PANAMA. After having constituted part of Colombia as a State, then (since 1886) as a simple province, the territory of Panama became independent during the civil war of 1898-1902. This independence has not been formally recognized by Colombia, although an attempt in this direction was made in the treaty which it concluded with the State of Panama and the United States in January, 1909.1 By a treaty concluded 18 November 1903, the State of Panama ceded to the United States, in consideration of a sum of $10,000,000 and an annual rent of $250,000 a zone of territory necessary for the construction of the Panama Canal. The Constitution of the new State bears date of 13 February 1904; it was sanctioned the fifteenth of the same month. by the junta of the provisional government. A legislative decree of 6 June 1904 modified Article 73, No. 18 (pardoning power). The electoral law (No. 89) dates from 7 July 1904.3 CONSTITUTION OF 13 FEBRUARY 1904.1 We, the representatives of the people of Panama, assembled in National Convention for the purpose of constituting the nation, maintaining order, guaranteeing justice, promoting the general welfare and securing the benefits of liberty for ourselves, our posterity and all men who may inhabit the Panaman soil, invoking the protection of God, do ordain, decree and establish for the Panaman nation the following Constitution. TITLE I.-THE NATION AND ITS TERRITORY. ARTICLE 1. The Panaman people hereby constitute themselves an independent and sovereign nation, ruled by a republican and demo 1 English text of the three treaties in Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1909 (Washington, 1914), pp. 223-233. These treaties being of a tripartite nature are non-operative owing to the failure of Colombia to ratify them. 2 English text in Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1904 Washington, 1905), pp. 543-551, and British and Foreign State Papers, 96: pp. 553-561. 3 This introductory paragraph is based upon F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. II, pp. 567-568. 4 Spanish text and English translation in parallel columns in J. I. RODRIGUEZ, American Constitutions (Washington, 1906), vol. 1, pp. 392-422. English translation also in the British and Foreign States Papers, 98: pp. 950-970, and Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1904 (Washington, 1905), pp. 562-580. The translation given here is based upon the one in RODRIGUEZ. 88381-19- -30 457 cratic government, under the denomination of the Republic of Panama. ART. 2. The sovereignty resides in the nation, which shall exercise it through its representatives in the manner established by this Constitution and under the conditions therein expressed. ART. 3. The territory of the Republic is the same which, under the Act of 27 February 1855, additional to the Granada Constitution of 1853, formed the State of Panama, and became afterwards, in 1886, the Department of Panama, with its islands, and the continental and insular territory which was awarded to the Republic of Colombia by the President of the French Republic on 11 September 1900. The territory of the Republic remains subject to the jurisdictional restrictions stipulated or which may be stipulated in public treaties with the United States of North America for the construction, maintenance or sanitation of any route of interoceanic transit. The boundaries with the Republic of Colombia shall be determined by public treaties. ART. 4. The territory of the Republic is divided into the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Cocle, Colon, Chiriqui, Los Santos, Panama and Veraguas. The provinces are divided into municipalities. The National Assembly may increase or decrease the number of the former and of the latter, or change their boundaries. ART. 5. The territory, together with the public property forming a part thereof, belongs to the nation. TITLE II.-NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP.. ART. 6. The following are Panamans : 1. All those born or who may be born in the territory of Panama, whatever the nationality of their fathers may be. 2. Children of Panaman father'or mother, born in another territory, if they take up their domicile in the Republic and express their intention to become Panamans. 3. Foreigners, who have resided for over ten years in the Republic, professing some science, art or industry, or owning some real estate, or capital in circulation, if they declare, before the Panaman municipal authority of the territory in which they reside, their intention of being naturalized in Panama. Six years residence will suffice if they are married and have a family in Panama, and three years if they are married to a Panaman woman. 4. Colombians who, having taken part in the movement for the independence of the Republic of Panama, declare or have declared, before the municipal council of the district in which they reside, their intention to become Panamans. 