except forfeiture in the cases established by law.

Article 19. No person, unless answerable for an offense to which the law attaches afflictive punishment, shall be detained or subjected to preventive imprisonment if he be sufficiently bonded personally, or in indemnification of the action, in the form and according to the nature of the cases as determined by law.

Article 20. Every person who is acquitted, or whose prosecution is definitively abandoned, shall have the right to be indemnified in the manner determined by law, for the pecuniary or merely moral injuries that he may have unjustly suffered.

Article 21. The State treasuries shall not make any payments except by virtue of an order issued by competent authority in which shall be stated the law or the part of the budget authorizing said payment.

An autonomous institution known as the Comptrollership General of the Republic shall control the revenues and expenditures of the national treasury, the Municipalities, the Office of Public Welfare, and of other offices as determined by law; it shall examine and pass upon the accounts of the persons responsible for the property of such entities, keep the general accounts of the nation, and discharge such other duties as may be provided for by law. Excepted from this provision are the accounts of the National Congress, which will be governed by its own internal regulations.

The Comptrollership shall not enforce decrees that exceed the limit fixed in paragraph 10 of Article 72 of the Constitution, and shall transmit complete copies of the records to the Chamber of Deputies.

It shall also send a copy to the same Chamber of the decrees of which it takes cognizance, and which are issued with the signature of all the Ministers of State, as provided for in the paragraph cited above.

Article 22. The public force is constituted solely and exclusively by the Armed Forces and the carabinero guards, which entities are essentially professional, organized by rank, disciplined, obedient and nondeliberating. Only by virtue of a law may the manning of these institutions be determined.

Recruitment of the Armed Forces and the carabineros may be done only through their own specialized schools, except in the case of personnel who must perform exclusively civil functions.

Article 23. Every resolution the President of the Republic, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate or the Courts of Justice may agree to in the presence of or on demand of an army, a commandant at the head of an armed force, or of any assembly of people, with or without arms and in disobedience of the authorities, is null in law and cannot produce any effect.

[edit] Chapter IV
THE NATIONAL CONGRESS

Article 24. The National Congress is composed of two branches: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Article 25. In elections of deputies and senators a method shall be used, that, in practice, will result in giving an effective proportionality in representation to opinions and to political parties.

Article 26. Verification of the elections of deputies and senators and cognizance of nullification protests that may be brought against them, are under the jurisdiction of the Qualification Court.

But both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are empowered exclusively to pass upon the disability of their members and to accept their resignations if the causes upon which the disability is founded be of such nature as to make them unfit physically or morally for the discharge of their duties. In order for a resignation to be accepted two thirds of the deputies or senators present must concur.

Article 27. In order to be elected deputy or senator it is necessary to possess the requisites of citizenship with right of suffrage, to know how to read and write, and never to have been sentenced for an offense subject to afflictive punishment.

In addition, at the time of their election deputies must have attained 21 years of age, and Senators, 35.

Article 28. The following cannot be elected deputies or senators:

1. Ministers of State.
2. Intendants and governors.
3. Magistrates of the Superior Courts of Justice, scholastic judges (jueces de letras) and officials of the Public Ministry.
4. Natural persons and the agents or administrators of juridical persons or companies who have contracts with the State, or are sureties for the same.

Article 29. The offices of deputies and senators are incompatible inter se and with those of representatives and municipal councilors. They are likewise incompatible with every public employment paid from government or municipal funds and with every service or commission of the same kind, with the exception of employments, services or commissions of higher, secondary and special education, located in the city in which Congress holds its sessions.

The person elected must choose between the office of deputy or senator and another office, employment, service or commission that he may be discharging, within fifteen days, if he be within the territory of the Republic, and within one hundred days if he be absent therefrom. These periods shall be counted from the approval of the election. In default of a choice declared within the period the person elected shall cease holding his office of deputy or senator.

Article 30. No deputy or senator, from the moment of his election and until six months after the termination of office, shall be named for any service, commission or public employment paid from government or municipal funds.

This provision does not control in case of foreign war, nor is it to be applied to the offices of President of the Republic, Ministers of State and diplomatic agents, but only those offices conferred during the existence of a state of war are compatible with the functions of deputy or senator.

Article 31. A deputy or senator who absents himself from the country for more than thirty days without permission of the Chamber to which he belongs, or in the recess thereof, of its President, shall cease to hold his office. Special laws alone can authorize an absence of more than a year.

Likewise, a deputy or senator shall cease to hold his office who, during its exercise, enters into or becomes surety for contracts with the State; and one who acts as counsel or attorney in any kind of proceeding pending against the Treasury, or as solicitor or agent in person negotiations of an administrative character.

Article 32. Deputies and senators are inviolable for the opinions they express and the votes they cast in the discharge of their offices.

Article 33. No Deputy or senator from the day of his election can be indicted, prosecuted or arrested, except in a case in flagrante delicto, unless the Court of Appeals of the respective jurisdiction, in open session, has previously authorized the indictment by declaring that there exist grounds for prosecution. From this decision an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court.

Article 34. In case of any deputy or senator being arrested in flagrante delicto he shall be immediately placed at the disposition of the respective Court of Appeals with the summary information. The Court will then proceed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding article.

Article 35. From the moment in which it is declared, by a final decision, that there exist grounds for prosecution the accused deputy or senator becomes suspended from his office and is at the disposal of the competent judge.

Article 36. If a deputy or senator dies or ceases for any cause, before the last year of his term, to belong to the Chamber of Deputies or to the Senate, he shall be replaced in the manner provided by the electoral law, for the period that remains of his term.

A deputy or senator who accepts the position of Minister of State must be replaced within thirty days.

[edit] THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES

Article 37. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of members elected by the departments, or by groups of adjoining departments within each province, as the law may provide, by direct vote and in the manner determined by the electoral law.

One deputy shall be elected for each thirty thousand inhabitants and for a fraction of not less than fifteen thousand.

Article 38. The Chamber of Deputies shall be renewed in the aggregate every four years.

