Page:Mexico's dilemma.djvu/196

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
166
APPENDIX B

authority available may the administrative authorities, on their strictest accountability, order the detention of the accused, placing him at the disposition of the judicial authorities. Every search warrant, which may only be issued by the judicial authority and which must be in writing, shall specify the place to be searched, the person or persons to be arrested and the objects sought, to which the proceeding shall be strictly limited; at the conclusion of which, a detailed written statement shall be drawn up in the presence of two witnesses proposed by the occupant of the place to be searched, or, in his absence or refusal, by the official making the search.

Administrative officials may enter private houses solely for the purpose of determining that the sanitary and police regulations have been complied with; they may likewise demand the exhibition of books and documents necessary to prove that the fiscal regulations have been obeyed, subject to the respective laws and to the formalities prescribed for cases of search.

Art. 17. No one shall be imprisoned for debts of a purely civil character. No one shall take the law into his own hands, nor resort to violence in the enforcement of his rights. The courts shall be open for the administration of justice at such times and under such conditions as the law may establish; their services shall be gratuitous and all judicial costs are accordingly prohibited.