Chapter II (1)
Article 100.
The Judicial power of the Supreme Court and the lower
National-Tribunals, shall extend to all cases arising under
this Constitution, the laws of the Nation with the reserve
made in clause 11 of Article 67, and by treaties with foreign
nations; to all cases affecting ambassadors, public Ministers
and foreign Consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Nation shall be
party; to controversies between two or more Provinces; between
a Province and the citizens of another; between the citizens
of different Provinces; and between a Province or its
citizens, against a foreign State or citizen.
Article 101.
In these cases the Supreme Court shall exercise an appelate
jurisdiction according to such rules and exceptions as
Congress may prescribe; but in all cases affecting
ambassadors, ministers and foreign consuls, or those in which
a Province shall be a party, it shall exercise original and
exclusive jurisdiction.
Article 102.
The trial of all ordinary crimes except in cases of
impeachment, shall terminate by jury, so soon as this
institution be established in the Republic. These trials shall
be held in the same Province where the crimes shall have been
committed, but when not committed within the frontiers of the
Nation, but against International Law, Congress shall
determine by a special law the place where the trial shall
take effect.
Article 103.
Treason against the Nation shall only consist in levying war
against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. Congress shall fix by a special law the punishment of
treason; but it cannot go beyond the person of the criminal,
and no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood to
relatives of any grade whatever.
Article 104.
The Provinces keep all the powers not delegated by this
Constitution to the Federal Government, and those which were
expressly reserved by special compacts at the time of their
incorporation.
Article 105.
They create their own local institutions and are governed by
these. They elect their own Governors, their Legislators and
other Provincial functionaries, without intervention from the
Federal Government.
Article 106.
Each Province shall make its own Constitution in conformity
with the dispositions of Article 5.
Article 107.
The Provinces with the consent of Congress can celebrate
contracts among themselves for the purposes of administering
justice and promoting economical interests and works of common
utility, and also, can pass protective laws for the purpose
with their own resources, of promoting manufactures,
immigration, the building of railways and canals, the peopling
of their lands, the introduction and establishment of new
industries, the import of foreign-capital and the exploration
of their rivers.
{518}
Article 108.
The Provinces cannot exercise any powers delegated to the
Nation. They cannot celebrate compacts of a political
character, nor make laws on commerce or internal or external
navigation; nor establish Provincial Custom-Houses, nor coin
money, nor establish Banks of emission, without authority of
Congress; nor make civil, commercial, penal or mining Codes
after Congress shall have sanctioned those provided for in
this Constitution; nor pass laws upon citizenship or
naturalization; bankruptcy, counterfeiting money or public
State-documents; nor lay tonnage dues; nor arm vessels of war
or raise armies, save in the case of foreign invasion, or of a
danger so imminent that it admits of no delay, and then an
account thereof must be immediately given to the Federal
Government; or name or receive foreign agents; or admit new
religious orders.
Article 109.
No Province can declare or make war to another Province. Its
complaints must be submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice
and be settled by it. Hostilities de facto are acts of
civil-war and qualified as seditious and tumultuous, which the
General Government must repress and suffocate according to
law.
Article 110.
The Provincial Governors are the natural agents of the Federal
Government to cause the fulfilment of the laws of the Nation.
See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1880-1891.
----------CONSTITUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE.
Introduced in 1867.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1866-1867, and 1866-1887.
CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1884.
CONSTITUTION OF BOLIVIA.
See PERU: A. D. 1825-1826, and 1826-1876.
----------End----------
CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL.
The following text of the Constitution of the United States of
Brazil, adopted February 24, 1891, is taken from a translation
published in Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau of American
Republics, Washington:
We, the representatives of the Brazilian people, united in
constitutional congress, to organize a free and democratic
regime, do establish, decree and promulgate the following
constitution of the Republic of the United States of Brazil:
Article 1.
The Brazilian nation, adopting as a form of government the
Federal Republic proclaimed November 15, 1889, constitutes
itself, by the perpetual and indissoluble union of its former
provinces, the United States of Brazil.
Article 2.
Each of the former provinces shall constitute a State, and the
former municipal district shall form the Federal District,
continuing to be the capital of the Union until the following
article shall be carried in to effect.
Article 3.
In the center there is allotted as the property of the Union a
zone of 14,400 square kilometres, which in due time shall be
laid off for the establishment of the future federal capital.
_Sole paragraph._--After the change of site of the
capital, the present Federal District shall constitute a
State.
Article 4.
The States shall have the right to incorporate themselves one
with another, sub-divide themselves, dismember themselves to
join with others or form new States, with the consent of the
respective local legislatures in two successive annual
sessions and the approval of the national Congress.
Article 5.
It shall be the duty of each State to provide, at its own
expense, for the necessities of its government and
administration; but the Union shall extend assistance to any
State which, in case of public calamity, shall demand it.
Article 6.
The Federal Government shall not interfere in matters
pertaining peculiarly to the States, save:
(1) To repel foreign invasion, or the invasion of one State by
another.
(2) To maintain the federative republican form of government.
(3) To reestablish order and tranquillity in the States at the
request of the respective governments.
(4) To assure the execution of the laws and federal decrees.
Article 7.
It is the exclusive prerogative of the Union to decree:
(1) Duties on imports from foreign countries.