Article 39. Exclusive attributes of the Chamber of Deputies are:

1) To declare whether or not there are grounds for the accusations that ten, at the least, of its members may formulate against the following officials:

a) The President of the Republic, for acts of his administration by which the honor or the security of the State may be gravely compromised, or the Constitution or the laws openly infringed. Such an accusation may be introduced while the President is in office and in the six months following the expiration of his term. During this latter period the President cannot absent himself from the Republic without permission of the Chamber.

b) The Ministers of State, for the offenses of treason, extortion, misappropriation of public funds, bribery, violation of the Constitution, disregard of the laws in having failed to cause their execution, and for having gravely compromised the security or the honor of the nation. Such accusations may be introduced while the Minister is in office and in the three months following the expiration of his term. During this latter period the Minister cannot absent himself from the Republic for more than ten days without permission of the Chamber, or in its recess of its President.

Once an accusation is made, permission is required to leave the Republic, but in no case may the accused absent himself if the accusation has already been approved by the Chamber.

If an absence from the Republic is decided upon, the Chamber must first be notified of this decision and the reasons justifying it.

c) The Magistrates of the Superior Courts of Justice and the Comptroller General of the Republic for flagrant dereliction of duty.

d) The generals or admirals of the armed forces for having compromised gravely the security or the honor of the nation.

e) Intendants and governors for the offenses of treason, sedition, infringement of the Constitution, misappropriation of public funds, and extortion.

In all these cases the Chamber, after hearing the accused and the report of a committee of five deputies, chosen by lot, excluding the accusers, shall declare within ten days whether or not there be grounds for prosecution. The committee report must be presented within six days, after which the Chamber shall proceed without it. If its vote is affirmative the Chamber shall name three deputies to formulate the charges and prosecute them before the Senate. If the accused does not attend the session to which he is cited or does not send a written defense, the Chamber may renew the citation or proceed without his defense.

In order to declare that there be grounds for prosecution in the case of letter (a), the vote of the majority of the deputies entitled to vote shall be necessary.

In other cases the accused shall be suspended from office from the moment in which the Chamber declares that there are grounds for prosecution. The suspension shall cease if the Senate rejects the accusation or does not pass upon it within the thirty days following.

2) To scrutinize the acts of the Government. In order to exercise this attribute the Chamber may, on vote of a majority of the deputies present, adopt resolutions or make suggestions that shall be forwarded in writing to the President of the Republic. The resolutions or suggestions shall not affect the political responsibilities of the Ministers and shall be answered in writing by the President of the Republic or verbally by the appropriate Minister.

[edit] THE SENATE

Article 40. The Senate is composed of members elected by direct ballot for the ten provincial groups, as fixed by law, with regard to the characteristics and interests of the several regions of the territory of the Republic. Each group is entitled to elect five senators.

Article 41. The Senate shall be renewed every four years by parts in the manner determined by law. Each senator shall remain eight years in office.

Article 42. Exclusive attributes of the Senate are:

1) To take cognizance of the accusations that the Chamber of Deputies may present in accordance with Article 39, after a prior hearing of the accused. If the latter does not attend the session to which he is cited or does not send a written defense, the Senate may renew the citation or proceed without his defense.

The Senate shall act as a jury and shall limit itself to declaring whether the accused is or is not guilty of the offense or abuse of power charged against him.

The declaration of guilt must be pronounced by a two-thirds part of the Senators entitled to vote when the matter is an accusation against the President of the Republic, and by a majority of the Senators entitled to vote in other cases.

Through the declaration of guilt the accused becomes deprived of his office.

The official found guilty shall be tried in accordance with the laws by the ordinary tribunal having jurisdiction, both for the application of the penalty as prescribed for the offense committed and for fixing civil liability for losses and damages caused to the State or to private persons.

2) To decide whether there are grounds for the admission of accusations that any private individual may present against the Ministers on account of damage he may have suffered unjustly from any act of theirs, according to the same procedure as in the foregoing number.

3) To declare whether there are grounds for prosecution, as regards criminality, against intendants and governors. Excepted therefrom is the case where the accusation is initiated by the Chamber of Deputies.

4) To take cognizance of conflicts in jurisdiction that may arise between the political or administrative authorities and the Superior Courts of Justice.

5) To grant rehabilitation referred to in Article 9.

6) To grant or deny its consent to the acts of the President of the Republic in cases in which the Constitution or the law so requires.

If the Senate does not pass upon the matter within thirty days after call for urgency by the President of the Republic, its consent shall be taken for granted.

7) To give advice to the President of the Republic in all cases in which he may consult it.

[edit] ATTRIBUTES OF CONGRESS

Article 43. Exclusive attributes of Congress are:

1) To approve or disapprove annually the statement of disbursement of funds intended for the expenses of the public administration, which the Government must present.

2) To give its consent for the President of the Republic to leave the national territory for more than fifteen days or within the last ninety days of his term of office.

3) To declare, when the President of the Republic tenders his resignation from office, whether or not the causes upon which he bases it do disable him from holding the office, and in consequence whether to accept or to refuse the resignation.

4) To declare, when there may be occasion for doubts, whether the disability that debars the President from the exercise of his functions is of such a nature that a new election should be held.

5) To approve or disapprove treaties that, before their ratification, the President of the Republic presents to it.

All of the above resolutions shall be subject in Congress to the same procedure as a law.

Article 44. Only by virtue of a law is it possible:

1) To impose taxes of any kind or nature, to repeal existing taxes, to fix their apportionment when necessary among the provinces or communes, and to determine their proportionality or progression.

2) To authorize the contraction of loans, or of any other kind of operations that may affect the credit and financial responsibility of the State.

3) To authorize the alienation of State or municipal property, or its lease, or concession.

4) To approve each year the estimate of receipts and in the same law to fix the expenditures of the public administration. The budget law shall not alter expenditures or taxation prescribed in general or special laws. Only variable expenditures can be modified by it, but the initiative for increases therein or for changing the estimate of receipts belongs exclusively to the President of the Republic. The proposed budget law must be presented to Congress four months in advance of the date on which it should begin to be operative, and if at the expiration of this period it has not been approved, the bill as presented by the President of the Republic shall become effective. In case the proposed bill is not presented in time, the period of four months shall begin to count from the date of its presentation.

