Constitution of Greece (1927)

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Constitution of Greece (1911)

Constitution of Greece (1927)
Government of Greece

Constitution of Greece (1952)

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Source: Civil Affairs Handbook: Greece: Government and administration.

3963530Constitution of Greece1927Government of Greece

Chapter I. RELIGION AND CHURCH

Article 1: The religion of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ shall be the predominant religion in Greece.; The Orthodox Church of Greece is indissolubly united in dogmas with the Great Church of Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ professing the same doctrines, observing invariably, as that Church does, the holy, apostolic and synodal canons and the holy traditions. It is self-governed, exercising its sovereign rights independently of every other Church, and is administered by a Holy Synod of Archbishops. The ministers of all religions shall be subjected to the same superintendence on the part of the State as the clergy of the predominant religion.; Freedom of religious conscience shall be inviolable.; The rituals of every known cult are exercised freely under the protection of the laws, compatible with public order and good morals. Proselytism is forbidden.; The text of the Holy Scriptures shall be preserved unalterable. Its version into another glossical form is absolutely forbidden without the previous consent of the church.^[1]

Chapter II. FORM AND FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

Article 2: The Greek State is a Democratic Republic. All powers emanate from the nation, exist for its sake, and are exercised in the manner established by the Constitution.

Article 3: The Legislative power is exercised by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Article 4: The Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic through the responsible Ministers.

Article 5: The Judicial power is exercised by independent Courts and subject only to the laws.^[2]; The judgments shall be issued and executed in the name of the Greek Republic.

Chapter III. PUBLIC LAW OF THE HELLENES

Article 6: All Greeks are equal before the laws and contribute without distinction, in proportion to their wealth, to the burdens of the state. Greek citizens alone are admissible to public employment, with such exceptions as may be established by special laws for particular cases.; No one may be appointed public officer in a position not established by legislation.; Citizens are those who have acquired or may acquire the qualifications of a citizen in accordance with the laws of the State. Titles of nobility or distinction, and decorations, except the war medals, may neither be conferred to Greek citizens or recognized.^[3]

Article 7: All individuals living within the limits of the Greek Commonwealth shall enjoy absolute protection of life and liberty without regard to nationality, religion, and language. Exceptions to this principle may be made in such circumstances compatible with International Law.

Article 8: No crime shall exist or penalty be inflicted except by virtue of a law in force before the act was committed. Heavier penalty may never be inflicted after perpetration of the act.

Article 9: No person shall be removed against his will from the jurisdiction of the Judge assigned to him by law.

Article 10: Personal liberty is inviolable; no one may be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned, expelled, removed or otherwise restrained, except in cases provided for by law and in the form therein prescribed.

Article 11: Except when taken in the act of committing an offense (flagrante delicto), no one can be arrested or imprisoned without a warrant accompanied by a statement of the reasons therefor and issued by a Magistrate, which ought to be shown at the moment of the arrest or imprisonment.; Persons taken in custody, either in the act of committing an offense or by virtue of a warrant of arrest, shall be carried before the competent Examining judge without any delay, and, at the latest, within twenty-four hours thereafter, and if the arrest took place outside the Examining Judge's seat, within the time absolutely necessary for his transportation.; Within forty-eight hours, at the utmost, from the conveyance of the arrested, the Examining Judge must either release the arrested or deliver a warrant for his imprisonment.; This term may be extended to five days by virtue of a petition on the part of the conveyed, or on the strength of a "force majeure", which must be immediately ascertained by a verdict of the competent Court Council.; Upon the expiration of either one of these terms extended, every warden or any other entrusted with the detention of the person arrested, whether civil or military officer, must release him instantly.; Violators of the foregoing provisions shall be punished, being also liable to "ex officio" prosecution, for unlawful detention and shall be held responsible for restitution of every damage sustained by the imprisoned, and moreover, for his compensation with a monetary own, which shall be fixed by the judges, at their discretion, but which may never be less than ten metallic (gold) drachmas for each day of the detention.; Special laws shall proscribe the conditions, under which indemnity on the part of the State may be awarded to the unlawfully imprisoned or condemned.; Imprisonment may not be extended beyond the limits prescribed by the Law.^[4]

Article 12: In the case of political crimes, it shall always be within the power of the Criminal Court Council to grant a release of the person arrested, upon his petition and under bail to be determined by Court decree, against which an appeal by the defendant is allowed. The detention for such crimes can never be prolonged beyond a period of three months.

Article 13: Greeks have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms; the police only at the public assemblies may be present. Assemblies in the open air may be forbidden, if, on account of them, there is danger to the public safety, in the manner which the law shall prescribe.

Article 14: Greeks have the right to form associations conformably to the laws of the State, which, however, can never subject this privilege to the previous authorization of the Government. An association cannot be dissolved for the reason of violating the provisions of laws, except by Court decision.

Article 15: The right of dwelling is inviolable.; No search or entrance to premises shall take place, except in cases provided for by law and in the form therein prescribed.; Violators of these provisions shall be punished for abuse of authority, and shall be held responsible of complete indemnification of the one who suffered the damage, and, moreover, of his compensation by a monetary sum which shall be determined by the Court, at their discretion, but which shall never be less than one hundred metallic (gold) drachmas.

Article 16: Every person may express, by word, in writing, and through the press, his opinions conformably to the laws of the State. The press is free. Censorship as well as every preventive measure shall be prohibited. Exceptionally, preventive measures may be taken for the Kinematograph (moving pictures) for protection of the youth. Seizure of newspapers and other printed communications, either before or after the publication, is likewise prohibited. Exceptionally, the seizure after publication is permitted in the case of insult to the Christian religion, and, in the cases provided for by law, for obscene publications obviously offending the common decency; but in such a case the public prosecutor must submit the matter to the Court Council within twenty-four hours from the attachment, and the latter shall decide whether the seizure will be maintained or withdrawn, for, otherwise, the seizure shall be "ipso facto" canceled. Appeal against the Decree is allowed only to the publisher of the seized article.; It is permitted that particular measures may be taken by law for suppression of literature offending the public morals and for protection of the youth from inappropriate public spectacles and performances.; The publication of news or communications regarding military movements or works of fortifications of the Commonwealth may be forbidden upon threat of seizure and criminal prosecution, as a law shall prescribe. In case of seizure the foregoing provisions shall apply.; The editor of the newspaper, as well as the author of the obscene publication which refers to private life, besides the penalty provided for by the criminal law, shall be held responsible severally and jointly for a complete restitution of every damage sustained in result of the publication, and compensation of the damaged by a monetary sum which shall be determined by the judge, at his discretion, but which shall never be less than two hundred metallic drachmas.; Only to Greek citizens is permitted the edition of newspapers.; Press offenses shall not be deemed as "flagrante delicto" offenses.

Article 17: Tortures and general confiscation are forbidden. Total deprivation of civil rights (attainer) shall not be established. Capital punishment for political crimes shall not, likewise, be imposed, except in the case of the composite political crimes, on which it may be inflicted, if the ordinary crime, which is connected with the political one, draws, by itself, the capital punishment.^[5]

Article 18: The secrecy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, is absolutely inviolable.

Article 19: No one may be deprived of his private property, except only for a public use, properly ascertained, in pursuance of the forms of law and in consideration of an adequate and previously determined compensation. The indemnity shall always be determined by the Courts of Record. In case of pressing necessity, the compensation nay temporarily be defined by the Court following the hearing or the summoning of the owner, who may be compelled by the Judge, at his discretion, to give an analogous guarantee in the manner which the law shall prescribe. Before deposition is made of the finally or provisionally determined guarantee, all rights of the proprietor shall be maintained integral and no trespassing thereof shall be permitted.; Special laws shall regulate the questions relating to the ownership and disposal of mines, excavations, archaeological treasures, medicinal, flowing, and subterranean waters.; Likewise, special law shall regulate the questions relating to requisitions for the needs of the Army and the Navy in case of war or mobilization, or for remedy of an urgent social emergency which may endanger the public order or sanity.^[6]

Article 20: Alteration of the contents or the conditions of a will or donation shall not be permitted with respect to the provisions in favor of the public Treasury or of a purpose of general utility.; In exception, it may be permitted by law to dispose of the bequest or the donation for another similar purpose, in case the fulfillment of the testator's or the donator's intentions is rendered absolutely impossible.