(2) Duties of entry, departure, and stay of vessels; the
coasting trade for national articles being free of duties, as
well as for foreign merchandise that has already paid an
import duty.
(3) Stamp duties, save the restrictions imposed by article 9,
§1. No.1.
(4) Postal and federal telegraphic taxes.
§1. The Union alone shall have the power:
(1) To establish banks of emission.
(2) To create and maintain custom-houses.
§2. The taxes decreed by the Union shall be uniform for all
the States.
§3. The laws of the Union and the acts and decisions of its
authorities shall be executed throughout the country by
federal officials, except that the enforcement of the former
may be committed to the governments of the States, with the
consent of the said States.
Article 8.
The Federal Government is forbidden to make distinctions and
preferences in favor of the ports of any of the States against
those of others.
Article 9.
The States alone are competent to decree taxes:
(1) On the exportation of merchandise of their own production.
(2) On landed property.
(3) On the transmission of property.
(4) On industries and professions.
§ 1. The States also have the exclusive right to decree:
(1) Stamp duties on instruments emanating from their
respective governments and business of their internal economy.
(2) Contributions touching their own telegraphs and postal
service.
§ 2. The products of the other States are exempt from imposts
in the State whence they are exported.
§3. It is lawful for a State to levy duties on imports of
foreign goods only when intended for consumption in its own
territory; but it shall, in such case, cover into the federal
treasury the amount of duties collected.
§4. The right is reserved to the States of establishing
telegraph lines between the different points of their own
territory, and between these and those of other States not
served by federal lines; but the Union may take possession of
them when the general welfare shall require.
{519}
Article 10.
The several States are prohibited from taxing the federal
property or revenue, or anything in the service of the Union,
and vice versa.
Article 11.
It is forbidden to the States, as well as to the Unions:
(1) To impose duties on the products of the other States, or
of foreign countries, in transit through the territory of any
State, or from one State to another, as also on the vehicles,
whether by land or water, by which they are transported.
(2) To establish, aid, or embarrass the exercise of religious
worship.
(3) To enact ex post facto laws.
Article 12.
In addition to the sources of revenue set forth in articles 7
and 9, it shall be lawful for the Union, as well as for the
States, cumulatively or otherwise, to create any others
whatsoever which may not be in contravention of the terms of
articles 7, 9, and 11, § 1.
Article 13.
The right or the Union and of the States to legislate in
regard to railways and navigation of internal waters shall be
regulated by federal law. _Sole paragraph_.--The
coastwise trade shall be carried on in national vessels.
Article 14.
The land and naval forces are permanent national institutions,
intended for the defense of the country from foreign attack
and the maintenance of the laws of the land. Within the limits
of the law, the armed forces are from their nature held to
obedience, each rank to its superior, and bound to support all
constitutional institutions.
Article 15.
The legislative, executive, and judicial powers are organs of
the national sovereignty, harmonious and independent among
themselves.
Article 16.
The legislative power is vested in the national Congress, with
the sanction of the President of the Republic.
§ 1. The national Congress is composed of two branches, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
§ 2. The elections for senators and for deputies shall be held
simultaneously throughout the country.
§ 3. No person shall be senator and deputy at the same time.
Article 17.
The Congress shall assemble in the federal capital on the 3d
day of May of each year, unless some other day shall be fixed
by law, without being convoked, and shall continue in session
4 months from the date of the opening, and may be prorogued,
adjourned, or convoked in extraordinary session.
§ 1. The Congress alone shall have the power to deliberate on
the prorogation or extension of its session.
§ 2. Each legislature shall last for 3 years.
§ 3. The governor of any State in which there shall be a
vacancy in the representation, including the case of
resignation, shall order a new election to be held at once.
Article 18.
The Chamber and the Senate shall hold their sessions apart and
in public, unless otherwise resolved by a majority vote, and
shall deliberate only when, in each of the chambers, there
shall be present an absolute majority of its members. _Sole
paragraph_.--To each of the chambers shall belong the right
to verify and recognize the powers of its members, to choose
its own presiding officers, to organize its internal
government, to regulate the service of its own police rules,
and to choose its own secretaries.
Article 19.
The deputies and senators can not be held to account for their
opinions, expressions, and votes in the discharge of their
mandate.
Article 20.
Deputies and senators, from the time of receiving their
certificate of election until a new election, can not be
arrested or proceeded against criminally without the
permission of their respective chambers, except in the case of
a flagrant crime, in which bail is inadmissible. In such case,
the prosecution being carried to exclusive decision, the
prosecuting authority shall send the court records to the
respective chamber for its decision on the prosecution of the
charge, unless the accused shall prefer immediate judgment.
Article 21.
The members of the two chambers, on taking their seats, shall
take a formal obligation, in public session, to perform their
duties faithfully.
Article 22.
During the sessions the senators and deputies shall receive an
equal pecuniary salary and mileage, which shall be fixed by
Congress at the end of each session for the following one.
Article 23.
No member of the Congress, from the time of his election, can
make contracts with the executive power or receive from it any
paid commission or employment.
§ 1. Exceptions to this prohibition are:
(1) Diplomatic missions.
(2) Commissions or military commands.
(3) Advancement in rank and legal promotion.
§ 2.
No deputy or senator, however, can accept an appointment for
any mission, commission, or command mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2
of the preceding paragraph, without the consent of the chamber
to which he belongs, when such acceptance would prevent the
exercise of his legislative duties, except in case of war or
such as involve the honor or integrity of the nation.