Congress cannot approve any new expenditure chargeable to the funds of the Nation without at the same time creating or indicating the sources of revenue necessary to provide for this expenditure.

5) To create or abolish public employments, to determine or to modify their attributes, to increase or diminish their salaries, to grant pensions and to decree public honors to those rendering distinguished services. Laws granting pensions must be passed by a vote of two thirds of the members present in each Chamber.

6) To fix the remuneration that deputies and senators shall receive. The remuneration cannot be changed during a legislative period except to take effect in the period following.

7) To establish or to modify the political or the administrative division of the country and to habilitate ports of entry.

8) To prescribe the value, type and denomination of the coinage and the system of weights and measures.

9) To fix the air, land and sea forces that are to be maintained in service in time of peace and of war.

10) To establish rules to allow the entry of foreign troops into the territory of the Republic, as well as for the departure of national troops therefrom.

11) To approve or disapprove a declaration of war on the proposal of the President of the Republic.

12) To restrain personal liberty and freedom of the press, or suspend or restrict exercise of the right of assembly, when supreme need for the defense of the State, preservation of the constitutional regime, or internal peace may so demand, and only for periods not to exceed six months.

If such laws prescribe penalties, infliction thereof shall always be made by the established tribunals. Aside from the cases prescribed in this number, no law shall be enacted to suspend or restrict the liberties or rights that the Constitution ensures.

13) To grant general pardons and amnesties.

14) To select the city in which the President of the Republic must reside, the sessions of the National Congress be held and the Supreme Court function.

15) To authorize the President of the Republic to issue decrees with force of law on the creation, elimination, organization and power of the services of the State and of the municipalities; on the setting up of establishments, remuneration and other rights and obligations of the employees for these services; on the social security regulations for the public sector; on certain matters of an administrative, economic and financial nature on those matters indicated in items 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9 of this Article.

This authorization may not be extended to nationality, citizenship, elections of the plebiscite, nor to matters covered in constitutional guarantees except those relating to admission to public employment and offices, the manner of using, enjoying and disposing of property and to its limitations and its obligations, and to job protection, to industry, and to social security programs.

In addition, the authorization may not include rights affecting the organization, powers, and policies of officials of the Judicial Power, the national Congress and the General Comptrollership of the Republic.

The authorization referred to may be granted only for a limited time, not to exceed one year. The law granting it shall specify the matters to be covered and may establish or determine the limitations, restrictions and formalities considered advisable.

The Comptrollership General of the Republic shall take note of these decrees with force of law, rejecting them whenever they exceed or contravene the authorization conferred.

The decrees with force of law shall be subject to the same rules for their publication, enforcement and effects that govern for laws.

[edit] ENACTMENT OF THE LAWS

Article 45. Laws may be originated in the Chamber of Deputies or in the Senate, through a message directed by the President of the Republic, or on motion of any of their members. Such motions cannot be signed by more than ten deputies nor by more than five senators.

Amendments to sections or items of the general Budget Law can be proposed by the President of the Republic only.

To the President of the Republic likewise belongs the initiative for altering the political or administrative division of the country; for creating new services or salaried positions, and for granting or increasing salaries and gratuities to the personnel of the Public Administration, of governmental agencies, and quasi-governmental institutions. The National Congress may only accept, diminish, or reject the services, positions, emoluments, or increases that are proposed. This provision shall not be applied to the National Congress or to its dependent services.

Laws respecting taxation of any nature whatever, on the budgets of the public administration and on recruiting may originate in the Chamber of Deputies only.

Laws respecting amnesty and general pardons may originate in the Senate only.

Article 46. The President of the Republic may declare urgency of dispatch for a bill, in one or in all of its presentations, and in such a case the respective Chamber must pass upon the matter within thirty days, in the event of the first or second presentation, or within fifteen days in the case of a later presentation.

Declarations of urgency may be repeated in all constitutional steps of procedure on the bill.

Article 47. A bill rejected in the Chamber of origin cannot be reintroduced except after one year.

Article 48. All bills may be subject to additions or corrections both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, but in no case shall such additions or corrections be considered unless they bear a direct relationship to the basic or main ideas of the bill.

A bill approved in the Chamber of origin shall pass immediately to the other Chamber for discussion.

Article 49. A bill rejected in its totality by the revisory Chamber shall return to that of its origin where it will be considered again, and if it be approved therein by two thirds of the members present, it shall pass for a second time to the Chamber that rejected it. It shall be understood that the latter disapproves it if two thirds of the members present so agree.

Article 50. A bill that is added to or amended by the revisory Chamber shall return to that of its origin; and in the latter it shall be understood that, with the vote of the majority of the members present, the additions or amendments are approved.

But if the additions or amendments are disapproved the bill shall return a second time to the revisory Chamber, where, if the additions or amendments are again approved by a majority of two thirds of the members present, the bill shall return to the other Chamber. It shall be understood that the latter disapproves the additions or amendments if two thirds of the members present so agree.

Article 51. When on account of insistencies, accord between the two Chambers on fundamental points of the bill is not reached, or when one changes substantially the bill of the other, mixed committees of an equal number of deputies and senators may be designated in order to suggest a form and method of resolving the difficulties.

The rules of the Chambers may establish that mixed committees of an equal number of deputies and senators also be designated, in any constitutional process, to study bills whose complexity or importance may require an exceptional system of discussion or approval.

Likewise, there could be established in those rules guidelines by which the deliberation and voting on bills in particular by the Chamber concerned would be presented to the respective committees following approval of the agreements of the committees by the respective Chamber at least five days after the matter has been reported to them. However, the bills in question shall be returned to the Chamber for special deliberation and voting if, within the period specified above, such action was requested by the President of the Republic, or by at least one fifth of the members present in the Chamber of Deputies, or one fourth of the senators present, as the case may be.