Article 21: Art, science, and the teaching thereof are free and under the protection of the State, which participates in fostering them.

Article 22: Labor, intellectual as well as physical, is under the protection of the state, which shall take systematical care of the moral and material advancement of the working classes, urban and rural.

Article 23: Public instruction is under the supreme control of the State, and is exercised at the expense of the State or at the expense of the organisms of local self-government.; Elementary education is universally obligatory and furnished gratuitously by the state. The law shalt prescribe the years of the compulsory attendance at the elementary schools, which may not be less than six. The law may, likewise, constitute compulsory attendance at the continuation schools of the elementary education until the 18th year of age.; Individuals and legal persons may establish private schools operating conformably to the Constitution and the Laws of the State.^[7]

Article 24: Marriage as the foundation of family life and of the maintenance and increase of the nation, is under the special protection of the State.; Families with numerous children have a claim to a special care.

Article 25: Each or several persons together have the right, observing the laws of the state, to petition in writing the Authorities, who are obliged to take quick action and answer in writing to the applicant conformably to the provisions of the law. Only after the final decision of the Authority to which the petition is addressed, and upon its permission, the petitioner may be prosecuted for violations therein contained.

Article 26: No previous authorization of an administrative authority is required to bring action against public and municipal officers for criminal acts committed in the exercise of their functions, except as provided, especially, for Ministers.

Article 27: No oath shall be imposed without a new law prescribing also its form.

Chapter IV. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

Article 28: Proposals for legislation may originate with the Cabinet, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.^[8]; The authoritative interpretation of the laws belongs to the legislative power.

Article 29: Every proposal for legislation, being made by the Cabinet and involving expenditure or reduction of revenue of the Budget, must be accompanied by a statement indicating the means of its defraying, which must be signed by the competent Minister and the Minister of Finance.; No proposal relating to an increase of public expenses for the establishment of salary or pension, or, in general, for any individual interest, may be originated with the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate.^[9]

Article 30: Proposal for legislation, made to the Chamber of Deputies and adopted, shall be sent to the Senate, which shall take action upon it within forty days from its receipt.; Should the Senate take no action within forty days, an agreement between the Senate and the Chamber is thereby presumed.; If the Senate, either tacitly or after debate, agree with the Chamber, the bill shall become a law.; If the Senate reject or amend the proposal, same shall be referred to the Chamber. Should the Chamber adhere to its previous decision, action on the bill shall be postponed for a term of two months, at which time the bill becomes a law provided it shall have received the absolute majority of the total number of deputies. A final action, however, may be taken before the expiration of the term of two months in a joint sitting of the two Bodies, which the Senate may provoke by a resolution taken by an absolute majority of the total number of its members.; The two Bodies convene especially for this purpose, at the earliest time, into the Hall of the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 31: Proposal for legislation, made to the Senate and adopted, shall be sent to the Chamber of Deputies and, if the latter agree with the Senate, the bill shall become a law of the State; but should the Chamber amend the bill, it shall refer the bill to the Senate and the procedure prescribed in Article 30 shall then be resumed, as if the bill had been presented to the Chamber from the beginning. Should, finally, the Chamber amend it, the provision prescribed in article 33 shall apply.

Article 32: In the event of prorogation of the Legislative Bodies, the terms of articles 30 and 40 shall be at suspense.; In case of renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, action on a proposal for Legislation taken by the dissolved Chamber shall be deemed as not made provided that neither the Senate had taken definite action thereon before the dissolution of the Chamber.

Article 33: Proposals for legislation adopted by the one of the Legislative Bodies, but finally rejected, may be presented again in the next regular Session only as new bills.

Article 34: The State Budget shall first be submitted to the Chamber.; After its approval it shall be sent to the Senate, which shall take action within one month. Should the Senate take no action within one month, an agreement with the Chamber is thereby presumed to exist. In case of disagreement, the Budget is referred to the Chamber, which shall take definite action thereon by the ordinary majority.; The same provisions shall apply to bills relating to the granting of appropriations of State funds and the construction of State loans.

Article 35: For furthering agreement upon legislative questions between the two Bodies, mixed Committees, composed of a proportionate number of Deputies and Senators, shall be formed, at the notion of either one of the two Bodies.; At the commencement of each Parliamentary term a permanent mixed Committee on the External Affairs shall be formed, which shall sit onto during the recess of the Legislative bodies and after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. The deliberations of this committee shall not be public, unless it, itself, decides by a majority vote of the two-thirds to hold a public session. In this Committee, which may be filled during the continuance of the Parliamentary term, shall, indispensably, participate all Deputies and Senators who have been prime Ministers.

Article 36: The Chamber is composed of Deputies elected, conformably to the law, by the citizens entitled thereto, through direct, universal, and secret suffrage. Elections for Deputies are ordered and held contemporaneously throughout the Commonwealth.; The number of Deputies in each Electoral district shall be established by law, in proportion to its population. Nevertheless, the total number of Deputies shall never be less than two hundred nor more than two hundred-fifty.; Vacancies occurring during the Parliamentary term shall be filled through supplementary election, unless otherwise provided for by the law.

Article 37: The Deputies represent the nation and not the electoral district alone in which they are elected.

Article 38: Deputies are elected for a period of four continuous years reckoned from the day of the general elections. Upon the expiration of the quadrennial term, general elections for Deputies shall be called within forty-five days; and within a period of one month from the elections the Chamber shall be summoned. Unless the number of vacancies exceeds one-fourth of the whole number of Deputies, no re-election for filling them shall be held within the last year of the Parliamentary term.

Article 39: To be eligible as Deputy, it is necessary to be a Greek citizen, to have completed twenty-five years of age, and to qualify as elector.; Deputy who may have been derived of these qualifications shall be "ipso facto" removed from the office of Deputy.; Should any contest arise over this subject, it is within the jurisdiction of the Chamber to decide.

Article 40: Civil officers under salary, military officers in active service, mayors and presidents of communities, notaries public and registrars (keepers of records and mortgages) may neither be elected Deputies, nor be nominated candidates, unless they had resigned before the nomination of candidates. Their resignation shall be effected through its submission in writing and their return to public service will be forbidden before the lapse of a period of six months from the elections. The salaried civil employees and the military officers may neither be elected Deputies nor be nominated candidates in the district in which they have served during the triennial period before the elections.; Officers of the army or the navy who have resigned from their rank in order to be elected deputies cannot return to the National Militia even by virtue of a law.; The duties of deputy shall be incompatible with the offices of the manager or of any other administrative representative or executive or legal counselor and employee of commercial associations or enterprises enjoying special privileges or regular subsidies granted by virtue of specific laws. Those belonging to any one of these categories must, within eight days from the sanction by the courts of their election, declare their choice between the office of deputy and the foregoing offices. Failing to make such statement, they shall be deposed "ipso facto" from the office of deputy.; The office of deputy may be constituted by law to be incompatible with other offices also.^[10]

Article 41: Deputies, who accent any one of the duties or offices stated in the previous article, shall be "ipso facto" deprived of the office of deputy.; The resignation from the office of deputy, being a privilege of the deputy, shall be deemed effective from the time of the submission of the written statement, in reference with his resignation, to the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 42

Deputies shall take, into the Parliament and in a public sitting, the following oath, before they assume the exercise of their functions:

"I swear to the name of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity to be faithful to the Country, obey the Democratic Constitution and the laws of the State, and to fulfill conscientiously my duties."

Deputies belonging to another creed, instead of the invocation "I swear to the name of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity," may swear in pursuance of the forms of their om religion.

Article 43: The investigation and verification of the deputy elections, against the validity of which there may have been presented objections, with regard either to electoral violations or to lack of qualifications, shall vest with the jurisdiction of a special tribunal, which shall be composed of members chosen by lot among all Justices of the Supreme Court (Areiopagos) and of the Courts of Appeal. The drawing of the lots shall be made by the Court of Areiopagos in a public session, and from the so drawed justices the one foregoing by rank or term of service shall preside over the special tribunal. For the rest, the questions relative to the function and the whole procedure of the special tribunal shall be regulated by law.