Article 24.
No deputy or senator can be president or form part of a
directory of any bank, company, or enterprise which enjoys the
favors of the Federal Government defined in and by law.
_Sole paragraph._--Nonobservance of the provisions of the
foregoing article by any deputy or senator shall involve the
loss of his seat.
Article 25.
The legislative commission shall be incompatible with the
exercise of any other functions during the sessions.
Article 26.
The conditions for eligibility to the national Congress are:
(1) To be in possession of the rights of Brazilian citizenship
and to be registered as a voter.
(2) For the Chamber, to have been for more than 4 years a
Brazilian citizen; and for the Senate, for more than 6 years.
This provision does not include those citizens referred to in
No.4, article 69.
Article 27.
The Congress shall by special legislation declare the cases of
electoral incompetency.
Article 28.
The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the
representatives of the people, elected by the States and the
Federal District by direct suffrage, the representation of the
minority being guarantied.
§ 1. The number of the deputies shall be fixed by law in such
a way as not to exceed one for each 70,000 inhabitants, and
that there shall not be less than four for each State.
§ 2. To this end the Federal Government shall at once order a
census to be taken of the population of the Republic, which
shall be revised every 10 years.
Article 29.
To the Chamber belongs the initiative in the adjournment of
the legislative sessions and in all legislation in regard to
taxation, to the determination of the size of the army and
navy, in the discussion of propositions from the executive
power, and in the decision to proceed or not in charges
against the President of the Republic under the terms of
article 53, and against the ministers of state in crimes
connected with those of the said President.
{520}
Article 30.
The Senate shall be composed of citizens eligible under the
terms of article 26 and more than 35 years of age, to the
number of three senators for each State and three for the
Federal District, chosen in the same manner as the deputies.
Article 31.
The mandate of a senator shall continue for 9 years, and
one-third of the Senate shall be renewed every 3 years.
_Sole paragraph_.--A senator elected in place of another
shall exercise his mandate during the remainder of
the term of the latter.
Article 32.
The Vice President of the Republic shall be the president of
the Senate, where he shall vote only in case of tie, and shall
be replaced in case of absence or impediment by the vice
president of that body.
Article 33.
The Senate alone shall have the power to try and sentence the
President of the Republic and the other federal officers
designated by the constitution, under the conditions and in
the manner which it prescribes.
§ 1. The Senate, when sitting as a tribunal of justice, shall
be presided over by the president of the federal supreme
court.
§ 2. It shall not pass sentence of condemnation unless
two-thirds of its members be present.
§ 3. It shall not impose other penalties than the loss of
office and prohibition from holding any other, without
prejudice to the action of ordinary justice against the
condemned.
Article 34.
The national Congress shall have exclusive power:
(1) To estimate the revenue, and fix the expenditures of the
Federal Government annually, and take account of the receipts
and expenditures of each financial budget.
(2) To authorize the executive to contract loans and make
other operations of credit.
(3) To legislate in regard to the public debt and furnish
means for its payment.
(4) To control the collection and disposition of the national
revenue.
(5) To regulate international commerce, as well as that of the
States with each other and with the Federal District; to
establish and regulate the collection of customs duties in the
ports, create or abolish warehouses of deposit.
(6) To legislate in regard to navigation of rivers running
through more than one State, or through foreign territory.
(7) To determine the weight, value, inscription, type, and
denomination of the currency.
(8) To create banks of emission, legislate in regard to this
emission and to tax it.
(9) To fix the standard of weights and measures.
(10) To determine definitely the boundaries of the States
between each other, those of the Federal District, and those
of the national territory with the adjoining nations.
(11) To authorize the Government to declare war, if there be
no recourse to arbitration or in case of failure of this, and
to make peace.
(12) To decide definitively in regard to treaties and
conventions with foreign nations.
(13) To remove the capital of the Union.
(14) To extend aid to the States in the case referred to in
article 5.
(15) To legislate in regard to federal postal and telegraph
service.
(16) To adopt the necessary measures for the protection of the
frontiers.
(17) To fix every year the number of the land and naval
forces.
(18) To make laws for the organization of the army and navy.
(19) To grant or refuse to foreign forces passage through the
territory of the country to carry on military operations.
(20) To mobilize and make use of the national guard or local
militia in the cases designated by the Constitution.
(21) To declare a state of siege at one or more points in the
national territory, in the emergency of an attack by foreign
forces, or internal disturbance, and to approve or suspend the
state of siege proclaimed by the executive power or its
responsible agents in the absence of the Congress.
(22) To regulate the conditions and methods of elections for
federal offices throughout the country.
(23) To legislate upon the civil, criminal, and commercial
laws and legal procedures of the federal judiciary.
(24) To establish uniform naturalization laws.
(25) To create and abolish federal public offices, to fix the
duties of the same, and designate their salaries.
(26) To organize the federal judiciary according to the terms
of article 55 and the succeeding, section 3.
(27) To grant amnesty.
(28) To commute and pardon penalties imposed upon federal
officers for offenses arising from their responsibility.
(29) To make laws regarding Government lands and mines.
(30) To legislate in regard to the municipal organization of
the Federal District, as well as to the police, the superior
instruction and other services which in the capital may be
reserved for the Government of the Union.
