Chapter VIII: Alteration of the Constitution

128. This Constitution shall not be altered except in the
following manner:—The proposed law for the alteration thereof
must be passed by an absolute majority of each House of the
Parliament, and not less than two nor more than six months
after its passage through both Houses the proposed law shall
be submitted in each State to the electors qualified to vote
for the election of members of the House of Representatives.
But if either House passes any such proposed law by an
absolute majority, and the other House rejects or fails to
pass it or passes it with any amendment to which the first
mentioned House will not agree, and if after an interval of
three months the first-mentioned House in the same or the next
session again passes the proposed law by an absolute majority
with or without any amendment which has been made or agreed to
by the other House, and such other House rejects or fails to
pass it or passes it with any amendment to which the
first-mentioned House will not agree, the Governor-General may
submit the proposed law as last proposed by the
first-mentioned House, and either with or without any
amendments subsequently agreed to by both Houses, to the
electors in each State qualified to vote for the election of
the House of Representatives. When a proposed law is submitted
to the electors the vote shall be taken in such manner as the
Parliament prescribes. But until the qualification of electors
of members of the House of Representatives becomes uniform
throughout the Commonwealth, only one-half the electors voting
for and against the proposed law shall be counted in any State
in which adult suffrage prevails. And if in a majority of the
States a majority of the electors voting approve the proposed
law, and if a majority of all the electors voting also approve
the proposed law, it shall be presented to the
Governor-General for the Queen's assent. No alteration
diminishing the proportionate representation of any State in
either House of the Parliament, or the minimum number of
representatives of a State in the House of Representatives, or
increasing, diminishing, or otherwise altering the limits of
the State, or in any manner affecting the provisions of the
Constitution in relation thereto, shall become law unless the
majority of the electors voting in that State approve the
proposed law.

----------CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRALIA: End--------

CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRIA: Parliamentary reform of, 1896.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1895-1896.

CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM:
The working of its' electoral provisions.

See (in this volume)
BELGIUM: A. D. 1894-1895; and 1899-1900.

CONSTITUTION OF CUBA:
The grant of autonomous government by Spain in 1897.

See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1897 (NOVEMBER);
and 1897-1898 (NOVEMBER-FEBRUARY).

CONSTITUTION OF CUBA:
Outline of the draft reported to the Convention of 1900-1901.

See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).

CONSTITUTION OF DELAWARE, New.

See (in this volume)
DELAWARE: A. D. 1897.

CONSTITUTION OF IDAHO:
Adoption of Woman Suffrage.

See (in this volume)
IDAHO: A. D. 1896.

CONSTITUTION OF LOUISIANA:
Its discriminating educational qualification.

See (in this volume)
LOUISIANA: A. D. 1898.

CONSTITUTION OF MEXICO: Amendments.

The text of the constitution of Mexico, as published in 1891,
will be found in volume 1 [page 558] of this work, under the
same heading as above. In 1896, the Constitution received two
amendments promulgated by decrees published in the "Diario
Official" on the 24th of April and the 1st of May in that
year. Translations of these decrees were transmitted to the
State Department at Washington by the United States Minister
to Mexico and published in U. S. Consular Reports, July, 1896,
from which source they are copied below. That of April 24 was
as follows:

The Congress of the United Mexican States, in the exercise of
the power which article 127 of the federal constitution
concedes to it, and with the previous approbation of the
majority of the legislatures of the States, declares articles
79, 80, 82, and 83 of the constitution to be amended and an
addition to article 72 of the same, in the following tenor:

ARTICLE. 72. Congress has power:

XXXI. To appoint, both houses of Congress being assembled for
such purpose, a President of the Republic, either with the
character of substitute or with that of ad interim, to act in
the absolute or temporary defaults of the constitutional
President. Likewise, to replace in the respective cases and in
equal form the substitute as well as the ad interim, if these
in their turn should default.

XXXII. To qualify and to decide upon the petition for leave of
absence that the President of the Republic may make. It is the
exclusive faculty of the House of Deputies—II. To qualify and
decide upon the resignations of the President of the Republic
and of the magistrates of the supreme court of justice.

{165}

ARTICLE 79.

I. In the absolute defaults of the President, excepting that
arising from resignation, and in the temporary defaults,
excepting that proceeding from permission, the Secretary of
Foreign Relations, and in case there be none or if there
exists an impediment, the Secretary of Government shall take
immediate charge of the Executive power.

