NOTE.-Until the Court of Appeal has been constituted, a Commission, chosen in equal numbers from the members of the two houses, shall act instead of the Court of Appeal. ART. 70. The decision as to the offense and the punishment of ministers when accused by the National Assembly or the Senate, or when, in the affairs of their departments, accusations concerning them personally are made against them, will be in accordance with a special law. THE POWERS OF THE TRIBUNALS. ART 71. The Supreme Court of Justice and the judicial tribunals are the official centers to which all suits must be referred, and judgment in matters appertaining to the Sheri rests with the fully qualified mujtahids. ART. 72. Suits relating to political rights concern the judicial tribunals, save those which are excepted by law. ART. 73. The choice of judicial tribunals in cases appertaining to the civil law is decided by law, and no person may, on whatsoever plea, institute a tribunal contrary to the decrees of law. ART. 74. No tribunal can be instituted except by law. ART. 75. In the whole Kingdom only one Court of Appeal for cases relating to the civil law will be instituted, and that will be in the capital. This High Court of Appeal will not try any case of the first instance, except in cases relating to ministers. ART. 76. The sittings of all tribunals shall be public, save in cases where such publicity would be prejudicial to order or decency, in which case the necessity will be announced by the tribunal. ART. 77. In cases of political and press offenses, should it be desirable that the trial be secret, it must only be by the unanimous consent of all the members of the tribunal. ART. 78. The judgments delivered by the tribunals must cite the articles of the laws by which the judgments are governed, and these must be read publicly. ART. 79. In cases of political and press offenses, the whole body of the judges shall be present. ART. 80. The presidents and the members of judicial tribunals shall be chosen in the manner decreed by the Law of the Ministry of Justice, and shall be appointed by virtue of a royal decree. ART. 81. No judge of a judicial tribunal may be suspended, either temporarily or permanently, without a trial or proof of offense, unless he himself resigns. ART. 82. No judge of a judicial tribunal can be transferred from his post except by his own consent. ART. 83. The choice of the public prosecutor, with the approval of the Chief Sheri Judge, rests with the King. ART. 84. The salaries of the staff of judicial tribunals shall be fixed by law. ART. 85. The presidents of judicial tribunals may not accept salaried government posts, but may only render such services gratis, should they not be contrary to law. ART. 86. In every provincial capital a court of appeal for judicial cases shall be instituted in the manner defined by the regulations of the Ministry of Justice. ART. 87. Military tribunals shall be instituted in the whole country according to a special law. ART. 88. The judgment of disputes relating to the limitations of government of departments and offices shall, in accordance, with the decrees of law, be referred to the High Court of Appeal. ART. 89. The Supreme Court of Justice and other tribunals will only put into execution decrees, general regulations and regulations of provincial and municipal councils, when they are in accordance with the law. PROVINCIAL AND DEPARTMENTAL ASSEMBLIES. ART. 90. Provincial and departmental assemblies shall be established in all the provinces of the kingdom in accordance with special regulations, and the fundamental laws of these assemblies shall be as follows. ART. 91. The members of the provincial and departmental assemblies shall be elected directly by the people in accordance with the regulations governing provincial and departmental assemblies. ART. 92. The provincial and departmental assemblies have the power of complete supervision in matters concerning the public weal, with due observance of the laws which have been decreed. ART. 93. A statement of every kind of revenue and expenditure of the provinces and departments shall be printed and published by the provincial and departmental assemblies. FINANCES. · ART. 94. No taxes may be levied except by law. ART. 95. All exemptions from taxation shall be decreed by law. ART. 96. The budget shall be approved and defined every year by a vote of the majority of the members of the National Assembly. ART. 97. There shall be no differentiation or favor among individuals regarding taxation. ART. 98. Rebates and exemption from taxation shall be defined by a special law. ART. 99. Except in cases specially defined by law, nothing shall be demanded from the people on any pretext whatever, except in the name of State, provincial or municipal taxes. ART. 100. No salaries or gratuities will be paid out of the government treasury except those which are decreed by law. ART. 101. The members of the State Accounts Department shall be chosen by the National Assembly for a period to be decreed by law. ART. 102. The State Accounts Department is charged to inspect and analyze the accounts of the Department of Finance and to elucidate the accounts of the Treasury Accountants in general, and especially to see that no item of expenditure allowed for the budget exceed the estimate and that there be no alteration or change, and that every sum has been expended in the manner designated. It is also charged with the verification and analysis of the different accounts of