other existing civil and military officers therein, shall continue to hold and discharge the duties of their respective offices in the name and by the authority of the Republic, until others shall be appointed and commissioned in their stead, pursuant to the Constitution.

SECT. 3.-TOWNS AND MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS UNDER THE LAWS OF THE COMMONWEALTH TO RETAIN THEIR EXISTING ORGANIZATION AND

AUTHORITY.

All towns and municipal corporations within the Republic, constituted under the laws of the Commonwealth of Liberia, shall retain their existing organizations and privileges, and the respective officers thereof shall remain in office, and act under the authority of this Republic, in the same manner and with the like powers as they now possess under the laws of said Commonwealth.

SECT. 4.-FIRST ELECTION OF OFFICERS UNDER THIS CONSTITUTION. HOW ELECTED, RETURNS MADE, AND NOTICE GIVEN.

The first election of President, Vice-President, senators and representatives shall be held on the first Tuesday in October, in the year of our Lord 1847, in the same manner as election of members of the Council are held in the Commonwealth of Liberia; and the votes shall be certified and returned to the Colonial Secretary, and the result of the election shall be ascertained, posted and notified by him, as is now by law provided in case of such members of Council.

SECT. 5.-ELECTIONS WHERE HELD. TO WHOM RETURNS OF VOTES SHALL BE MADE. ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATURE. VOTES FOR PRESI

DENT, BY WHOM COUNTED AND DECLARED. FAILING A MAJORITY OF

VOTES FOR ANY ONE CANDIDATE, THE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES, IN CONVENTION, SHALL ELECT A PRESIDENT.

All other elections of President, Vice-President, senators and representatives shall be held in the several counties of this Republic on the second Tuesday in October in every four years;1 to be held and regulated in such manner as the legislature may by law prescribe. The returns of votes shall be made to the Secretary of State, who shall open the same, and forth with issue notices of the election to the persons apparently so elected senators and representatives, and all such returns shall be by him laid before the legislature at its next ensuing session, together with a list of the names of the persons who appear by such returns to have been duly elected senators and representatives; and the persons appearing by said returns to be duly

1 As amended 7 May 1907. Previously the elections were biennial and were held on the first Tuesday in May.

elected, shall proceed to organize themselves accordingly as the Senate and House of Representatives. The votes for President shall be sorted, counted and declared by the House of Representatives. And if no person shall appear to have a majority of such votes, the senators and representatives present shall, in convention, by joint ballot, elect, from among the persons having the three highest number of votes, a person to act as President for the ensuing term.

SECT. 6. -MEETING OF THE LEGISLATURE AT LEAST ONCE IN EVERY YEAR.

The legislature shall assemble once at least in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

SECT. 7.-OFFICERS REQUIRED TO SUBSCRIBE ON OATH OR AFFIRMATION. BY WHOM THE OATH OR AFFIRMATION SHALL BE ADMINISTERED, &C.

Every legislator and other officer appointed under this Constitution shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe a solemn oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of this Republic, and faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties of such office. The presiding officer of the Senate shall administer such oath or affirmation to the President, in convention of both houses; and the President shall administer the same to the Vice-President, to the senators and to the representatives in like manner. When the President is unable to attend, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may administer the oath or affirmation to him at any place, and also to the Vice-President, senators and representatives in convention. Other officers may take such oath or affirmation before the President, Chief Justice, or any other person who may be designated by law.

SECT. 8.-A MAJORITY OF THE VOTES REQUIRED FOR THE ELECTION OF CERTAIN OFFICERS.

All elections of public officers shall be made by a majority of the votes, except in cases otherwise regulated by the Constitution or by law.

SECT. 9.-OFFICERS ONLY CREATED WHICH THE PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES

REQUIRE.

Officers created by this Constitution, which the present circumstances of the Republic do not require that they shall be filled, shall not be filled until the legislature shall deem it necessary.

SECT. 10.—THE RIGHT OF CERTAIN PROPERTY SECURED TO THE WIFE, WHICH CAN ONLY BE ALIENATED BY HER.

The property of which a woman may be possessed at the time of her marriage, and also that of which she may afterwards become possessed, otherwise than by her husband, shall not be held responsible for his debts, whether contracted before or after marriage.

Nor shall the property thus intended to be secured to the woman be alienated otherwise than by her free and voluntary consent, and such alienation may be made by her either by sale, devise or otherwise.

SECT. 11. THE WIDOW'S SHARE OF INSOLVENT ESTATES.

In all cases in which estates are insolvent, the widow shall be entitled to one third of the real estate during her natural life, and to one third of the personal estate, which she shall hold in her own right, subject to alienation by her, by devise or otherwise.