Nevertheless, special deliberation and voting in the Chamber may not be omitted in the cases of bills providing for amendment of the Constitution, bills regulating, restricting or suspending constitutional rights or guarantees with the exception of those indicated in Article 44 (15), second paragraph, bills relating to nationality, citizenship or elections, bills establishing, modifying or repealing taxes, bills authorizing a declaration of war, bills referring to the delegation of legislative powers, and bills relating to international treaties.

Article 52. A bill approved by both Chambers shall be submitted to the President of the Republic, who, if he also approves, shall cause it to be promulgated as law.

Article 53. If the President of the Republic disapproves the bill he shall return it to the Chamber of origin with suitable suggestions within thirty days.

In no case shall suggestions be considered that do not bear a direct relationship to the basic or main ideas of the bill.

Article 54. If the two Chambers approve the suggestions the bill shall have the force of law and be returned to the President to be promulgated.

If the two Chambers reject all or any of the suggestions and insist, by two thirds of the members present, on all or part of the bill as approved by them, it shall be returned to the President to be promulgated.

Article 55. If the President of the Republic should not return the bill within thirty days counting from the date of its submission, it shall be understood that he approves it and will promulgate it as law. If Congress should close its sessions before the expiration of the thirty-day period for making the return the President shall make it within the first ten days of the following ordinary or extraordinary legislative term.

The promulgation should always be made within the ten-day period counting from the date that such action would be in order. Publication shall be made within five workdays following the date in which the transmittal of the promulgation decree was completed.

[edit] SESSIONS OF CONGRESS

Article 56. Congress shall begin its ordinary sessions on the 21st of May and adjourn on the 18th of September of each year.

At the opening of each ordinary session the President of the Republic shall give an account to Congress in joint session of the administrative and political state of the Nation.

Article 57. Congress shall hold extraordinary sessions when called by the President of the Republic, and when called by the President of the Senate at the written request of a majority of the members of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate.

When called by the President of the Republic it cannot transact any other legislative business than that mentioned in the call; but proposals of constitutional reform may be introduced, discussed and voted on, although they do not appear in the call.

When called by the President of the Senate, it may transact any business within its competency.

Article 58. The Chamber of Deputies shall not enter into session, nor pass resolutions without the concurrence of one fifth of its membership, nor the Senate without the concurrence of one fourth of its membership. Each one of the Chambers shall provide in its internal regulations for closure of debate by simple majority.

Article 59. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will open and close their ordinary and extraordinary legislative terms at the same time. Nevertheless, they may function separately for matters within their exclusive competency, in which case the call shall be issued by the President of the respective Chamber.

[edit] Chapter V
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Article 60. A citizen with the title President of the Republic of Chile administers the State and is the Supreme Chief of the Nation.

Article 61. In order to be chosen President of the Republic, it is required to have been born in the territory of Chile, to be at least thirty years of age, and to possess the necessary qualifications for being a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 62. The President of the Republic shall remain in the exercise of his office for the term of six years, and cannot be reelected for the ensuing term.

Article 63. The President shall be elected by a direct vote of the citizens of all the Republic having the right of suffrage, sixty days before the day on which the term of the incumbent should expire and in the manner determined by law.

Cognizance of complaints that may occur in respect to the voting, rectifications and general scrutiny of the election are functions of the Qualification Court.

Article 64. The two branches of Congress, convened in public session, fifty days subsequent to the voting, a majority of the total membership being present and under the direction of the President of the Senate, shall take into consideration the general scrutiny made by the Qualification Court and shall proceed to proclaim as President of the Republic the citizen who has obtained more than one half of the votes validly cast.

If the scrutiny does not show this majority, the Joint Congress shall elect among the citizens who have received the two highest relative numbers of votes; but if two or more citizens have received a tie in the highest relative number, the election shall be made only as between them.

If on the day appointed in this article a majority of the total membership of Congress does not assemble, the session shall be held on the following day with the deputies and senators who attend.

Article 65. The election appertaining to the Joint Congress shall be made by more than one half of the votes in secret ballot.

If on taking the first ballot this absolute majority does not result, a second ballot shall be taken, and at this the balloting shall be limited to the two persons who on the first ballot have obtained the greatest number of votes, and the blank ballots shall be added to those of the one who may then obtain the largest plurality.

In the case of a tie a third ballot in the same manner shall be taken on the day following.

If this results again in a tie the President of the Senate shall at once make the decision.

Article 66. When the President of the Republic in person commands the armed forces, or when from illness, absence from the territory of the Republic, or from any other weighty reason, he cannot exercise his office, the Minister whom the order of precedence as fixed by law may designate shall substitute for him, under the title of Vice President of the Republic. In default of such, the Ministers who follow in the order of precedence, and in default of all the Ministers, the President of the Senate, the President of the Chamber of Deputies or the President of the Supreme Court successively, shall substitute for the President.

In case of death, or declaration of cause for resignation, or other kind of absolute impossibility, or disability that cannot be ended before the completion of the time remaining of the constitutional period, the Vice President in the first ten days of his incumbency shall issue the proper orders to proceed, within sixty days, to a new election of President in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and by the electoral law.

Article 67. The President cannot leave the territory of the Republic for more than fifteen days nor during the last ninety days of his incumbency, without the consent of Congress.

In all cases, the President of the Republic shall notify Congress in advance of his decision to absent himself from the territory and of the reasons justifying it.

Article 68. The President shall vacate office on the same day that completes the six years for which the exercise of his powers lasts and the newly elected President shall succeed him.

Article 69. If the President-elect finds himself prevented from taking possession of the office he shall be replaced meanwhile, under the title of Vice President of the Republic, by the President of the Senate, and in his default, by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and, in his default, by the President of the Supreme Court.

But if the impediment of the President-elect be absolute or appear as if it would last indefinitely or for a longer period than that prescribed for the exercise of the Presidency, the Vice President, in the ten days following the declaration which Congress must make, shall issue the proper orders to proceed within sixty days to a new election in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and by the electoral law.