Article 44: The Chamber of Deputies shall elect, at the commencement of each ordinary Session, its Chairman, the Vice-Chairmen, and the Secretaries, from among its own members.; In order to proceed to this function, the presence of the eleven twentieths of the whole number of the deputies shall be required. The Chairman shall be elected by an absolute majority of the total number of Deputies. Should this majority not be arrived to, the balloting shall be repeated and then the four-fifths of the lowest limit of the quorum shall be sufficient.; The latter majority is sufficient for the election of the Vice-Chairmen and the Secretaries.

Article 45: The Chamber by its own Rules, same having the validity of a law, shall determine the manner, in which it is to exercise its powers, and shall regulate the questions relating to the personnel and the function of its Library.; The Rules shall be debated and voted to in two meetings, between which a period of, at least, two days must have elapsed.; The Budget of the Chamber shall be introduced and executed by its Chairman conformably to the Rules.^[11]

Article 46: The Chamber of Deputies shall meet annually in one regular Session by inherent right (ipso facto) on the fifteenth of October of each year, unless earlier summoned by the president of the Republic.; Each regular Session shall continue for a period not less than three months nor longer than six, herein not included the term of adjournment or the longer than eight days prorogation of the Chamber.

Article 47: The Chamber meets in public into the Parliament, but may, upon the demand of ten of its members, deliberate behind closed doors, if this is decided upon in a secret sitting by a majority vote, and following that, it shall be decided by a vote whether the deliberation shall be resumed in public upon the same subject.; The Chamber cannot pass a resolution without an absolute majority of the members present, which, however, may never be lower than then one-fourth of the total number of deputies.^[12]

Article 49: Every proposal for legislation shall necessarily be accompanied by a statement of the reasons thereof, and it shall be referred to a House Committee, and, following its examination by the Committee or the expiration of the term granted thereto, it shall be presented for discussion after an oral explanation by the competent Minister or by the spokesman of the Committee, in case no such explanation had been made at the time when the proposal was submitted.; Proposal for legislation entailing burden of the State Budget, if initiated by the Government, shall not be presented for discussion, unless accompanied by a statement of the Bureau of General Audit defining the expenditure involved, and if initiated by the Chamber, it shall be referred, before any deliberation thereupon, to the Bureau of General Audit, which shall be bound to submit the report relating to the expenditure involved within a period of ten days.; Proposals intending the amendment of laws regulating pensions or the establishment of pension, as well as acknowledgment of services entitling to such a privilege, shall be solely initiated by the Minister of Finance following an opinion of the Court of Control. Such proposals relating to pensions must be specific, as it shall not be permitted to insert provisions with relation to pensions into laws intending the regulation of other subjects.; No proposal for legislation shall be adopted unless discussed and voted on by the Chamber of Deputies twice and in two separate sessions, distant between themselves at least two days, in principle and article by article in the first, and in article by article and in the whole during the second session.; Should any amendment or modification be accepted at the second discussion of the proposal, the voting upon the whole shall be postponed for a period of twenty-four hours from the distribution of the amended bill.; No addition to a proposal for legislation or modification thereof shall be in order unless it is directly germane to the main subject which is contained in the draft-bill.; In exception, the voting by the Chamber in principle and in article by article following only one discussion may be permitted, if this had been requested by the initiator of the proposal before it was referred to the committee in accordance with the first paragraph of the present article, and so often as this Committee had granted this request of the initiator of the proposal, provided that no objection had been raised thereon, from the time that the proposal had been submitted until the deliberation is terminated, by, at least, twenty deputies.; By the Rules of the Senate it may be established that deliberation and passage of proposals shall be made by this Body in only one reading.; Proposal for legislation, intending the amendment of provisions of a previous law, shall not be presented for debate, unless the entire text of the provision under modification be set forth in the statement containing the reasons therefor, and the entire new proposal, in the form that it shall take after the modification, be inserted in the text of the draft-bill.; Adoption of judicial or Administrative Codes, which have been compiled by special Commissions, constituted by virtue of specific laws, may be made by a special law sanctioning them in bulk.; In like manner, codification of existing provisions may be made by a mere classification thereof, as well as revival of abolished laws, save those levying taxes.

Article 50: The State-Budget and the account of Expenditure, proposals levying taxes or relating to ratification of Treaties or contracts of any nature, the specific law provided for by Article 97, and proposals presented to the Legislative Bodies ad rejected by then during the expired Session, shall always be voted to as follows: the Budget and the Account of Expenditure conformably to Article 52, and the remaining proposals conformably to Article 49, par. 4.

Article 51: No tax shall be levied nor exacted except by law.; Exceptionally, in case an increase in the duties of import and export is imposed, its collection shall be imposed, unless otherwise provided for by the draft-bill, from the day that the proposal for legislation relative to this question had been deposited with the Bureau of the Chamber or the Senate. Laws containing such provisions must be promulgated, at the latest, within ten days from their passage.

Article 52: Within its ordinary Session, the Chamber shall approve the Budget for the fiscal year and shall enact the law of Accounts.; All receipts and expenses of the State must be recorded in the Budget and in the Account of Expenditure.; The Budget shall be presented to the Chamber within the first two months of the session, and, following its examination by a special Committee of Deputies, it shall be voted to by Chapters wd Articles divided to parts, which shall be determined by the Rules of the Chamber, and in four different days.; Within one year, at the latest, from the termination the fiscal year, its bill of Accounts shall be presented to the Chamber, and, following its examination by a special Committee of Deputies, it shall be approved by the Chamber in the manner established by the Rules.

Article 53: Salary, pension, allowance or reward shall neither be entered into the State Budget Law, nor granted, except by virtue of a organic or another specific law.

Article 54: No person shall have the right to appear self-invited before the Chamber to make statements verbally or in writing, but petitions shall be presented by a Deputy or shall be addressed to its Bureau. The Chamber shall have the right to refer the petitions, addressed to it, to ministers, who are bound to give explanations thereat whenever requested.

Article 55: At the commencement of each Session, the Chamber shall appoint special committees, from among its own members, in proportion to the parties, for examination and the additional perfection of proposals for legislation and of petitions submitted thereto. The Rules of the Chamber shall define the details of the establishment and function of these Committees.; The Chamber shall have the right, and, at the demand of the one-third of its whole membership in proportion to the number of the deputies belonging to each party for the examination of public affairs. In questions relative to the foreign policy, or to the defense of the country, the final decision of the Chamber shall be required.

Article 56: No deputy shall be prosecuted or in any other way be examined on account of opinion expressed or vote cast by him in the performance of his duties.; No Deputy, during the continuance of the Session, may be prosecuted, arrested, or imprisoned without prior authorization by the Body. Such authorization is not necessary for the "flagrante delicto" felonies. In such a case, however, the Chamber, being immediately informed, may give or

withhold authorization to continue the prosecution during the period of the Session.

Article 57: Deputies shall receive from the National Treasury compensation, which shall be always determined by law, and shall have the right of free transportation over the lines of communications by railroad, as well as by steamers flying under the Greek flag.; To the regular Chairman of the Chamber shall be allotted expenses of presentation, which shall be equal to the remuneration of the President of the Ministerial Council.

Article 58: No deputy may lease landed property belonging to the State, nor may he take up State provisions or enter into contracts with the Government for the execution of public works or the collection of the State taxes, or obtain concessions on the public domain. violation of the hereinabove provisions shall render, without fail, the act null and void.

Article 59: The Senate shall be composed of 120 members. Of those, the nine-twelfths, at least, shall be elected by the people, and the one-twelfth, at most, it shall be permitted to be chosen by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate assembled in a joint meeting at the commencement of each Parliamentary period. Senators shall be elected for nine years renewed every third year at the proportion of the one-third, but the office of those elected by the Chamber and the Senate shall be at the same duration with the Parliamentary term.; The manner and procedure of the election as well as the removal of every category of the total number of senators shall be determined by law.; Senators who are elected by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate must possess the particular qualifications which shall be established by law.

Article 60: To be elected Senator, one must have completed the 40th year of age, be a Greek citizen, and quality as elector.; Senators who may have been deprived of these qualifications shall "ipso facto" be removed from the office, and should any contest arise over this subject, it rests within the jurisdiction of the Senate to decide.; Senators shall receive the same allowance as the Deputies.

Article 61: The office of Senator and the office of Deputy shall not be permitted to co-exist in the same person.