SECT. 12.-NONE BUT A CITIZEN IS ENTITLED TO HOLD

REAL ESTATE,

EXCEPT, &C.

No person shall be entitled to hold real estate in this Republic, unless he be a citizen of the same. Nevertheless, this article shall not be construed to apply to colonization, missionary, educational or other benevolent institutions, so long as the property or estate is applied to its legitimate purposes.

SECT. 13.-NONE BUT PERSONS OF COLOUR SHALL BE ADMITTED TO CITIZENSHIP.

The great object of forming these colonies being to provide a home for the dispersed and oppressed children of Africa, and to regenerate and enlighten this benighted continent, none but persons of Negro descent1 shall be admitted to citizenship in this Republic.

SECT. 14.-PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS SHALL NOT PURCHASE LAND FROM THE

ABORIGINES.

The purchase of any land by any citizen or citizens from the aborigines of this country for his or their own use, or for the benefit of others, on estate or estates in fee simple, shall be considered null and void to all intents and purposes.

1 As amended 7 May 1907. Previously "none but persons of colour" were admissible to citizenship.

SECT. 15. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATIVE TRIBES. THE APPOINTMENT OF SUITABLE PERSONS TO VISIT AND INSTRUCT THEM. THE LEGISLATURE TO MAKE APPROPRIATION FOR THAT PURPOSE.

The improvement of the native tribes and their advancement in the arts of agriculture and husbandry being a cherished object of this government, it shall be the duty of the President to appoint in each county some discreet person, whose duty it shall be to make regular and periodical tours through the country for the purpose of calling the attention of the natives to those wholesome branches of industry, and of instructing them in the same; and the legislature shall, as soon as it can conveniently be done, make provisions for these purposes by the appropriation of money.

SECT. 16.-THE EXISTING REGULATIONS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY RELATIVE TO IMMIGRANTS TO REMAIN THE SAME UNTIL REGULATED BY COMPACT, &C.

The existing regulations of the American Colonization Society in the Commonwealth relative to emigrants shall remain the same in the Republic until regulated by compact between the Society and the Republic; nevertheless, the legislature shall make no law prohibiting emigration. And it shall be among the first duties of the legislature to take measures to arrange the future relations between the American Colonization Society and this Republic.

SECT. 17.-THIS CONSTITUTION MAY BE ALTERED. HOW AND WHEN.

This Constitution may be altered whenever two thirds of both branches of the legislature shall deem it necessary; in which case the alterations or amendments shall first be considered and approved by the legislature, by the concurrence of two thirds of the members of each branch, and afterwards by them submitted to the people, and adopted by two thirds of all the electors at the next biennial meeting for the election of senators and representatives.

LIECHTENSTEIN.

This principality, whose origin dates back to 1712 and which was raised to an Imperial Principality by Emperor Charles VI in 1719, is the only one which continued to follow the fortunes of Austria after the reconstitution of the German Empire under the hegemony of Prussia. Since 1866 it has had no confederative alliance, but has enjoyed close relations with Austria by virtue of various treaties. Its first Constitution, dated 9 November 1818,1 was promulgated in pursuance of Article 13 of the Act of the German Confederation. Several modifications made in this Constitution in 1848 and 1849 were abolished in part in 1852. The Constitution of 1818 remained in force until the Prince, John II, promulgated the Constitution of 26 September 1862, which since that date has been modified in separate provisions by the Laws of 19 February 1878, 29 December 1895 and 11 October 1901.2

CONSTITUTION OF 26 SEPTEMBER 1862.3
[PREAMBLE.]

We, John II, by the grace of God, Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau, Count of Rietberg, etc., etc., etc., make known by these presents that the Constitution of our Principality has, as a result of the wishes expressed by our faithful Estates and with the advice and constitutional sanction of the assembled Diet, been ordered as follows.

CHAPTER I.-THE PRINCIPALITY AND ITS GOVERNMENT.

ARTICLE 1. The Principality of Liechtenstein, in the union of its two provinces of Vaduz and Schellenberg, forms an indivisible and unalterable unit and as such is a part of the German Confederation. ART. 2. The Prince is the head of the State, unites in his person all State rights, and exercises them according to the provisions laid down in the present Constitution.

His person is sacred and inviolable.

1 English translation in the British and Foreign State Papers, 5: pp. 1192-1194.

2 This introductory paragraph is based upon F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. I, p. 532. There is a fuller account in PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 656–657. 3 Translated by E. H. ZEYDEL from the German text in POSENER, op. cit., pp. 657-672.