(31) To govern by special legislation those points of the
territory of the Republic needed for the establishment of
arsenals, other establishments or institutions for federal
uses.
(32) To settle cases of extradition between the States.
(33) To enact such laws and resolutions as may be necessary
for the exercise of the powers belonging to the Union.
(34) To enact the organic laws necessary for the complete
execution of the requirements of the Constitution.
(35) To prorogue and adjourn its own sessions.
Article 35.
It shall belong likewise to the Congress, but not exclusively:
(1) To watch over the Constitution and the laws, and provide
for necessities of a federal character.
(2) To promote in the country the development of literature,
the arts, and sciences, together with immigration,
agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, without privileges
such as would obstruct the action of the local governments.
(3) To create institutions of higher instruction and of high
school education in the States.
(4) To provide for high school instruction in the Federal
District.
Article 36.
Save the exceptions named in article 27, all bills may
originate, indifferently, in the Chamber or in the Senate, and
may be introduced by any of their members.
Article 37.
A bill, after being passed in one of the chambers, shall be
submitted to the other, and, if the latter shall approve the
same, it shall send it to the executive, who, if he approve
it, shall sanction and promulgate it.
§ 1. If, however, the President of the Republic shall consider
it unconstitutional, or contrary to the good of the nation, he
shall refuse his sanction to the same within 10 working days,
counted from that on which he received it (the bill), and
shall return it, within the same period, to the chamber in
which it originated, with his reasons for his refusal.
§ 2. The failure of the executive to signify his disapproval
within the above-named 10 days shall be considered as an
approval, and in case his sanction be refused after the close
of the session of the Congress, the President shall make
public his reasons therefor.
{521}
§ 3. The bill sent back to the chamber where it originated
shall be discussed and voted upon by call of names, and shall
be considered as passed if it obtain two-thirds of the votes
of the members present; and, in this case, it shall be sent to
the other chamber, whence, if it receive the same majority, it
shall return, as a law, to the executive to be formally
promulgated.
§ 4. The sanction and promulgation shall be effected in the
following forms:
(1) "The national Congress enacts and I sanction the following
law (or resolution)."
(2) "The national Congress enacts and I promulgate the
following law (or resolution)."
Article 38.
If the law be not promulgated by the President of the Republic
within 48 hours, in the cases provided for in §§ 2 and 3 of
the preceding article, the president of the Senate, or the
vice president, if the former shall not do so in the same
space of time, shall promulgate it, making use of the
following formula: "I, president (or vice president) of the
Senate, make known to whomsoever these presents may come, that
the national Congress enacts and promulgates the following law
(or resolution)."
Article. 39.
A bill from one chamber, amended in the other, shall return to
the former, which, if it accept the amendments, shall send it,
changed to conform with the same, to the executive.
§ 1. In the contrary case, it shall go back to the amending
chamber, where the alterations shall be considered as
approved, if they receive the vote of two-thirds of the
members present; in the latter case, the bill shall return to
the chamber where it originated, and there the amendments can
be rejected only by a two-thirds vote.
§ 2. If the alterations be rejected by such vote, the bill
shall be submitted without them to the approval of the
executive.
Article 40.
Bills finally rejected or not approved, shall not be presented
again in the same legislative session.
Article 41.
The executive power shall be exercised by the President of the
United States of Brazil, as elective chief of the nation.
§ 1. The Vice President, elected simultaneously with the
President, shall serve in place of the latter in case of
impediment and succeed him in case of vacancy in the
Presidency.
§ 2. In case of impediment or vacancy in the Vice Presidency,
the following officers, in the order named, shall be called to
the Presidency: The vice president of the Senate, the
president of the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the
federal supreme court.
§ 3. The following are the conditions of eligibility to the
Presidency or Vice Presidency of the Republic:
(1) Must be a native of Brazil.
(2) Must be in the exercise of political rights.
(3) Must be more than 35 years of age.
Article 42.
In case of vacancy from any cause in the Presidency or Vice
Presidency before the expiration of the first 2 years of the
Presidential term, a new election shall be held.
Article 43.
The President shall hold his office during 4 years, and is not
eligible for reelection for the next succeeding term.
§ 1. The Vice President who shall fill the Presidency during
the last year of the Presidential term shall not be eligible
to the Presidency for the next term of that office.
§ 2. On the same day on which his Presidential term shall
cease the President shall, without fail, cease to exercise the
functions of his office, and the newly elected President shall
at once succeed him.
§ 3. If the latter should be hindered or should fail to do so,
the succession shall be effected in accordance with §§ 1 and 2
of article 41.
§ 4. The first Presidential term shall expire on the 15th of
November, 1894.
Article 44.
On taking possession of his office, the President, in a
session of the Congress, or, if it be not assembled, before
the federal supreme court, shall pronounce the following
affirmation: "I promise to maintain the federal Constitution
and comply with its provisions with perfect loyalty, to
promote the general welfare of the Republic, to observe its
laws, and support the union, integrity, and independence of
the nation."
Article 45.
The President and Vice President shall not leave the national
territory without the permission of the Congress, under
penalty of loss of office.
Article 46.
The President and Vice President shall receive the salary
fixed by the Congress in the preceding Presidential term.
Article 47.
The President and Vice President shall be chosen by direct
suffrage of the nation and an absolute majority of the votes.