1 French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 92: pp. 1038-1040. ART. 7. Panaman nationality is lost: 1. By taking out naturalization papers in a foreign country and acquiring a domicile therein. 2. By accepting employment or honors from another government without the permission of the President of the Republic. 3. By refusing to indorse the movement for the independence of the nation, if the one who does so was born in Panama. 4. By engaging in the service of a hostile nation. Nationality can only be recovered through rehabilitation by the National Assembly. ART. 8. It is the duty of all Panamans to serve the nation as may be provided by law, and they as well as all foreigners residing within the territory of the Republic must submit to the Constitution and the laws, and respect and obey the authorities. ART. 9. Foreigners shall enjoy in Panama the same rights as are granted to Panamans by the laws of the nation to which the foreigners belong, unless something to the contrary has been stipulated in public treaties, or, in the absence thereof, by the provisions of the law. ART. 10. Naturalized or domiciled foreigners shall not be bound to take up arms against the land of their birth. ART. 11. All Panamans over 21 years of age are citizens of the Republic. ART. 12. Citizenship consists in the right of voting in the elections of public officers and in the capacity to hold public offices with authority and jurisdiction. ART. 13. Citizenship, once acquired, is only lost: 1. As a penalty in accordance with the law, but rehabilitation may be obtained through the National Assembly. 2. By loss of the Panaman nationality, according to the national Constitution. ART. 14. Citizenship is suspended: 1. By criminal prosecution, as soon as the arrest of a citizen is ordered by the court. 2. By legal inability to freely administer property. 3. By habitual drunkenness. TITLE III-INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. ART. 15. The authorities of the Republic are constituted for the protection of all persons, whether residents or visitors, in their lives, honor and property, for the securing of reciprocal respect of all natural, constitutional and legal rights, and for the prevention and punishment of crime. ART. 16. Panamans and foreigners are equal before the law. There shall be no exemptions or personal privileges. ART. 17. Every person has the right to present respectful petitions to the authorities, on matters of public or private interest, and to receive a prompt reply. ART. 18. Public corporations legally authorized have the right to be recognized as juridical persons, and to perform, as such, civil acts and enjoy the guarantees set forth in this title, with the general limitations established by the laws for reasons of general welfare. ART. 19. There shall be no slaves in Panama. He who being a slave, sets foot in the territory of the Republic, shall be free. ART. 20. All the inhabitants of the Republic have the right to assemble peacefully and unarmed, and to form associations for all the legitimate purposes of life. ART. 21. Every person shall be free to travel within the boundaries of the Republic and change residence, without the necessity of a permit, passport or other similar requisite, with the exceptions which the laws provide concerning the giving of security in land in judicial cases and concerning immigration. ART. 22. No one shall be tried or sentenced except by competent judges or courts, by virtue of the laws existing prior to the commission of the offense, and in the form established by these laws. Officials who exercise authority or jurisdiction may punish, nevertheless, for contempt, without previous trial, any one who may be insulting or disrespectful to them while discharging their duties; and military commanders and captains of vessels may inflict summary punishment in order to check insubordination, maintain order or repress crimes committed on board and away from port. ART. 23. No one shall be molested in his person or family, or be placed in prison or under arrest, or detained, or have his home searched, except by virtue of a warrant issued by competent authority, with the legal formalities and for reasons previously set forth in the laws. In no case shall there be detention, imprisonment, or arrest for debts or purely civil obligations, unless it is by judicial order for failure to give bond when required by law. Offenders caught in flagrante delicto may be arrested and taken before the judge by any person whatever. ART. 24. All persons detained or imprisoned without the legal formalities, or in violation of the Constitution or the laws, shall be set at liberty upon their own request or that of any other person. The law shall determine the form of this summary proceeding. ART. 25. No one is bound to testify in criminal matters against himself, or against his consort, or against any member of his family within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second of affinity. ART. 26. The profession of all religions is free, as is also the practice of all forms of worship, without any other restriction than |