II. The Congress of the union shall assemble in an
extraordinary session the following day, in the Chamber of
Deputies, more than half of the total number of members of
both houses being present, the officers of the House of
Deputies acting. If no session can be had on account of no
quorum or for other cause, those present shall compel, from
day unto day, the presence of the absentees, in accordance
with the law, so as to hold the session as soon as possible.

III. In this session, the substitute President shall be
elected by the absolute majority of those present, and in a
nominal and public vote, without any proposition being
discussed therein nor anything else done but to take in the
votes, publish them, and make a close examination and publish
the name of the one elected.

IV. If no one of the candidates should have received the
absolute majority of the votes, the election shall be repeated
as to the two who had the greater number of votes, and the one
receiving the majority will be elected. If the competitors
should have received an equal number of votes, and on a
repetition of the election an equal result shall be obtained,
then the drawing of lots shall decide the one who must be
elected.

V. If there be an equality of votes for more than two
candidates, the election as to which of these shall be made,
but if at tho same time there is another candidate who may
have obtained a majority of votes, he shall be considered as
first competitor, and the second shall be chosen by votes out
of the first mentioned.

VI. If Congress be not in session, it shall meet, without the
necessity of a convocation, on the fourteenth day following
that of the default, under the direction of the board of
permanent commission which may be in duty, and shall proceed
as already stated.

VII. In case of absolute default caused by the renouncement of
the President, Congress shall convene in the form set forth
for the appointment of the substitute, and the resignation
shall not take effect until the appointment of the substitute
and of the legal protest by him.

VIII. In relation to temporary defaults, from whatever cause,
Congress shall appoint an ad interim President, observing for
this purpose the same procedure as prescribed for the cases of
absolute default. Should the President ask for leave of absence,
he will, at the time of so doing, propose the citizen who must
take his place; the permission being granted, it will not take
effect until the ad interim (president) shall have protested,
it being within the President's faculty to make use or not of
said leave, or to lessen its duration. The ad interim shall
only exercise the functions during the time of temporary
default. The petition for permission shall be addressed to the
House of Deputies, who shall at once deliver it to the proper
commission for its perusal, at the same time summoning the
Senate for an extraordinary session of Congress, before which
the commission shall render its decision. The proposition with
which the decision may end, if favorable, shall comprise in a
decree of a sole article the granting of the permission and
the approval of the proposition, which shall be decided upon
only by one ballot.

IX. If, on the day appointed by the constitution, the people's
President-elect shall not enter into the discharge of his
office, Congress shall at once appoint an ad interim
President. If the cause of the impediment be transitory, the
ad interim shall cease in the Presidential functions when said
cause ceases and the President-elect enters into the discharge
of his functions. But, should the cause be of that kind that
produces absolute impossibility, so that the President-elect
cannot enter into the exercise of power during the four years,
Congress, after appointing the ad interim President, shall,
without delay, convoke the extraordinary elections. The ad
interim President shall cease in his functions as soon as the
new President-elect protests, and this shall complete the
constitutional period. Should the impediment arise from the
fact that the election be not made or published on the 1st of
December, a President ad interim shall also be appointed, who
will discharge the Presidential duties until those requisites
are complied with and the President-elect takes due protest.

X. The defaults of the substitute President and those of the
ad interim shall also be remedied in the manner prescribed,
except in regard to the second, in the case when the
constitutional President, who, having temporarily separated
himself, may again assume the exercise of his duties.

ARTICLE 80.
Should the default of the President be absolute, the
substitute appointed by Congress shall terminate the
constitutional period.

ARTICLE 82.
The President, upon taking possession of his office, shall
swear before Congress under the following formula:

"I protest to perform loyally and patriotically the functions
of President of the United Mexican States; to keep and cause
to be kept, without any reserve, the constitution of 1857,
with all its additions and reforms, the laws of reform, and
all those laws emanating therefrom, watching everything for
the good and prosperity of the union." The Secretary of
Department, who may take provisional charge of the Executive
power, in its case, is exempted from this requisite.

The decree of May 1, 1896, was as follows:

The Congress of the Union has decreed the following: The
General Congress of the United Mexican States, in conformity
with the provisions of article 127 of the federal
constitution, and with the previous approbation of the State
legislatures, declares articles 111 and 124 of said
constitution amended and an addition made to same in the
following terms:

First.