Article 62: The Senate shall always hold its sittings concurrently with those of the Chamber of Deputies, and its Sessions shall be of equal duration with those of the Chamber, except in the cases when the Senate is sitting as a High Court of Justice, as then it may function to the absence of the Chamber of Deputies, but it cannot discharge, under such circumstances, other than judicial duties.

Article 63: The Senate meets in public in its own Building, but may, upon the request of five of its members, deliberate behind closed doors, if this is decided upon in a secret sitting by a majority vote, and following that secret session, it shall be decided by a vote whether the deliberation on the same subject shall be resumed in a public session.

Article 64: In addition to the cases provided for by articles 73 and 93, the Senate may be constituted into a Tribunal, following a resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, in order to try all persons accused of high treason, of treason of the country, or of any other act jeopardizing the safety and independence of the state. The procedure for the indictment, examination and Judgement shall be determined by a special statute.

Article 65: At the joint meetings of the Legislative Bodies, the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside, and the Rules of the Chamber shall be applicable.

Article 66: The provisions of Articles 27, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 54, 55 paragraph 1st, 56, 57 and 58 of the Constitution shall similarly apply to the Senate, the Senators, and the Chairman of the Senate.; In exception to the 1st paragraph of Article 40, the regular Professors of Universities and of the Polytechnic School shall be eligible to the three categories of article 59.

Chapter V. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Article 67: The President on the Republic shall be elected for a term of five years by the Chamber and the Senate assembled in a joint meeting, with the three-fifths, at least, of the members present, and by an absolute majority of the total effective membership of both of them.; The President of the Republic shall convoke the Houses for this purpose within the last three months of his term, and, in default of a summons, they, as inherent right, shall convene on the twentieth day prior to the expiration of the five years presidential term. Should no absolute majority be obtained, the ballot shall be resumed; and should no decision be reached to in the second ballot, as hereinabove provided, a third ballot shall take place between the two candidates who have received the highest number of votes at the second ballot, and then the one obtaining a plurality of votes shall be elected president.; The election of the same person for three consecutive presidential terms shall be forbidden.; The presidential term shall be reckoned to begin from the day when the new-elect President took the oath of office.

Article 68: Should the President of the Republic die, resign, or be unable on account of any cause to fulfill the duties of his office, he shall be substituted by the Chairman of the Senate.; In the event of death or resignation, the Chairman of the Senate, as replacing the President of the Republic, must, without any delay, convoke the Houses within forty days from the death or resignation for the choosing of a new President conformably to Article 67.; In the event of inability of the President to discharge the presidential functions, it this should continue more than two months, the Chairman of the Senate shall summon the Legislative Bodies in a joint session, in which they shall decide, by an absolute majority of the total of their effective membership, whether it is necessary to regard the Presidential office vacant, and, upon an affirmative decision, to elect a new President of the Republic. Should, in any of the foregoing circumstances, the Chamber of Deputies be dissolved or its term expired, the joint meeting of the Legislative Bodies shall take place after the election of the next Chamber of Deputies.; The pertinent questions of the President's absence abroad and of his substitution shall be determined by law.; The office of the President of the Republic shall be incompatible with those of the Deputy and the Senator.

Article 69: The President of the Republic shall take before the National Assembly the following oath: "I swear to the name of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity to observe the Democratic constitution and the laws enacted thereunder, to defend the national independence and integrity of the Greek State, and to dedicate all my powers to the fulfillment of my duties, always with an eye towards the welfare and the progress of the Greek people."

Article 70: The annual allowance to the President of the Republic shall be determined by law.

Article 71: The President of the Republic shall appoint and dismiss the President of the Council of Ministers, and at the latter's recommendation, the rest of the Ministers.

Article 72: No act of the President of the Republic shall be valid nor can it be executed, unless countersigned by the competent minister, who by that act alone assumes responsibility therefor.; In the event of change of the whole Council of Ministers, should its President not consent to countersign the Ordinances dismissing the old, and appointing the new Cabinet, these shall be signed by the Premier-designate of the new Government at the time when he, after having been appointed by the President of the Republic, shall take the oath.; For every failure of the President of the Republic with respect to the execution of his obligations, which are prescribed in the Constitution, responsibility rests with the Government as well as for his political declarations.

Article 73: The President of the Republic shall not be held responsible for acts done in the exercise of his duties. He may solely be held responsible, in case he should be found guilty of high treason, of willful violation of the Constitution and the criminal (Penal) laws by the Senate which, constituted into a special tribunal, shall try him. The proposal to bring such an impeachment and arraignment for trial shall be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, and it must be signed by the one-third and be adopted by a majority of the two-thirds of the whole number of Deputies.

Article 74: The President of the Republic shall summon the Council of Ministers to conference into his Palace whenever be deems it necessary, and in such a case he shall preside over it.

Article 75: The President of the Republic shall promulgate and order the publication of the laws passed by the Legislature within two months from their enactment.

Article 76: The President of the Republic shall issue ordinances necessary to carry out the laws; but he may never suspend the operation, nor expect somebody from the execution, of the law.

Article 77: The President of the Republic may also proceed to the promulgation of Legislative Decrees by virtue of special legislative authority delegated by the Houses for the time of their recess, within the limitations set thereby and always following a consenting opinion of special mixed commissions composed of Deputies and Senators. In order that resolutions may be taken by those Commissions, the presence of, at least, the one-half plus one of their members shall be necessary, as well as majority which must necessarily embody the two-fifths of their effective membership.; The foregoing Legislative Decrees shall be submitted to the Houses, as soon as they shall resume their sessions, for sanction, which shall be granted by a passage in only one reading in principle and article by article. Should this sanction not be granted by both or, at least, by the Chamber of Deputies within four months from the resumption of the sessions by the Chamber and the Senate, the legislative decrees shall be rendered null and void henceforth. Should the senate take no action within the hereinabove stated four months term, it shall be deemed to have sanctioned the Legislative Decrees. But should it reject them, the provisions of article 30 shall apply, and the validity of the Legislative Decrees in question shall be prolonged for a period of four Months.

Article 78: The President of the Republic shall convoke the Chamber and the Senate once a year in ordinary Session and in extraordinary Sessions as often as he deems it necessary. He must summon them, however, if the one-half, at least, of the Deputies or the Senators shall demand it during the term intermediate between two Sessions. He shall proclaim by Ordinance the opening and the closing of each Session, and communicates with the Houses through Messages, which shall be read by the President of the Council of ministers.

Article 79: The President of the Republic may dissolve the Chamber of deputies before the expiration of its term following a consenting resolution by the Senate, which must be taken at his motion and by an absolute majority of its members. Deliberation upon the said proposition must be terminated and decision thereupon must be taken within three, at most, days from its submission. Should the Senate take no action within this term, the proposal shall be considered as rejected.; No dissolution of two consecutive Chambers shall be permitted for the same cause.; The Chamber may, likewise, be dissolved upon its own resolution taken by an absolute majority of its members.; The Decree for the dissolution of the Chamber shall always be countersigned by the Council of Ministers, and must contain, at the same time, the provision of summoning the electors within forty days, and that of the re-assembling of the Chamber within one month from the elections.

Article 80: The President of the Republic has the right to adjourn not more than once the Legislative Session for a period of, at most, thirty days, either by postponing the opening or by suspending its continuance. Another adjournment cannot be made during the same Session without the consent of the Chamber.; In the event of change of Government, the appearance with article 89, cannot be postponed by a prorogation of the session for a term longer than fifteen days, and should any previous longer suspense exist, it shall be shortened proportionately.

Article 81: The president of the Republic is the supreme functionary of the state, the head of the military and naval forces, which, however, be can never command, confers conformably to the law the military and naval rank, appoints and dismisses conformably to the law the officers of public service, save the exceptions established by law.

Article 82: The President of the Republic represents internationally the State, concludes and ratifies treaties with foreign States, and acquaints of them the Houses as soon as the interests and the security of the State shall permit it. The treaties of peace, of commerce, and other treaties containing provisions, which involve burden of the State Financier affect the Greeks individually or contain concessions about which, in accordance with other provisions of the Constitution, nothing may be determined except by law, shall not be binding without the consent of the Legislature.; In no case shall the secret articles of a treaty abrogate those openly expressed.

Article 83: The President of the Republic shall declare war with a previous consent of the Houses assembled in a joint sitting. Should the Chamber be dissolved or its term expired, it shall be convoked, especially, for this purpose.