Article 70. The President-elect on taking possession of the office in the presence of both branches of Congress shall make oath or promise before the President of the Senate faithfully to discharge the office of President of the Republic, to preserve the integrity and independence of the nation and to observe and enforce the Constitution and the laws.

Article 71. To the President of the Republic is confided the administration and government of the State, and his authority is extended to all that has for its purpose the preservation of public order in the interior and the exterior security of the Republic, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.

Article 72. Special attributes of the President are:

1) To concur in the making of the laws according to the Constitution, to approve and to promulgate the same.

2) To prescribe regulations, decrees and instructions that he may deem suitable for the execution of the laws.

3) To extend the ordinary sessions of Congress and to call extraordinary sessions.

4) To watch over the ministerial conduct of the judges and other employees of the judicial power, and for this purpose to request the Supreme Court, if appropriate, to affirm their bad conduct, or the office of the Public Minister to institute disciplinary measures before the competent tribunal, or, if there be sufficient grounds, to file the proper accusation.

5) To appoint at will the Ministers of State, officials of the Ministries, diplomatic agents, intendants and governors.

Appointment of ambassadors and diplomatic ministers shall be submitted to the approval of the Senate, but they and other officials mentioned in this number are within the exclusive confidence of the President of the Republic and are to be kept in their positions while they enjoy the said confidence.

6) To appoint the magistrates of the Supreme Courts of Justice and scholastic judges.

7) To supply the other civil and military employees that the laws may determine, conformably to the Administrative Statute, and to confer, with the approval of the Senate, the offices of grades of colonel, captain of the navy, and other superior offices of the army and navy.

On the field of battle he may confer these superior military offices at his own instance.

8) To dismiss employees designated by himself for incompetency or other cause that may render their services unuseful or prejudicial, with the approval of the Senate if they are heads of bureaus or high employees, and with the report of the respective authority if they are subordinate employees, in conformity with the organic laws of the service.

9) To grant pensions, retirement pay and widow and orphan benefits according to the laws.

10) To care for the collection of the public revenues and to decree their expenditure in accordance with law. The President of the Republic with the signatures of all the Ministers of State may decree expenditures not authorized by law, but only for needs not permitting delay, arising from public calamities, foreign aggression, internal disorder, or from the exhaustion of funds appropriated to maintain services which may not cease without grave injury to the country. The total expenditures for these purposes may not exceed annually two percent of the total amount authorized by the General Budget Law. Employees may be engaged chargeable to this same law, but without increasing or diminishing the respective item through transfers. The Ministers of State or the officials who authorize or pass expenditures in violation of the provisions of this paragraph shall be jointly and severally liable for restitution, and guilty of the offense of misappropriating public funds.

11) To grant juridical personality to private corporations and to cancel the same, to approve their articles of incorporation, to reject the same and to accept amendments.

12) To grant private pardons. Officials impeached by the Chamber of Deputies and tried by the Senate can be pardoned by Congress only.

13) To dispose of the sea and land forces, to organize and distribute them as he may find convenient.

14) To command in person the sea and land forces with the approval of the Senate. In this case the President of the Republic may reside at any place occupied by Chilean arms.

15) To declare war with the prior authorization of law.

16) To maintain political relations with foreign powers, receive their agents, admit their consuls, conduct negotiations, make preliminary stipulations, conclude and sign all treaties of peace, alliance, truce, neutrality, commerce, concordats and other conventions. Treaties before their ratification must be presented for the approval of Congress. The discussion and deliberations on these matters shall be in secret if the President of the Republic so demands.

17) To declare in a state of assembly one or more provinces invaded or menaced in case of foreign war, and in a state of siege one or several points of the Republic in case of foreign attack.

In case of internal disturbance the declaration of one or more places being in a state of siege belongs to Congress, but if Congress is not in session, the President may make it for a determined period.

If on the meeting of Congress the period named has not expired, the declaration made by the President of the Republic shall be understood as a proposal of law.

Through the declaration of a state of siege, there is conceded to the President of the Republic only the authority to transfer persons from one department to another to confine them in their own houses, or in places other than jails, or intended for the confinement or imprisonment of ordinary criminals.

Measures taken on account of the state of siege shall have no greater duration than the siege, but the constitutional guarantees granted to Deputies and Senators shall not be infringed thereby.

[edit] MINISTERS OF STATE

Article 73. The number of ministers and their respective departments shall be determined by law.

Article 74. In order to be named minister the qualifications exacted to be a deputy are required.

Article 75. All orders of the President of the Republic must be signed by the minister of the respective department, and shall not be obeyed without this essential requisite.

Article 76. Every minister shall be personally responsible for the acts he may sign, and jointly and severally for those he may subscribe or agree to with other ministers.

Article 77. As soon as Congress convenes in ordinary session the ministers must render an account to the President of the Republic of the state of the nation in regard to the business of the department that each one has under his charge, in order that the President may in turn submit the same to Congress.

For the same purpose they are obliged to present to him the annual budget of the expenditures that should be made in their respective departments and render an account to him of the disbursement of the amounts decreed to meet the expenditures of the preceding year.

Article 78. The ministers may, when they deem it expedient, attend sessions of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate and take part in the debates, with preference in speaking, but without the right to vote.

[edit] Chapter VI
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE
ELECTORAL QUALIFICATION COURT

Article 78 a). There shall be a Constitutional Court, composed of five members, who shall act in their capacities for a four-year term, with reelection possible. Three of them shall be appointed by the President of the Republic with the consent of the Senate, and two by the Supreme Court from among its members.

The secretary of the Supreme Court shall also serve as secretary of the Constitutional Court.

The ministers appointed by the President of the Republic with the consent of the Senate must be attorneys with a minimum of twelve years in the exercise of the profession, and they may not have any of the impediments that would disqualify them from appointment as judges; one of them must also have ten years' experience as a university professor of constitutional or administrative law in one of the law schools of the country. These ministers shall be subject to the provisions established in Articles 39 and 30 for deputies and senators but their offices shall not be compatible with those of minister, fiscal or attorney attached to the Supreme Court of Justice, and they shall be incompatible with the offices of deputy, senator and member of the Electoral Qualification Court.