§ 1. The election shall take place on the first day of March
in the last year of the Presidential term, and the counting of
the votes cast at the different precincts shall at once be
made in the respective capitals of the States and in the
federal capital. The Congress shall make the count at its
first session of the same year, with any number of members
present.
§ 2. If none of those voted for shall have received an
absolute majority, the Congress shall elect, by a majority of
votes of those present, one of the two who, in the direct
election, shall have received the highest number of votes. In
case of a tie the older shall be considered elected.
§ 3. The manner of the election and of the counting of the
votes shall be regulated by ordinary legislation.
§ 4. The relatives, both by consanguinity and by marriage, in
the first and second degrees, of the President and Vice
President shall be ineligible for the offices of President and
Vice President, provided the said officials are in office at
the time of the election or have left the office even 6 months
before.
Article 48.
To the President of the Republic shall belong the exclusive
right to--
(1) Sanction, promulgate, and make public the laws and
resolutions of the Congress; issue decrees, instructions, and
regulations for their faithful execution.
(2) Choose and dismiss at will the cabinet officers.
(3) Exercise or appoint some one to exercise supreme command
over the land and naval forces of the United States of Brazil,
as well as over the local police, when called to arms for the
internal or external defense of the Union.
(4) Govern and distribute, under the laws of the Congress,
according to the necessities of the National Government, the
land and naval forces.
(5) Dispose of the offices, both military and civil, of a
federal character, with the exceptions specified in the
Constitution.
(6) Pardon crimes and commute penalties for offenses subject
to federal jurisdiction, save in the cases mentioned in
article 34, No. 28, and article 52, § 2.
(7) Declare war and make peace, under the provisions of
article 34, No. 11.
(8) Declare war at once in case of foreign invasion or
aggression.
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(9) Give an annual statement to the national Congress of the
condition of the country, with a recommendation
of pressing provisions and reforms, through a message,
which he shall send to the secretary of the Senate on the day
of the opening of the legislative session.
(10) Convoke the Congress in extra session.
(11) Appoint the federal judges when proposed by the supreme
court.
(12) Appoint the members of the federal supreme court and
ministers of the diplomatic corps, with the approval of the
senate; and, in the absence of the Congress, appoint them in
commission until considered by the senate.
(13) Appoint the other members of the diplomatic corps and
consular agents.
(14) Maintain relations with foreign states.
(15) Declare, directly, or through his responsible agents, a
state of siege at any point of the national territory, in case
of foreign aggression or serious internal disturbance.
(Article 6, No.3; article 34, No. 21; and article 80.)
(16) Set on foot international negotiations, celebrate
agreements, conventions, and treaties, always ad referendum to
the Congress, and approve those made by the States in
conformity with article 65, submitting them when necessary to
the authority of the Congress.
Article 49.
The President of the Republic shall be assisted by the
ministers of state (cabinet officers), agents of his
confidence, who sign the acts and preside over their
respective departments into which the federal administration
is divided.
Article 50.
The cabinet ministers shall not exercise any other employment
or function of a public nature, be eligible to the Presidency
or Vice Presidency of the Union, or be elected deputy or
senator. _Sole paragraph._--Any deputy or senator, who
shall accept the position of cabinet minister, shall lose his
seat in the respective chamber, and a new election shall at
once be held, in which he shall not be voted for.
Article 51.
The cabinet ministers shall not appear at the sessions of the
Congress, and shall communicate with that body in writing only
or by personal conference with the committees of the chambers.
The annual report of the ministers shall be addressed to the
President of the Republic, and distributed to all the members
of the Congress.
Article 52.
The cabinet ministers shall not be responsible to the Congress
or to the courts for advice given to the President of the
Republic.
§ 1. They shall be responsible, nevertheless, with respect to
their acts, for crimes defined in the law.
§ 2. For common crimes and those for which they are
responsible they shall be prosecuted and tried by the federal
supreme court, and for those committed jointly with the
President of the Republic, by the authority competent to judge
this latter.
Article 53.
The President of the United States of Brazil shall be brought
to trial and judgment, after the Chamber of Deputies shall
have decided that he should be tried on the charges made
against him, in the federal supreme court, in the case of
common crimes, and in those of responsibility, in the Senate.
_Sole paragraph_.--As soon as it shall be decided to try
him on the charges brought, the President shall be suspended
in the exercise of the duties of his office.
Article 54.
Crimes of responsibility on the part of the President of the
Republic are such as are directed against--
(1) The political existence of the Union.
(2) The Constitution and the form of the Federal Government.
(3) The free exercise of the political powers.
(4) The legal enjoyment and exercise of political or
individual rights.
(5) The internal security of the country.
(6) The purity of the administration.
(7) The constitutional keeping and use of the public funds.
(8) The financial legislation enacted by the Congress.
§ 1. These offenses shall be defined in a special law.
§ 2. Another law shall provide for the charges, the trial, and
the judgment.
§ 3. Both these laws shall be enacted in the first session of
the first Congress.
Article 55.
The judicial power of the Union shall be lodged in a federal
supreme court, sitting in the capital of the Republic, and as
many inferior federal courts and tribunals, distributed
through the country, as the Congress shall create.
Article 56.
The federal supreme court shall be composed of fifteen
justices, appointed under the provisions of article 48, No.
12, from among the oldest thirty citizens of well-known
knowledge and reputation who may be eligible to the Senate.
Article 57.