Article 84: The President of the Republic shall have the right to grant, conformably to law, pardons, to commute and diminish the penalties inflicted by the Courts, except such as are fixed by law in the case of ministers. He may, likewise, grant amnesty but only in the case of political crimes under the responsibility of the Council of Ministers.

Amnesty for ordinary offenses shall not be granted even by virtue of a law.

Article 85: The President of the Republic shall have the right to confer upon subjects of other States the established decorations conformably to the provisions of the law governing this subject.

Article 86: The President of the Republic shall have no other powers but those expressly assigned to him by the Constitution and the laws enacted under it.

Chapter VI. GOVERNMENT AND MINISTERS

Article 87: The Government is formed by the Cabinet of Ministers composed of the Ministers under the presidency of the Premier.; By a Decree initiated by the Premier, a Vice-President of the Council of Ministers may be appointed from among the Ministers. If there be none so appointed, the Premier shall determine, as need arises, one of the Ministers as his alternate "pro tempore".

Article 88: All Ministers shall be undividedly responsible for the general policy of the Government, and each one of them, individually, in respect of matters pertaining to his competence.

Article 89: The Government must enjoy the confidence of the Chamber. Upon its formation, it must, and, in any other instance, it may ask the Chamber of Deputies for a vote of confidence. Should at the time that the Government is formed the Session of the Chamber be prorogued, it shall be summoned within fifteen days in order to express its opinion about the Government.; The Chamber, by a resolution, can withdraw its confidence from the Government or one of its members. Proposal for want of confidence may not be presented unless two months have elapsed from the rejection by the Chamber of a similar proposition, and such a proposal must bear the signatures of, at least, twenty Deputies, and the issues about which the debate on the proposal will be held must be clearly itemized therein.; Exceptionally, a proposal for want of confidence may be submitted before the expiration of the aforesaid term of two months, if it be endorsed by the one half of the total number of Deputies.; Deliberation upon the motion for want of confidence may neither be held before the lapse of two days from its submission, nor can it be extended beyond a period of five days.; The ballot on a motion for confidence or for want of confidence may be adjourned for forty-eight hours, should twenty Deputies demand it.; Proposal for confidence or for want of confidence may be adjourned for forty-eight hours, should twenty Deputies demand it.; Proposal for confidence or mistrust cannot be adopted save by a majority of votes cast in favor by, at least, the two-fifths of the Deputies.; The Ministers who are Deputies shall have the right to vote in the ballot on the foregoing motions.

Article 90: Ministers shall have free entrance to the meetings of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and the Parliamentary Committees, except the investigating ones, and have the right to be heard whenever they request to speak, but they have no deliberative vote unless they are members thereof. The Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and their committees may demand the presence of the ministers.

Article 91: Special law shall determine the questions related to the establishment of Under-Secretaries of the State, who may be permitted to be members of the Council of Ministers. The provisions of article 90 shall, likewise, apply to the Under-Secretaries of the Ministries.

Article 92: The incompatibility established by article 40, in reference with the duties of Deputy, shall, likewise, apply to the duties of Minister and to those of Under-Secretary.

Article 93: Verbal or written order of the President of the Republic shall not release a Minister from responsibility. The Chamber of Deputies alone shall have the right to impeach Ministers, conformably to the laws governing the questions of Ministerial responsibility, for offenses committed in the performance of their duties before the Senate constituted into a special Tribunal and in accordance with the provisions which a special law shall prescribe. The President of the Republic cannot grant pardon to a Minister sentenced conformably to the hereinabove provisions, except only with the consent of the Chamber of Deputies.

Chapter VII. JUDICIAL POWER

Article 94: Justice is administered by Judges appointed in accordance with a law defining also their qualifications.; The trial of police violations, which are punishable by a fine, may also be conferred to Authorities exercising police duties. Their judgments may be appealed before a judicial Authority. Appeal shall always have the power to suspend a sentence.

Article 95: Justices of the Cassation Court (Areiopagos), of the Courts of Appeal, and the Courts of first Instance, shall be appointed for life, and the Public Prosecutors, the Assistant State Prosecutors, the Justices of Peace, Magistrates, Secretaries and Trader Secretaries of the Courts (Clerks) and of the Prosecutor's office, Notaries and Registrars of Records and Mortgages, shall be appointed permanently, so long as the relative services and positions are effective.; Judicial officers enjoying appointment for life or for so long a time as their positions exist cannot be dismissed from service, except by virtue of a judicial sentence, pronounced by a court either in consequence of a criminal conviction or on the grounds of disciplinary offenses, of sickness or inefficiency, which must be ascertained in pursuance of the forms of law and in observance of the provisions provided for in Articled 98 and 99. The Justices of Areiopagos, the Presiding Judges, and the Public Prosecutors at the Courts of Appeal, shall obligatorily retire from the judicial service on completing the seventieth year of their age, and the rest of the salaried Judicial officers shall retire from active service on completing the sixty-fifth year of their age.; Registrars of Mortgages and Notaries shall retire from the service upon completion of the age of seventy-five years.

Article 96: Promotions, appointments, transfers and removals of Judicial officers, in general, who are entitled to appointment for life or to a permanent position so long as the service lasts, except those of the Judicial officers, who are transferred for special services abroad or are appointed to recognized positions abroad, in addition to those of Under-Secretaries, Notaries, and Registrars of Mortgages and Records, shall be made by a Decree founded on a consenting and especially and concretely containing the reasons therefor opinion of the Supreme Judicial Council, composed of members of Areiopagos, as the law shall prescribe. The Minister of Justice may refer these opinions of the Supreme Judicial Council to the Court of Areiopagos, assembled in a plenary sitting save the members lawfully and unavoidably absent, and its verdict shall be binding.; The promotion to offices of the Presiding Justice, the Vice-President, and the Public Procurator at the Areiopagos, shall not be governed by the hereinabove provisions, but shall be effected through a Decree founded on an opinion of the Council of Ministers.; The transfers of Justices of Peace, Magistrates, Clerks of the Courts of Justices of Peace and of the Magistrate's Courts, within the sphere of jurisdiction of each Court of Appeal, may be submitted by a law, being enacted three years after the operation of the Constitution, to the competences of the entireness of the Judges of the Courts of Appeal assembled in Council, the competence of the Judicial Council of Areiopagos with regard to transfers from the territory of one Court of Appeal to that of another being thereby preserved.

Article 97: Judicial Commissions and Extraordinary Tribunals, under any title whatever, shall not be permitted to be established.; In cases of a state of war or a general mobilization on account of external perils, special legislation shall regulate the questions relating to the temporary suspension in all or in part of the provisions of Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 100, as well as all the questions relating to the proclamation of a state of siege and the establishment and function of Extraordinary Courts of Judicature.; These laws cannot be amended during the term of the Chamber of Deputies convoked for the special purpose of their enforcement; and they shall be put into effect in all or only in some of their clauses throughout the Commonwealth, or in any portion thereof, by a Decree founded upon the permission of the Chamber and the Senate. In case of disagreement between the two Legislative Bodies, they shall convene in a joint sitting and then they shall decide.; If the emergency occur while the Parliament is in recess, the suspension of the guarantees may be effected, without the permission of the Houses, by a Decree countersigned by all members of the Council of Ministers. By the same Decree, and under penalty of its annulment, the two Houses must be convoked within five days, even if the Parliamentary term be expired or the Chamber be dissolved, for deciding whether the limitations of the Decree should be preserved or cancelled. The immunity of Deputies, provided for by Article 56, shall be valid from the time of the promulgation of such Decree.; The validity of the foregoing Decrees in the case of War shall not be extended beyond its termination, and in the case of mobilization it shall be annulled "ipso facto" two months thereafter, unless their validity had in the meantime been extended with concurrence, again, of the Legislature.; Offenses, committed before the promulgation of the Decree putting into operation the Martial Law, may never be subjected to the competence of the Extraordinary Tribunals thereby being established.

Article 98: The sessions of Courts shall be public, unless publicity would be injurious to good morals and public order, but in such circumstances the Courts are bound to publish a decision to that effect.

Article 99: Every judgment must be accompanied by statement of the special reasons therefor and must be pronounced in open session.