The ministers to be appointed by the Supreme Court shall be elected by that Court in one secret unipersonal ballot, those obtaining the two highest majorities being declared elected. Ties shall be resolved by drawing lots in the manner to be determined by the Court.

The functions of the ministers to be appointed by the President shall terminate upon death, interdiction, resignation accepted by the President of the Republic with the consent of the Senate, removal by the Senate upon the proposal of the President, and acceptance of any of the offices referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 30.

The functions of the ministers appointed by the Court shall terminate with the expiration of the term of their judicial functions and upon resignation accepted by the Supreme Court.

Should a minister terminate his office for any of the reasons given above, his replacement shall be made for the period remaining to complete his term. If one of the ministers appointed by the Supreme Court should terminate his office, the election of his replacement shall be made by the Court as indicated in the first two paragraphs of Article 65, and ties shall be resolved in the manner indicated in paragraph 4 of the present Article.

Ministers shall enjoy the prerogatives granted to deputies and senators in Articles 32 to 35.

A quorum for meetings of the Court shall consist of three of its members, and its agreements shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast. The Court shall elect its own President, who shall exercise his functions for two years.

The Court, through its own decrees, shall issue all other regulations governing its organization and operation as well as determine the size, remuneration and rules of its staff and the allowances of its ministers. Annually it shall earmark in the Budget of the Nation the funds necessary for the organization and operation of the Court.

Article 78 b). The Constitutional Court shall have the following powers:

a) To resolve questions of constitutionality that may arise during the transmittal of bills and treaties submitted for approval of the Congress.

b) To resolve questions that may arise on the constitutionality of a decree with force of law.

c) To resolve questions of constitutionality that may arise with respect to holding a plebiscite, without prejudice to the powers of the Electoral Qualification Court.

d) To resolve questions of constitutional or legal incompetence affecting a person to be appointed Minister of State, to remain in that office, or to perform other functions simultaneously;

e) To resolve claims in case the President of the Republic does not promulgate a law when he should do so, or in case he promulgates a text different from the one that he constitutionally should; and

f) To resolve disputes over competency as determined by law.

In the case of (a), the Court may be informed of the matter only at the request of the President of the Republic, either of the Chambers, or more than one third of their members present, provided that such request be made before the law is promulgated.

The Court must resolve within a period of ten days counted from the date it receives the request, unless it should decide to delay its decision for ten additional days for serious, weighty reasons.

The requirement shall not suspend action on the bill but the portion impugned may not be promulgated until the period referred to has expired, unless it deals with matters stated in section 4, 11 or 12 of Article 44.

In the case of (b), the question may be raised by the President of the Republic within thirty days when the Comptroller rejects a decree with force of law as unconstitutional. The question may also be raised by either of the Chambers or by more than one third of their members present against a decree with force of law that the Comptroller has taken issue with and impugned as unconstitutional within thirty days since its publication.

The Court must decide within the period indicated in (a) above.

In the case of (c), the question may be raised at the request of the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies within a period of ten days counted from the date of publication of the decree which sets the date of the petition for a plebiscite.

Once its intervention is requested, the Court must deliver its judgment within a period of ten days, fixing in its resolution the definitive text of the petition for a plebiscite, when necessary.

If at the time of issuing its judgment less than thirty days remain for the plebiscite to be held, the Court shall set in the judgment a new date between thirty and sixty days following its judgment.

In the case of (d), the Court shall proceed as requested by either Chamber or one third of their members present, and must resolve within a thirty-day period, extendible fifteen days longer by resolution.

In the case of (e), the question may be raised by either of the Chambers, and if it deals with promulgation of a text different from the one that constitutionally should be promulgated, the claim may be presented within thirty days following publication.

In either case, the Court shall decide within the period indicated above, and if it accepts the claim it shall promulgate in its judgment the law that should have been promulgated or it shall rectify the erroneous promulgation.

When the Court does not issue a judgment within the periods indicated in this Article, except in the case of (d), the ministers shall terminate all rights to their offices.

In the exercise of its powers, the Court shall act according to law; but it shall proceed as a jury with respect to determination of the facts when the matter concerns the incompetency of Ministers of State.

If the term of a Court should expire while a decision is pending on a matter submitted to it, the Court will continue its action in the case until it is totally resolved.

Article 78 c). There shall be no recourse against resolutions of the Constitutional Court.

The provisions declared unconstitutional by the Court may not be converted into law in the bill or decree with force of law concerned.

Once the Court resolves that a legal precept is constitutional, the Supreme Court may not declare it inapplicable for the same legal defect that was the subject matter of the judgment.

Article 79. A special court to be called Qualification Court shall have cognizance of the election returns for President of the Republic, deputies and senators.

This court shall act as a jury in the determination of facts and give judgment in accordance with law.

It shall be composed of five members, and they shall be renewed every four years at least fifteen days prior to the date of the first election they must judge.

The same court shall judge all the elections that take place during the four years.

The five members of the court shall be chosen by lot from among the following persons:

One from among the individuals who may have discharged the offices of President or Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies for more than one year;

One from among the individuals who may have discharged the offices of President or Vice President of the Senate for a like period;

Two from among the individuals who hold the office of Minister of the Supreme Court; and

One from among the individuals who hold the office of Minister of the Court of Appeals in the city where Congress holds its sessions.

The law shall regulate the organization and procedure of the Qualification Court.

[edit] Chapter VII
THE JUDICIAL POWER

Article 80. The power of judging civil and criminal cases belong exclusively to the tribunals established by law. Neither the President of the Republic nor Congress can in any case exercise judicial functions, remove pending cases from one court to another, or revive terminated proceedings.

Article 81. A special law will determine the organization and attributes of the courts that may be necessary for the speedy and full administration of justice throughout the territory of the Republic.

Only by virtue of a law can a change be made in the attributes of the courts or in the number of their members.