The federal justices shall hold office for life, being
removable solely by judicial sentence.
§ 1. Their salaries shall be fixed by law of the Congress, and
can not be diminished.
§ 2. The Senate shall try the members of the federal supreme
court for crimes of responsibility, and this latter the lower
federal judges.
Article 58.
The federal courts shall choose their presidents from among
their own members, and shall organize their respective
clerical corps.
§ 1. In these corps the appointment and dismissal of the
respective clerks, as well as the filling of the judicial
offices in the respective judicial districts, shall belong to
the presidents of the respective courts.
§ 2. The President of the Republic shall appoint from among
the members of the federal supreme court the attorney-general
of the Republic, whose duties shall be defined by law.
Article 59.
To the federal supreme court shall belong the duty of--
(1) Trying and judging by original and exclusive
jurisdiction--
(a) The President of the Republic for common crimes, and the
cabinet ministers in the cases specified in article 52.
(b) The ministers of the diplomatic corps for common crimes
and those of responsibility.
(c) Cases and disputes between the States and the Union, or
between the States one with another.
(d) Disputes and claims between foreign states and the Union,
or between foreign nations and the States.
(e) Conflicts between the federal courts one with another, or
between these and those of the States, as well as those
between the courts of one State and those of another.
(2) Deciding, on appeal, questions pronounced upon by the
lower federal courts and tribunals, as well as those mentioned
in § 1 of the present article and in article 60.
(3) Reviewing the proceedings of finished trials, under the
provisions of article 81.
§ 1. Decisions of State courts in last appeal can be carried
to the federal supreme court--
(a) When the validity or application of the federal laws or
treaties is called in question and the decision of the State
court shall be against the same.
(b) When the validity of laws or acts of the governments of
the States in respect to the Constitution or of the federal
laws is contested and the State court shall have decided in
favor of the validity of the acts or laws in question.
§ 2. In the cases which involve the application of the laws of
the States, the federal court shall consult the jurisprudence
of the local tribunals, and vice versa, the State court shall
consider that of the federal tribunals when the interpretation
of the laws of the Union is involved.
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Article 60.
It shall belong to the federal courts to decide--
(a) Cases in which the plaintiff or the defendant shall rest
the case on some provision of the federal Constitution.
(b) All suits brought against the Government of the Union or
the national treasury based on constitutional provisions, on
the laws and regulations of the executive power, or on
contracts made with the said Government.
(c) Suits arising from compensations, claims, indemnification
of damages, or any others whatsoever brought by the Government
of the Union against private individuals, and vice versa.
(d) Litigations between a State and the citizens of another,
or between citizens of different States having differences in
their laws.
(e) Suits between foreign states and Brazilian citizens.
(f) Actions begun by foreigners, and based either on contracts
with the Federal Government or on conventions or treaties of
the Union with other nations.
(g) Questions of maritime law and navigation, whether on the
sea or on the rivers and lakes of the country.
(h) Questions of international law, whether criminal or civil.
(i) Political crimes.
§ 1. Congress is forbidden to commit any part of the federal
jurisdiction to the State courts.
§ 2. Sentences and orders of the federal judges will be
executed by federal court officers, and the local police shall
assist them when called upon by the same.
Article 61.
The decisions of the State courts or tribunals in matters
within their competence shall put an end to the suits and
questions, except as to
(1) habeas corpus, or
(2) effects of a foreigner deceased in cases not provided for
by convention or treaty. In such cases there shall be
voluntary recourse to the federal supreme court.
Article 62.
The State courts shall not have the power to intervene in
questions submitted to the federal tribunals, or to annul,
alter, or suspend the sentences or orders of these latter;
and, reciprocally, the federal judiciary can not interfere in
questions submitted to the State courts, or annul, alter, or
suspend their decisions or orders, except in the cases
provided in this Constitution.
Article 63.
Each State shall be governed by the constitution and laws
which it shall adopt, respect being observed for the
constitutional principles of the Union.
Article 64.
The unexplored mines and wild lands lying within the States
shall belong to these States respectively; and to the Union
only as much territory as may be necessary for the defense of
the frontiers, for fortifications, military works, and federal
railways. _Sole paragraph_.--The national properties,
not necessary for the service of the Union, shall pass to the
domain of the States in whose territory they may be situated.
Article 65.
The States shall have the right to--
(1) Conclude agreements and conventions among themselves, if
such be not of a political character. (Article 48, No. 16.)
(2) Exercise in general any and every power or right not
denied expressly by the Constitution, or implicitly in its
express terms.
Article 66.
It is forbidden to the States to--
(1) Refuse to recognize public documents of the Union, or of
any of the States, of a legislative, administrative, or
judicial character.
(2) Reject the currency or notes issued by banks, which
circulate by act of the Federal Government.
(3) Make or declare war, one with another, or make reprisals.
(4) Refuse the extradition of criminals demanded by the
justice of other States, or of the Federal District, in
conformity with the laws of Congress which relate to this
subject. (Article 41, No. 32.)
Article 67.
Save the restrictions specified in the Constitution, and the
federal laws, the Federal District shall be governed directly
by the municipal authorities. _Sole paragraph_.--Expenses
of a local character in the capital of the Republic must be
provided for exclusively by the municipal authorities.
Article 68.
The States shall organize themselves in such a manner as to
assure the autonomy of the municipalities in everything that
concerns their peculiar interests.