Article 100: Felonies, political offenses, as well as the offenses of the Press, as often as they do not relate to private life, shall be tried by Jury, except the press offenses against Judicial officers from the rank of the Justice of Peace and upwards which shall be always tried by Courts of Jury, to whose competence other offenses may, in like manner, be subjected by law.; Felonies, which have been subjected by special laws to the competence of the Courts of Appeal, shall continue to be tried by these Courts so long as no law should refer them to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Jury.; Questions relation to the organization of the Martial Tribunals, the Naval Tribunals, and the Tribunals of Prizes, shall be regulated by special laws, which, however, cannot subject to the jurisdiction of Martial and Naval Tribunals offenses committed by the Militia against the life, sanity, honor, chastity, and corporal integrity of civilians or, in general, against their person or tending to the detriment or damage of their property. Civilians shall never be subjected to the competence of Martial and Naval Tribunals.^[13]; Special law may determine the organization of special Juvenile Courts. The provisions of the first paragraphs of Articles 94 and 97, of Articles 98 and 99, as well as of the present Article may not be applicable to those Courts.

Article 101: Judges shall not accept other paid functions except those of the University Professor.

Chapter VIII. ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIARY

Article 102

To the Council of State shall chiefly belong:

a) The further preparation of the administrative regulations.

b) The trial of actions arising out of disputed administrative matters, submitted to it conformably to the laws.

c) The recourse for the annulment of actions of the administrative authorities on the grounds of misuse of power or transgression of a law, conformably to the provisions which the law shall more specifically prescribe.

In cases falling within paragraphs b) and c), the provisions provided for by Articles 98 and 99 of the Constitution shall apply.

Article 103: The number of the State Councilors shall be determined by law, but they cannot be more than twenty-one.

Article 104: The State Councilors shall be appointed by Decree on the proposition of the Council of Ministers founded on the opinion of the Council of State, and they shall hold office for life, their appointment for life being protected accordingly to the provisions of article 95, and especially, in accordance with the provisions governing the appointment for life of the members of Areiopagos.; The duties of the State Councilors shall be incompatible with those of any public, municipal or ecclesiastical officer, save the duties of Professor of Law at the Law School of the University or those of Professor of Law or of Economic Sciences at equivalent supreme Educational Institutions.; Special law shall determine the qualifications of the State Councilors, the pertinent questions of their retirement from office during their service, of the auxiliary personnel, and all questions relating to the organization and function of the State Council.

Article 105

Actions at law arising out of disputed administrative matters shall continue to be tried, for the time being, by the ordinary Courts as listed under urgent business and by precedence over other actions, except those for whose trial special laws establish administrative Courts, where the provisions provided for by Articles 98 and 99 shall be observed. Until the promulgation of the special laws, the actual laws governing the administrative jurisdiction shall be operative. In like manner and in the first degree may be subjected by law to the jurisdiction of the State Council the trial of actions at law arising out of disputed administrative matters.

Petitions for annulment of decisions of the Administrative Courts shall be summitted to the jurisdiction of the State Council from the time of its function.

Adjudication of conflicts:

(1) between Juridical and Administrative Authorities;

(2) between the State Council and Administrative Authorities; and

(3) between Administrative and ordinary Courts

shall be determined by the Court of Areiopagos, until the establishment, by a special law and for the purpose of their settlement, of a mixed Tribunal of Conflicts, which shall be composed of an equal number of Justices of Areiopagos and of State Councilors and over which the Minister of Justice or his alternate, whom the law will prescribe, shall preside.

Chapter IX. THE COURT OF CONTROL

Article 106: The Councilors and the Associates of the Court of Control shall be appointed for life and cannot be dismissed except in accordance with the provisions prescribed in Article 95, and they shall retire from the service obligatorily on completing the seventieth year of their age.

Chapter X. SELF-GOVERNMENT AND DECENTRALIZATION

Article 107: The State shall be divided into territories, within which the citizens shall directly administer the local matters, as the law shall prescribe.; The Community forms indispensably the first unit of such organisms of local self-government, which must be at least of two grades, irrespective of the Communes and the federations of the Communities.; The right to decide in the foregoing organisms upon questions within the sphere of local autonomy shall indispensably belong to eligible organs, who shall be elected by universal vote, or directly to the totality of the citizens belonging to each one of them.; The State shall exercise, in the manner that the law shall prescribe, only ultimate control over the organisms of local self-government, which must not be a hindrance to their initiative and their free action.; The State may contribute financial aid to the organisms of local self-government.

Article 108: The administrative organization of the State shall be governed by the principle of decentralization, in such a manner as to render the State power as much as possible more accessible to the citizens, and to accelerate the settlement of questions relative to administration and upon the basis of a more direct comprehension of the affecting circumstances. The central services must only have the general direction and superintendence.

Chapter XI. GOVERNMENT OF THE HOLY MOUNT

Article 109: The Peninsula of Athos from the Great Vigla onwards, forming the territory of the Holy Mount, shall be, in accordance with its on ancient privilege regime, a self-governed portion of the Greek State, whoso sovereignty thereon shall remain intact. From a standpoint of spiritual matters, the Holy Mount shall remain under the direct jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate. All monks living therein shall acquire the Greek citizenship at the time of their reception as novices or monks without any further procedure.

Article 110: The Holy Mount shall be governed, conformably to its own regime, by its twenty Sacred Monasteries, among which the entire Peninsula of Athos is apportioned, and its ground shall remain inalienable. The administration shall be carried on through representatives of its Sacred Monasteries who form the Holy College. No change, whatever, with respect either to the administrative system or to the number of the Monasteries of Holy Mount, nor to the hierarchical order and their connection with their own subordinate priories, shall be permitted, and the life-long residence there in of believers in another faith or of schismatics shall be forbidden.

Article 111: The definition in detail of the Holy Mount Regimes, and of the manner in which they will function, shall be made by a Constitutional Charter of the Holy Mount, which shall be framed with the co-operation of the State Procurator and shall be voted to by the twenty Sacred Monasteries, but its ratification shall be made by the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the Chamber of Deputies.; The strict observance of the Holy Mount Regimes shall remain under the ultimate control of the Oecumenical Patriarchate respecting the spiritual part, and as often as the administrative part is concerned, it shall be under the supervision of the State, to which, exclusively and in like manner, shall belong the safeguard of public order and security.

Article 112: The State powers in the foregoing articles 109 and 1ll shall be exercised by a Governor, whose prerogatives and duties, as well as the Juridical authority which shall be exercised by the Monastic authorities and the Holy College, and, finally, the tariff and tax advantages of the Holy Mount shall be defined by law.

Chapter XII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Article 113: No cession, acquisition or exchange of territory shall take place without a law.; Likewise, no foreign army shall be admitted into the Greek Commonwealth nor may it remain within the State boundaries or pass through it except by virtue of a law.

Article 114: The qualifications of administrative officers in general shall be determined by law. The regular public servants shall be permanent from the time of their appointment for so long as the pertinent services and positions shall exist, and save the cases of dismissal by virtue of judicial sentence, they may neither be transferred without an opinion nor be relieved of their functions or reduced from their rank save by a special verdict of a Council organized conformably to the law and composed at the proportion of, at least, the two-thirds by regular employees. Recourse against this verdict shall be permitted before the Council of State in the manner that a law shall more specifically prescribe.; The foregoing provisions shall, likewise, apply to the employees of the Houses, who shall be, with regard to release and reduction from the rank, under the jurisdiction of a Council composed of ten Deputies or Senators chosen by lot at the beginning of each Parliamentary term by the Chairman of the respective Body.; Ambassadors, Plenipotentiary Ministers, General Governors, General Secretaries and General Directors of Ministries, Prefects, the State Procurator in the Holy Synod, employees of the Political Bureau and of the personal Bureaus of Ministers and of the Chairmen of the Houses may be exempted by the law from the requirements of qualifications and from the benefit of permanence in service.

Article 115: Actions of mistrial against Justices of the Court of Areiopagos, members for life of the Court of Control, and State Councilors, shall be tried by a special Tribunal, composed, in pursuance to the forms of law, of five members, chosen by lot among the members of these three Bodies, the lay lawyers who are members of the Supreme Disciplinary Board, and the Professors of the Law School in the University, one member alone being taken from each Body. To the jurisdiction of this Tribunal shall likewise belong all the preliminary litigation, and no other authorization, whatsoever, shall be required.; To this Tribunal may likewise be subjected by law petitions for mistrial against Justices of the Courts of Appeal and the Public Prosecutors.