Article 82. The law will determine the qualifications that the judges respectively must have and the number of years that persons appointed ministers of the courts or scholastic judges must have practiced the profession of law.

Article 83. In respect to the appointment of judges the law shall conform to the following general principles:

Ministers and fiscals of the Supreme Court shall be chosen by the President of the Republic from a list of five persons proposed by the said court. The two ministers of a Court of Appeals who have been longest in office shall occupy places on the first. The other three shall be filled in accordance with the merits of the candidates. Persons outside the administration of justice may figure in the list.

Ministers and fiscals of the Court of Appeals shall be designated by the President of the Republic from a list of three proposed by the Supreme Court.

Scholastic judges shall be designated by the President of the Republic from a list of three proposed by the Court of Appeals of the respective jurisdiction. For the preparation of the lists there shall be opened a competitive contest at which the persons interested must present their degrees and record.

The scholastic judges longest on the bench of the court, or the scholastic judge longest in the position next below that to be filled, respectively, shall have a place in the corresponding list of three. The other two places shall be filled in accordance with the merits of the candidates.

Article 84. Judges are personally liable for bribery, failure to observe the laws governing procedure and in general for every betrayal of trust or perverted administration of justice. The law shall determine the cases and the method of making this responsibility effective.

Article 85. The judges shall remain in office during good behavior, but judges of the lower courts shall discharge their respective judgeships for such time as the law may determine.

Judges, whether of limited or unlimited tenure, may be removed from office only for cause legally determined.

Nevertheless, the President of the Republic, on the proposal or with the consent of the Supreme Court, may authorize exchanges, or order the transfer of judges from one post to another of equal rank.

In any case the Supreme Court, upon demand of the President of the Republic at the solicitation of the party interested, or ex officio, may declare that judges have not been of good behavior, and upon prior statement from the accused and from the Court of Appeals, respectively, with a two-thirds vote of its membership, grant their removal from office.

These decisions shall be communicated to the President of the Republic in order to be carried into effect.

Article 86. The Supreme Court has direct supervision, correctional and economic, over all the tribunals of the Nation in accordance with the law determining its organization and attributes.

The Supreme Court, in individual cases under its cognizance, or which may have been submitted to it on action interposed in a case pending before another court, may declare inapplicable for that case any legal provision as contrary to the Constitution. This appeal may be taken at any stage of the case without suspending the proceedings.

It shall have cognizance also of disputes of competency that may arise between political or administrative authorities and the courts of justice, that are not for decision of the Senate.

Article 87. There shall be administrative tribunals with permanent membership to pass upon claims that may be interposed against arbitrary acts or measures of the political or administrative authorities and the disposition of which may not be entrusted by the Constitution or the laws to any other tribunals. Their organization and attributes are matters of law.

[edit] Chapter VIII
INTERNAL GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE

Article 88. For the internal government of the State, the territory of the Republic is divided into provinces, the provinces into departments, the departments into subdelegations and subdelegations into districts.

[edit] INTENDANTS

Article 89. The chief governmental authority in each province is vested in an intendant who exercises the office in conformity with the laws and orders and instructions from the President of the Republic, of whom he is the usual and immediate agent. His term of office shall be for three years.

The Intendant within the province under him, as the representative of the President of the Republic, shall be the supervisor of all public works and services of the provincial territory.

[edit] GOVERNORS

Article 90. The governmental authority in each department is vested in a governor, subordinate to the intendant of the province. His term of office shall be for three years.

The intendant is also governor of the department in whose capital he resides.

The governors are appointed by the President of the Republic on the recommendation of the respective intendants and may be removed by the latter with the approval of the President of the Republic.

[edit] SUBDELEGATES

Article 91. The Subdelegations are governed by a subdelegate, subordinate to the governor of the department and appointed by him. Subdelegates remain one year in office and may be removed by the governor, who shall give an account to the intendant of the reasons therefor.

[edit] INSPECTORS

Article 92. Districts are governed by an inspector under the orders of the subdelegate, who will appoint and remove them on prior report to the governor of the reasons therefor.

[edit] Chapter IX
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGIME

Article 93. For the internal administration of the national territory is divided into provinces and the provinces into communes.

There shall be in each province the number of communes that the law may determine. Each communal territory will correspond to a complete subdelegation.

The administrative divisions called "provinces" will coincide with the political division of the same name, and the administrative divisions called "commune" will coincide with the political division called "subdelegation."

The law in creating new communes must always take care to establish the respective subdelegation and to mark out for the former and for the latter the same limits.

[edit] PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 94. The administration of each province is vested in the intendant who will be advised, as determined in law, by a Provincial Assembly of which he shall be the President.

Article 95. Each Provincial Assembly shall be composed of representatives designated by the Municipal Councils of the province at their first session, by cumulative vote.

These offices are compulsory and unremunerative, and last for three years.

The Municipal Councils shall designate the number of representatives that the law may determine for each.

Article 96. In order to be designated a representative it is required to have the same qualifications as for being a deputy and, in addition, to have resided in the province for more than one year.

Article 97. The Provincial Assemblies shall hold their meetings in the capitals of the respective provinces, and shall choose annually at their first session, by a majority of the members present, a person from their midst to exercise the office of Vice President.

Article 98. The Provincial Assemblies shall hold sessions with a majority of their members at the time in office; they shall have administrative attributes and shall dispose of the revenues established by law. The law may authorize them to impose determined taxes for local benefit.

They may be dissolved by the President of the Republic with the approval of the Senate.

When a Provincial Assembly is dissolved, the replacement of its membership for the period to complete the term remaining shall be proceeded with in the manner indicated in Article 95.

Article 99. The Provincial Assemblies must annually make known to the President of the Republic, through the intermediation of the intendant, the needs of the province and indicate the amounts necessary to meet the same.

Article 100. Ordinances or resolutions that a Provincial Assembly may pass must be brought to the attention of the intendant, who within ten days may suspend their execution if he deems them contrary to the Constitution or the laws, or prejudicial to the interests of the province or of the State.