Article 69.
The following shall be Brazilian citizens:
(1) Natives of Brazil, though of foreign parentage (father),
provided he be not in the service of his nation.
(2) Sons of a Brazilian father, and illegitimate sons of a
Brazilian mother, born in foreign parts, if they take up their
residence (domicile) in the republic.
(3) Sons of a Brazilian father who may be in another country
in the service of the Republic, although they do not make
their domicile in Brazil.
(4) Foreigners, who, being in Brazil on the 15th of November,
1889, shall not declare, within 6 months from the time when
the Constitution enters into force, their desire to preserve
their original nationality.
(5) Foreigners who possess property (real estate) in Brazil
and are married to Brazilian women, or have Brazilian
children, provided they reside in Brazil, unless they shall
declare their intention of not changing their nationality.
(6) Foreigners naturalized in any other way.
Article 70.
Citizens of more than 21 years of age, and registered
according to law, shall be electors.
§ 1. The following shall not be registered as electors for
federal or State elections:
(1) Beggars.
(2) Persons ignorant of the alphabet.
(3) Soldiers on pay, except alumni of the military schools of
higher instruction.
(4) Members of monastic orders, companies, congregations, or
communities of whatsoever denomination, who are subject to
vows of obedience, rule, or statute, which implies the
surrender of individual liberty.
§ 2. Citizens who can not be registered shall not be eligible.
Article 71.
The rights of the Brazilian citizen can be suspended or lost
only in the following cases:
§ 1. The rights may be suspended--
(a) For physical or moral incapacity.
(b) For criminal conviction, during the operation of the
sentence.
§ 2. They may be lost--
(a) By naturalization in a foreign country.
(b) By acceptance of employment or pension from a foreign
power, without permission of the federal executive.
§ 3. The means of reacquiring lost rights of the Brazilian
citizen shall be specified by federal law.
Article 72.
The Constitution secures to Brazilians and foreigners residing
in the country the inviolability of their rights touching
individual liberty, and security, and property, in the
following terms:
§ 1. No person shall be forced to do, or leave undone,
anything whatever, except by virtue of law.
§ 2. Before the law all persons are equal. The Republic does
not recognize privileges of birth, or titles of nobility, and
abolishes all existing honorary orders, with all their
prerogatives and decorations, as well as all hereditary and
conciliar titles.
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§ 3. All persons and religious professions may exercise,
publicly and freely, the right of worship, and may associate
themselves for that purpose, acquire property, observance
being had to the provisions of the common law.
§ 4. The Republic recognizes only the civil marriage, the
celebration of which shall be gratuitous.
§ 5. The cemeteries shall be secular in character, and be
managed by the municipal authorities, being free to all
religious sects for the exercise of their respective rites as
regards their members, provided they do not offend public
morals or the laws.
§ 6. The instruction given in the public institutions shall be
secular.
§ 7. No sect or church shall receive official aid, nor be
dependent on, nor connected with, the Government of the Union,
or of the States.
§ 8. All persons have the right of free association and
assembly, without arms; and the police force shall not
intervene, except to maintain the public order.
§ 9. Any person whatsoever shall have the right to address, by
petition, the public powers, denounce abuses of the
authorities, and appeal to the responsibility of the accused.
§ 10. In time of peace any person may, without passport, enter
or leave the territory of the Republic, with his fortune and
goods, whenever and however he may choose.
§ 11. The house is the inviolable asylum of the person; no one
can enter it at night without the consent of the inhabitant,
except to aid the victims of a crime or disaster; nor by day,
unless in the cases and in the form prescribed by law.
§ 12. The expression of opinion shall be free, in respect to
whatever subject, through the press or through the tribune,
without subjection to censorship, each one being responsible
for the abuses he may commit, in the cases and in the form
prescribed by law. Anonymous publications are forbidden.
§ 13. Cases of flagrante delicto alone excepted, no arrest
shall be made, unless after declaration of the charge (save in
cases determined by law), and by written order of the
competent authorities.
§ 14. No person shall be kept in prison without charge
formally made, save the exceptions mentioned in the law, or
taken to prison, or detained there, if he give bail, in cases
where such is lawful.
§ 15. No person shall be condemned, except by competent
authority, and in virtue of law already existing and in the
form prescribed by it.
§ 16. The law shall secure to the accused the fullest defense
by all the recourses and means essential to the same,
including the notice of the charge, delivered to the prisoner
within 24 hours and signed by the proper authority along with
the names of the accusers and witnesses.
§ 17. The rights of property are maintained in all their
plenitude, and no disappropriation shall be made, except from
necessity or public utility, and indemnity shall, in such
cases, be made beforehand. Mines belong to the owners of the
soil, under the limitations to be established by the law to
encourage the development of this branch of industry.
§ 18. Correspondence under seal is inviolable.
§ 19. No penalty shall extend beyond the person of the
delinquent.
§ 20. The penalty of the galleys is abolished, as also
judicial banishment.
§ 21. The death penalty is abolished, except in the cases
under military law in time of war.
§ 22. The habeas corpus shall always be granted when the
individual suffers violence or compulsion, through illegality
or abuse of power, or considers himself in imminent danger of
the same.
§ 23. There shall be no privileged tribunal, except in such
cases as, from their nature, belong to special courts.