Article 116: Disciplinary authority in the first degree upon members of the Court of Areiopagos, the State Council, and the Court of Control, shall be exercised by a Board of Discipline composed of two members from each one of the Bodies and three Professors of the Law School in the University, chosen by lot, and under the presidency of one of them, who shall be elected by themselves. From the membership of the Board of Discipline shall always he disqualified the members belonging to that body for an act of which, either in whole or in part, the Board shall be called to decide.; Questions relating to the exercise of ulterior disciplinary authority upon the aforesaid defendants shall be determined by law.^[14]

Article 117: The incompatibilities provided for by article 40 shall, in like manner, apply to the public servants under salary.; Receipts from the State Treasury or from Treasuries of Legal persons of Public Law, or any other remuneration in addition to the salary of a public employee, on account of services rendered within the boundaries of the State, may never exceed in their total his organic salary per one month.

Article 118: The conduct of Justices of the Court of Areiopagos, of members of the Supreme Judicial Council and of the central Councils of Ministries, save those of the Ministries of the Army and the Navy, at the issuance of verdicts concerning either changes and promotions of public employees or exercise of disciplinary authority upon them, shall likewise be subjected to a particularly direct control of the Houses in conformity with the following directions:; In the case at which an investigating Committee, formed in accordance with article 55, shall ascertain that there exist strong evidence that a member of the foregoing Councils had acted with bias at the taking of a decision upon the aforesaid charges, a Council shall be formed which shall be composed of twenty Senators, chosen by lot at a sitting of the Senate, under the Presidency of the Chairman of the Senate. This Council, which shall have equal inquisitorial rights with a Parliamentary Committee, shall proceed to the reconsideration of the case, and, should it find the complaints founded, it may, by a decision containing the reasons thereof, and taken by an absolute majority of its members, inflict any disciplinary punishment to the officer who has transgressed his duties, including the permanent discharge from the public service which shall obligatorily be executed.; Appointment of an investigating committee of the Chamber of Deputies especially for the aforesaid purpose cannot be effected after the lapse of one year from the alleged breach of duty.; The exercise of the foregoing control shall not diminish the responsibility of the Minister nor can it affect the regulative control on the part of the Houses. Moreover, it shall not abolish the jurisdiction of the State Council, of the Disciplinary Council which is provided for by article 115, nor that of any other like Council.

Chapter XIII. TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Article 119

For the purpose of rehabilitating destitute cultivators, small cattle growers, and refugees, agrarian or urban, a deviation from the provisions of article 19 shall be carried on for five years, as the law shall always prescribe, under the following restrictions:

For the urban settlement of refugees, expropriation and possession prior to compensation of unbuilt lots not less in aggregate size than two thousand square meters shall be preceeded for the erection of settlements consisting of, at least, twenty homesteads or for the expansion or completion of existing settlements. The increment in the value of lots arisen out of the influx of refugees cannot be included into the indemnity, which, under this circumstance, shall be reckoned upon the average price of September, 1922 computed in metallic (gold) drachmas.

Lots, on which refugee settlements have already been erected, consisting of, at least, twenty houses and of an aggregate size not less than 2000 square meters, shall be subjected to expropriation, and the indemnity thereof shall be determined in the same manner.

In the expropriation of pastures, for the exclusive purpose of rehabilitating independent petit cattle-growers, the indemnity shall be determined not less than the two-thirds of the average price of the pastures in metallic drachmas during the triennial period of time prior to September, 1914, or not less than the lawful rent of the year 1926-27 multiplied to fifteen-fold. The pastures belonging to Municipalities, Communities, and the exchangeable ones, shall not be included into the provisions of this article.

From the expropriation, provided for by the present article, shall be excepted:

(1) Small agricultural farms tilled by the owner and his family in person;

(2) in whatever manner cultivated lands up to the size of 300 stremmata;

(3) pastures for independent settlement of petit cattle-growers up to the size of 300 stremmata;

(4) city lots for the urban settlement of the refugees up to the size of 500 square meters;

(5) city lots belonging to owners who have already suffered agrarian expropriation; and

(6) vine, currant, olive, harvest fruit-bearing tree plantations not encumbered by perpetual liens, and forests so far as they are exempted from the provisions of the land reform law, which is now in force, and so far as they belong to physical persons.

Special laws, and in deviation from the provisions of Article 19, shall regulate the questions relating to the expropriation of Monastic landed properties.

The laws promulgated until now with regard to the purchase of emphyteutic landed properties or the release from liens of superfices (ager vestigalis) of land or ground shall be deemed as not being in conflict with the Constitution.^[15]

Article 120: The Counci1 of State shall be constituted within one, at the latest, year from the time when the Constitution becomes effective.; At the first establishment, the appointment of the State Councilors shall be made by a Decree founded upon a resolution of the Council of ministers.

Article 121: The electoral privilege of the islands Hydra, Spetsae, and Psara, hall be maintained until the year 1944, at which time a century shall be completed from the bestowment thereof by the decree of the Assembly of the 3rd of September.

Article 122: Greek decorations conferred until now to Greek citizens, as well as permissions issued to Greek subjects for the acceptance of foreign decorations, are hereby revoked.

Article 123: Within one year from the operation of the Constitution, the statues, enactment of which is provided for by each one of its provisions, shall be effected by the Legislative Bodies at the initiative of the Government.

Article 124: In the of the first Presidential election after the after the enforcement of the preset Constitution, the three months term, which is provided for by article 67 with respect to the convocation of the Chamber of Deputies, shall commence from the time when the Senate is constituted into a Legislative Body.

Chapter XIV. ENFORCEMENT AND AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Article 125: Only the non-fundamental provisions of the Constitution may be amended after five years conformably to the following provisions:; The proposal for revision containing definite provisions of the Constitution may be submitted other to the Chamber of Deputies or to the Senate, and must at first be adopted by both the Legislative Bodies by receiving an absolute majority, and following this, it must in like manner be adopted, after the lapse of a three months period, by the Legislative Bodies, assembled especially for this purpose in a National Assembly, in a joint sitting and by a majority of, at least, the three-fifths of the total membership of the Assembly.; Over the National Assembly the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside.; The revised provisions shall be operative from the time of their publication into the Official Gazette.; The National Assembly may submit its resolution concerning the revision to the people on a Referendum, and in such a case the amended provisions shall be effective if ratified by the people.

Article 126: The present Constitution, as amended and voted to by the Chamber of Deputies, shall be considered in force immediately upon its signature by the President of the Republic, the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, and the President of the Government.

Article 127: To the patriotism of the Hellenes the observance of the Constitution shall be entrusted.

Interpreting declarations

↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 1: The ecclesiastical regime existing in the redeemed territories and in the island of Crete shall not be in conflict with the true meaning of article 1.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 5: The true meaning of the provision is that the courts shall not be obliged to enforce a law, the contents of which are contrary to the Constitution.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 6: The true meaning of Article 6 is that in state services Greek subjects alone may be appointed, so long as they possess the qualifications required by the law, and that foreigners may be appointed only when it is permitted by a specific law. And the word citizen in this, as well as in the other articles, has the meaning of "the Greek subject", that is to say, of the one possessing the Greek citizenship irrespective of sex or age. Political rights may be conferred by law to the women.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 11: The true meaning of the Constitutional provision of Article 11, with respect to the punishment of the culpable of unlawful detention, is that the fraudulent intent is no element for the construction of the crime, and that the mere knowledge of the illegal detention is sufficient.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 17: By the term "tortures" is also meant any other ill-treatment which tends to the punishment or the discovery of the crime.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 19: In the term "property" is likewise comprised the personal property.
↑ Interpreting declarations relative to Article 23:
1) The programs of the schools of the middle and lower education, and the teaching thereto shall be, without any restrictions, under the control of the Ministry of Education in accordance with the laws.

2) As long as the pupils attend at the corresponding classes of schools of the secondary education, they are not compelled to attend at analogous classes of the schools of the elementary education.