An ordinance or resolution suspended by the intendant shall return for consideration to the Provincial Assembly.

If the Assembly insists on its previous action by a vote of two thirds of the members present, the intendant shall order the same to be promulgated and to take effect.

But when the suspensions be founded on the grounds that the ordinance or resolution is contrary to the Constitution or the laws, the intendant must submit the facts to the Supreme Court in order that it may rule definitively.

[edit] COMMUNAL ADMINISTRATION

Article 101. The local administration of each commune or group of communes established by law is vested in a Municipal Council.

Each Municipal Council on being organized shall designate an alcalde to preside over it and to execute its decisions.

In cities of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants and in others that may be designated by law, the alcalde will be appointed by the President of the Republic and may be remunerated. The President of the Republic may remove him with the approval of the respective Provincial Assembly.

Article 102. The municipalities shall have such regidores as may be provided for each of them by law. Their number shall not be less than five nor more than fifteen. These offices are nonremunerative and for a term of four years. The general election for regidores shall take place in the year immediately following that in which each general election for deputies and senators takes place.

Article 103. In order to be elected regidor it is required to have the same qualifications as for being a deputy and, in addition, to have resided in the commune for more than one year.

Article 104. The election of regidores shall be made by direct vote and in agreement with the special provisions prescribed by the law.

There shall be for this purpose special registers in each commune, and to be inscribed therein it is required to have attained the age of twenty-one years and to be able to read and write. Foreigners are required in addition to have resided five years in the country.

Qualifications of the elections of regidores, jurisdiction over protest of nullification that may occur in reference thereto, and the solution of matters that may subsequently arise belong to such authority as the law may determine.

Article 105. The Municipal Councils will hold sessions with a majority of their members at the time in office; they shall have such administrative attributes and disburse such revenues as the law may determine.

It is their special responsibility:

1) To supervise sanitation, public comfort, adornment and recreation.

2) To promote education, agriculture, industry and commerce.

3) To take care of elementary schools and other educational services supported by municipal funds.

4) To take care of the construction and repair of the roads, walks, bridges and all works of necessity, utility or adornment paid for with municipal funds.

5) To administer and disburse public property and taxes in conformity with the regulations as dictated by law.

6) To enact municipal ordinances respecting these matters without prejudice to the attributes that the following Article gives the respective Provincial Assembly.

The law may impose on each municipality a quota proportional to its annual revenues as a contribution to the general expenditures of the province.

The appointment of municipal employees shall be made conformably to the statute that the law will establish.

Article 106. Municipalities will be submitted to the correctional and economic vigilance of the respective Provincial Assemblies, in accordance with law.

The powers that Article 100 grants to the intendant in respect to the Provincial Assembly shall belong to the latter in respect to Municipal Councils of its jurisdiction.

Municipal Councils may be dissolved by the Provincial Assembly, in virtue of grounds which the law may establish, on a vote of the majority of the Representatives specifically cited for this purpose, and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 100.

[edit] ADMINISTRATIVE DECENTRALIZATION

Article 107. By degrees the laws will confer on provincial or communal organizations the administrative attributes and faculties at the present time exercised by other authorities with the purpose of proceeding to the decentralization of the internal administrative regime.

The general services of the nation will be decentralized through the formation of the zones that the law may fix.

In any case the supervision of the services of a province belongs to the intendant and the ultimate control of them lies with the President of the Republic.

[edit] Chapter X
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Article 108. The amendment of constitutional provisions shall be submitted to the same procedure as a bill, except as hereinafter indicated.

The proposed amendment must be approved in each Chamber by a majority of the deputies or senators then in office.

The two Chambers, in public joint session, with the attendance of a majority of their total membership, sixty days after the approval of a proposed amendment indicated in the preceding paragraph, shall take the proposal into consideration and proceed to vote thereon without further debate.

The proposal as approved in joint session shall pass to the President of the Republic.

If on the day appointed a majority of the total membership does not meet together, the session shall be held on the following day with such deputies and senators as may attend.

The proposal approved by the joint Congress may not be rejected totally by the President of the Republic, who may only propose modifications or corrections or reiterate ideas contained in the message or in proposals validly expressed by the President himself.

If the observations made by the President of the Republic in conformity with the above are approved by the majority described in the second paragraph, the proposal shall be returned to the President for promulgation.

Article 109. The President of the Republic may consult the citizenry, through a plebiscite, whenever a proposal for a constitutional amendment presented by him is totally rejected by Congress in any stage of the proceedings. A plebiscite may also be called whenever Congress rejects either totally or partially the observations he has made, whether the proposal was initiated by message or by motion.

However, this power may not be exercised for proposed constitutional amendments modifying the provisions relating to plebiscites, prescribed in this Article.

A plebiscite must be called within thirty days after the proposed amendment has been rejected by one of the Chambers or the observations have been rejected by the joint Congress, and the date of the plebiscite shall be ordered established by supreme decree, with the proviso that it may not take place in less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after publication of said decree. If upon the expiration of that period the plebiscite has not been held, the proposal approved by Congress shall be promulgated.

The decree calling for the plebiscite shall contain, as the case may require, the President's proposal that was rejected by one of the Chambers or by the joint Congress or the points of disagreement that the President is submitting to the decision of the citizenry. In the latter case, each of the questions must be voted on separately in the plebiscite.

The Electoral Qualification Court shall communicate to the President of the Republic the result of the plebiscite, specifying the text of the proposal approved by the majority of the votes validly cast, which text must be promulgated as a constitutional amendment within the time period established in the second paragraph of Article 55. A like communication shall be sent if the citizens reject the observations of the President of the Republic, in which case he shall promulgate, within the period indicated above, the proposal approved by the joint Congress.

The law shall establish guaranties of sufficient access to the various publicity media to political parties that approve or reject the proposal or the points in disagreement submitted to a plebiscite and shall make provision for such publicity to be given gratuitously in the cases and within the limits indicated.

Article 110. When the proposal is promulgated, and on the date of its entry into force, its provisions shall form a part of the Constitution and be incorporated therein.