the government departments in general, and shall collect the vouchers of expenditure. A statement of the general accounts of the Kingdom must be supplied by it to the National Assembly, accompanied by observations. ART. 103. The institution and organization for this State Department shall be in accordance with the law. ARMY. The ART. 104. The enrolling of troops shall be fixed by law. duties and rights of the army, as well as promotion, shall be in accordance with law. ART. 105. The military expenditure shall be approved by the National Assembly every year. ART. 106. No foreign troops shall be allowed to serve the government, and they shall not be allowed either to reside in any part of the country or to pass through or into the country except in accordance with law. ART. 107. The pay or rank or decoration of soldiers or officers may not be withdrawn except in accordance with law.1 1 Here follow the attestation and signature of the Shah. PORTUGAL. The modern constitutional era in Portugal did not begin until 1820, when a revolutionary movement was inaugurated which finally forced the passage of the Constitutional Charter of 29 April 1826. Civil wars followed and the reestablishment of this Constitution became ephemeral, although many changes were necessary with each reestablishment, in order to make the Charter more in keeping with the democratic spirit prevailing. In this way the following constitutional documents 1 were accumulated: 1. The Constitutional Charter of 29 April 1826. 2. The Additional Act of 5 July 1852. 3. The Organic Law of 3 May 1878 on the House of Peers. 5. The Law of 3 April 1896. These laws remained in force for many years, although dictatorships were established at frequent intervals. The institution of a republican form of government brought about the present Constitution which dates from 20 August 1911.2 CONSTITUTION OF 21 AUGUST 1911.3 TITLE I. THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE TERRITORY OF THE PORTUGUESE NATION. ARTICLE 1. The Portuguese nation, constituted as a unitary State, adopts the Republic as the form of government, in the terms of this Constitution. ART. 2. The territory of the Portuguese nation is that existing at the date of the proclamation of the Republic. §. The nation does not renounce the rights which it has or may hereafter acquire to any other territory. 1 French translation of these documents in F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. 1, pp. 714-752. German translation of the first three documents in PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 761-782. English translation of the third and fourth document in the British and Foreign State Papers, 76: pp. 219-222 and 587-590, respectively. 2 These introductory paragraphs are based upon DARESTE, op. cit., pp. 712–714. 'Translation reprinted from the British and Foreign State Papers, 105: pp. 766-781. TITLE II.-INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES. ART. 3. The Constitution guarantees to Portuguese and foreigners resident in the country the inviolability of their rights with regard to liberty, personal security and property, in the following terms: 1. No one can be forced to do anything, or to desist from doing anything, except by virtue of a law. 2. The law is equal for all, but only that which has been promulgated in the terms of this Constitution is binding. 3. The Portuguese Republic does not admit privileges of birth or prerogatives of nobility, and abolishes all titles of nobility and of councilorship, as also all orders of merit and all their rights and privileges. Civil deeds and military acts may be rewarded by special diplomas. No Portuguese citizen may accept a foreign decoration. 4. Liberty of conscience and of creed is inviolable. 5. The State recognizes the political and civil equality of all creeds, and guarantees their exercise within the limits compatible with public order, the laws and good customs, so long as they do not infringe the principles of Portuguese public right. 6. No one can be persecuted on religious grounds, nor questioned by any authority with regard to the religion professed. 7. No one can, on the ground of religious opinions, be deprived of any right or be exempted from the performance of a civic duty. 8. The public observance of any religion is free in the buildings chosen or destined for the purpose by the followers of that religion, and the buildings can always have the exterior form of a church; but, in the interests of public order and of the liberty and safety of citizens, a special law shall lay down the conditions of its observance. 9. Public cemeteries shall have a secular character, the exercise of the respective rites being free to all religions as regards their followers, so long as they do not offend public morals, the principles of Portuguese public right and the law. 10. Teaching in public and private establishments under government control shall be neutral as regards religion. 11. Primary elementary education shall be obligatory and gratuitous. 12. The legislation in force which abolished and dissolved in Portugal the Society of Jesus, the societies therein affiliated, of whatever denomination, and all religious congregations and monastic orders is maintained, and they shall never be admitted in Portuguese territory. 13. The expression of thought in any form whatever is completely free, and not dependent upon the previous giving of security, submission to censure or the obtaining of previous authorization, |