§ 24. The free exercise of any profession, moral,
intellectual, or industrial, is guarantied.
§ 25. Industrial inventions belong to their authors, to whom
the law will grant a temporary privilege, or to whom the
Congress will give a reasonable premium, when it is desirable
to make the invention public property.
§ 26. To authors of literary and artistic works is guarantied
the exclusive right of reproducing them through the press or
by any other mechanical process, and their heirs shall enjoy
the same right during the space of time determined by the law.
§ 27. The law shall also secure the rights of property in
trade-marks.
§ 28. No Brazilian can be deprived of his civil and political
rights on account of religious belief or duty, nor be exempted
from the performance of any civic duty.
§ 29. Those who shall claim exemption from any burden imposed
by the laws of the Republic on its citizens, on account of
religious belief, or who shall accept any foreign decoration
or title of nobility, shall lose all their political rights.
§ 30. No tax of any kind shall be collected except in virtue
of a law authorizing the same.
§ 31. The institution of trial by jury is maintained.
Article 73.
Public offices, civil or military, are accessible to all
Brazilian citizens, always observing the conditions of
particular capacity fixed by the law; but the accumulation of
remunerations is forbidden.
Article 74.
Commissions, offices, and positions not subject to removal are
guarantied in all their plenitude.
Article 75.
Only such public officials as have become infirm in the
service of the nation shall be retired on pay.
Article 76.
Officers of the army and navy shall lose their commissions
only in case of condemnation to more than 2 years in prison,
pronounced in judgment by the competent tribunals.
Article 77.
There shall be a special court for the trial of military
offenses committed by soldiers or marines.
§ 1. This court shall be composed of a supreme military
tribunal, whose members shall hold their seats for life, and
of the councils necessary for the formulation of the charge
and the judgment of the crimes.
§ 2. The organization and powers of the supreme military
tribunal shall be determined by law.
Article 78.
The enumeration of the rights and guaranties expressed in the
Constitution does not exclude other guaranties and rights, not
enumerated, but resulting from the form of government
established and principles settled by said Constitution.
Article 79.
The citizen vested with the functions of either of these three
federal powers shall not exercise those of another.
Article 80.
Any part of the territory of the Union may be declared in
state of siege, and the constitutional guaranties suspended
for a determined period, whenever the security of the Republic
so demands in case of foreign aggression or intestine
disturbance. (Article 34, No. 21.)
§ 1. The power to execute the above provision may, if the
Congress be not in session and the country be in imminent
peril, be used by the federal executive. (Article 48, No. 15.)
§ 2. In the exercise of this power, during the state of siege,
the executive shall be restricted to the following
measures of repression against persons:
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(1) To their detention in a place not allotted to persons
accused of common crimes.
(2) To banishment to other parts of the national territory.
§ 3. As soon as the Congress shall have assembled, the
President of the Republic shall make a report to that body of
the exceptional measures which may have been taken.
§ 4. The authorities who shall have ordered such measures
shall be responsible for any abuses that may have been
committed.
Article 81.
In criminal cases, trials concluded may be reviewed at any
time, in favor of the condemned parties, by the federal
supreme court, for the purpose of correcting or of confirming
the sentence.
§ 1. The law shall determine the cases and the form of such
revision, which may be asked for by the condemned, by anyone
of the people, or by the attorney-general of the Republic, ex
officio.
§ 2. In such revision the penalties imposed by the sentence
reviewed can not be increased.
§ 3. The provisions of the present article are applicable to
military trials.
Article 82.
Public officers shall be strictly responsible for the abuses
and omissions that occur in the exercise of the duties of
their offices, as well as for the indulgences and negligences
for which they do not hold their subordinates responsible.
_Sole paragraph_.--They shall all be bound by formal
obligation, on taking possession of their offices, to
discharge the lawful duties of the same.
Article 83.
Until revoked, the laws of the ancien regime shall remain in
force, in as far as they are not, explicitly or implicitly,
contrary to the system of government established by the
Constitution, and to the principles laid down in the same.
Article 84.
The federal government guaranties the payment of the public
debt, both internal and foreign.
Article 85.
The officers of the line and of the annexed classes of the
navy shall have the same commissions and advantage as those of
the army of corresponding rank.
Article 86.
Every Brazilian shall be bound to military service in defense
of the country and the Constitution, as provided by the
federal laws.
Article 87.
The federal army shall be made up of contingents which the
states and the Federal District are bound to furnish,
constituted in conformity with the annual law regulating the
number of the forces.
§ 1. The general organization of the army shall be determined
by a federal law, in accordance with No. 18 of article 34.
§ 2. The Union shall have charge of the military instruction
of the troops and of the higher military instruction.
§ 3. Compulsory recruiting for military purposes is abolished.
§ 4. The army and navy shall be made up by volunteering
without bounties, or, if this means be not sufficient, by lot
previously determined. The crews for the navy shall be made up
from the naval school, the schools of marine apprentices, and
the merchant marine, by means of lot.
Article 88.
In no case, either directly or indirectly, alone or in
alliance with another nation, shall the United States of
Brazil engage in a war of conquest.
Article 89.
A tribunal of accounts shall be instituted for the auditing of
the receipt and expense accounts and examining into their
legality before their presentation to the Congress. The
members of this tribunal shall be appointed by the President
of the Republic, with the approval of the Senate, and can lose
their seats only by sentence.
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