3) The meaning of the last paragraph of article 23 is that permissions for erection of private schools may be established by law.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 28: By the term "Cabinet" is also understood each one of the Ministers, severally, who may introduce a proposal for legislation relating to an object within the jurisdiction of his own Ministry.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 29: The true meaning of the first paragraph of Article 29 is that proposal for legislation submitted by the minister of Finance or by any other minister and affecting matters administered by another ministry must bear the signatures of the other competent Ministers also.
↑ Interpreting declarations relative to Article 40:
1) The employees of the Commission for the exchange and settlement of refugees shall also be considered civil officers.

2) Civil employees under salary shall also be considered those serving regularly under daily remuneration.

3) Under the true meaning of the 3rd period of the first paragraph of Article 40, military officers are deemed the commissioned officers in active service and not those in the reserve service, who may have been recalled to active service.
↑ Interpreting declarations relative to Article 45:
1) The true meaning of the first paragraph "the Chamber by its own Rules, same having the validity of a law, shall determine the manner, etc.", is that the Rules of the Chamber, having the validity of a law, cannot be amended by an ordinary law but by the same Rules.

2) The true meaning of the 3rd paragraph of the same article that "the Budget of the Chamber shall be introduced and executed by its Chairman conformably to the Rules", is that the Chairman of the Chamber shall be vested with duties and competence of a Comptroller and shall have the right to order payments in accordance with the laws in force so far as they are not conflicting with the Rules of the Chamber, on the strength of the appropriations inscribed into the approved Budget of the Chamber.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 48: The true meaning of Article 48 is that the termination of the debate shall, likewise, be considered as resolution.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 100: The meaning of the third paragraph of Article 100 is that offenses perpetrated by the Militia against civilians during the execution of a military order shall not be included therein.
↑ Interpreting declaration relative to Article 116: The foregoing disciplinary authority upon members of the Court of Areiopagos shall likewise be exercised upon them when qualifying as members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
↑ Interpreting declarations relative to Article 119:
1) In the clause of the 5th paragraph, section 2, shall not be included:
(a) the places known as Bastenae;

(b) the places assigned for tobacco plantations in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the exempted areas of which shall be determined by a law.

In accordance with the true meaning of this section, the exception of 300 acres shall be effected once upon the landed properties (Tsifliks) which belong severally to several owners.

2) The true meaning of article 119 of the Constitution is that there also shall be included the emphyteutic owners of landed properties and of ground in the islands of Corfu and Lefcas, so far as the release of their landed and ground emphyteutonic properties from the encumbering thereon liens in perpetuity is concerned, about which special laws provide for, and until the issuance of the decisions upon the petitions therefor which have been or shall be submitted.

3) In the provision, immediately preceding the last paragraph, is also included the law 3345 dealing with the Fund of the Ex-Warriors (Veterans) of Crete, which may be modified by law.

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[1] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 1: The ecclesiastical regime existing in the redeemed territories and in the island of Crete shall not be in conflict with the true meaning of article 1.

[2] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 5: The true meaning of the provision is that the courts shall not be obliged to enforce a law, the contents of which are contrary to the Constitution.

[3] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 6: The true meaning of Article 6 is that in state services Greek subjects alone may be appointed, so long as they possess the qualifications required by the law, and that foreigners may be appointed only when it is permitted by a specific law. And the word citizen in this, as well as in the other articles, has the meaning of "the Greek subject", that is to say, of the one possessing the Greek citizenship irrespective of sex or age. Political rights may be conferred by law to the women.

[4] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 11: The true meaning of the Constitutional provision of Article 11, with respect to the punishment of the culpable of unlawful detention, is that the fraudulent intent is no element for the construction of the crime, and that the mere knowledge of the illegal detention is sufficient.

[5] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 17: By the term "tortures" is also meant any other ill-treatment which tends to the punishment or the discovery of the crime.

[6] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 19: In the term "property" is likewise comprised the personal property.

[7] Interpreting declarations relative to Article 23:
1) The programs of the schools of the middle and lower education, and the teaching thereto shall be, without any restrictions, under the control of the Ministry of Education in accordance with the laws.

2) As long as the pupils attend at the corresponding classes of schools of the secondary education, they are not compelled to attend at analogous classes of the schools of the elementary education.

3) The meaning of the last paragraph of article 23 is that permissions for erection of private schools may be established by law.

[8] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 28: By the term "Cabinet" is also understood each one of the Ministers, severally, who may introduce a proposal for legislation relating to an object within the jurisdiction of his own Ministry.

[9] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 29: The true meaning of the first paragraph of Article 29 is that proposal for legislation submitted by the minister of Finance or by any other minister and affecting matters administered by another ministry must bear the signatures of the other competent Ministers also.

[10] Interpreting declarations relative to Article 40:
1) The employees of the Commission for the exchange and settlement of refugees shall also be considered civil officers.

2) Civil employees under salary shall also be considered those serving regularly under daily remuneration.

3) Under the true meaning of the 3rd period of the first paragraph of Article 40, military officers are deemed the commissioned officers in active service and not those in the reserve service, who may have been recalled to active service.

[11] Interpreting declarations relative to Article 45:
1) The true meaning of the first paragraph "the Chamber by its own Rules, same having the validity of a law, shall determine the manner, etc.", is that the Rules of the Chamber, having the validity of a law, cannot be amended by an ordinary law but by the same Rules.

2) The true meaning of the 3rd paragraph of the same article that "the Budget of the Chamber shall be introduced and executed by its Chairman conformably to the Rules", is that the Chairman of the Chamber shall be vested with duties and competence of a Comptroller and shall have the right to order payments in accordance with the laws in force so far as they are not conflicting with the Rules of the Chamber, on the strength of the appropriations inscribed into the approved Budget of the Chamber.

[12] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 48: The true meaning of Article 48 is that the termination of the debate shall, likewise, be considered as resolution.

[13] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 100: The meaning of the third paragraph of Article 100 is that offenses perpetrated by the Militia against civilians during the execution of a military order shall not be included therein.

[14] Interpreting declaration relative to Article 116: The foregoing disciplinary authority upon members of the Court of Areiopagos shall likewise be exercised upon them when qualifying as members of the Supreme Judicial Council.

[15] Interpreting declarations relative to Article 119:
1) In the clause of the 5th paragraph, section 2, shall not be included:
(a) the places known as Bastenae;

(b) the places assigned for tobacco plantations in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the exempted areas of which shall be determined by a law.

In accordance with the true meaning of this section, the exception of 300 acres shall be effected once upon the landed properties (Tsifliks) which belong severally to several owners.

2) The true meaning of article 119 of the Constitution is that there also shall be included the emphyteutic owners of landed properties and of ground in the islands of Corfu and Lefcas, so far as the release of their landed and ground emphyteutonic properties from the encumbering thereon liens in perpetuity is concerned, about which special laws provide for, and until the issuance of the decisions upon the petitions therefor which have been or shall be submitted.

3) In the provision, immediately preceding the last paragraph, is also included the law 3345 dealing with the Fund of the Ex-Warriors (Veterans) of Crete, which may be modified by law.

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Constitution of Greece (1927)

Contents

Chapter I. RELIGION AND CHURCH

Chapter II. FORM AND FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

Chapter III. PUBLIC LAW OF THE HELLENES

Chapter IV. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

Chapter V. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Chapter VI. GOVERNMENT AND MINISTERS

Chapter VII. JUDICIAL POWER

Chapter VIII. ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIARY

Chapter IX. THE COURT OF CONTROL

Chapter X. SELF-GOVERNMENT AND DECENTRALIZATION

Chapter XI. GOVERNMENT OF THE HOLY MOUNT

Chapter XII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Chapter XIII. TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Chapter XIV. ENFORCEMENT AND AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Interpreting declarations

Navigation menu

Constitution of Greece (1927)

Chapter I. RELIGION AND CHURCH

Chapter II. FORM AND FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

Chapter III. PUBLIC LAW OF THE HELLENES

Chapter IV. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

Chapter V. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Chapter VI. GOVERNMENT AND MINISTERS

Chapter VII. JUDICIAL POWER

Chapter VIII. ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIARY

Chapter IX. THE COURT OF CONTROL

Chapter X. SELF-GOVERNMENT AND DECENTRALIZATION

Chapter XI. GOVERNMENT OF THE HOLY MOUNT

Chapter XII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Chapter XIII. TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Chapter XIV. ENFORCEMENT AND AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Interpreting declarations

Navigation menu

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