Spanish Constitution of 1812

DON FERDINAND THE SEVENTH, by the grace of God and the constitution of the Spanish monarchy, king of SPAIN; and, during his absence and captivity, the regency of the kingdom appointed by the general and extraordinary Cortes, to all to whom these presents shall come: know ye, that the said Cortes have decreed and sanctioned the following

CONSTITUTION OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY.

In the name of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the author and supreme legislator of the universe. The general and extraordinary Cortes of the Spanish nation, being fully convinced, after a most careful examination and mature deliberation, that the ancient fundamental laws of this monarchy, with proper auxiliary measures and precautions calculated to secure their steady and permanent execution, are fully adequate to the accomplishment of the great object of promoting the glory, prosperity, and happiness of the whole nation, do decree the following constitution for the good government and regular administration of the state.

Title I. Of the Spanish Nation, and of Spaniards.

Chapter I. Of the Spanish Nation.

Article 1. The Spanish nation consists of all the Spaniards of both hemispheres.

Art. 2. The Spanish nation is free and independent, and neither is nor can be the patrimony of any family or person whatever.

Art. 3. The sovereignty resides essentially in the nation; in consequence whereof it alone possesses the right of making its fundamental laws.

Art. 4. The nation is bound to maintain and protect, by wise and equitable laws, the civil liberty, property, and other legal rights of the individuals who compose it.

Chapter II. Of Spaniards.

Art. 5. Those are Spaniards who come within some one or other of the following descriptions, to wit:

1. All freemen born and residing within the Spanish dominions and their children.

2. All foreigners naturalized by the Cortes.

3. Those who, although not so naturalized, have resided in any part of the monarchy during the space of ten years, according to law.

4. All freedmen in the Spanish dominions, as soon as they have obtained their freedom.

Art. 6. One of the principal obligations of a Spaniard is to love his country, and to practice humanity and justice.

Art. 7. It is the duty of every Spaniard to be faithful to the constitution, obey the laws, and respect the constituted authorities.

Art. 8. He is also bound to contribute, without any distinction, according to his ability, to the charges of the state.

Art. 9. And likewise to take up arms for the defence of his country, when by law required.

Title II. Of the Territory, Religion, and Government of Spain, and of Spanish Citizens.

Chapter I. Of the Territory of Spain.

Art. 10. The Spanish territory in the peninsula, together with its possessions and adjacent islands, comprehends Arragon, Asturias, Old Castile, New Castile, Catalonia, Cordova, Extremadura, Galicia, Grenada, Taen, Leon, Molina, Murcia, Navarre, the Provinces of Biscay, Seville, and Valencia; the Balearic and Canary islands, with the other possessions in Africa; in North America, New Spain, and New Galicia, and the peninsula of Yucatan, Goatemela, and the interior provinces of the East and West, the island of Cuba, and the two Floridas, the Spanish part of the island of St. Domingo, the island of Porto-Rico, together with the islands adjacent to those and to the continent in both seas; in South America, New Grenada, Venezuela, Peru, Chili, the provinces of Rio de la Plata, and all the adjacent islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans; in Asia, the Philippine islands and their dependencies.

Art. 11. As soon as the political circumstances of the nation will allow it, a more suitable division of the Spanish territory shall be determined by a constitutional law.

Chapter II. Of Religion.

Art 12. The Roman catholic and apostolic religion, the only true one, is and always shall be that of the Spanish nation; the government protects it by wise and just laws, and prohibits the exercise of any other whatever.

Chapter III. Of Government.

Art. 13. The government has for its object the happiness of the nation, for the only end of all political associations is the welfare of all its members.

Art. 14. The government of the Spanish nation is an hereditary monarchy, moderated by laws.

Art. 15. The legislative power belongs to the Cortes, together with the king.

Art. 16. The executive power belongs to the king.

Art. 17. The judicial power, in civil and criminal cases, resides in the tribunals established by law.

Chapter IV. Of Spanish Citizens.

Art. 18. Those are Spanish citizens who are born of Spanish parents in any part of the Spanish dominions, and reside in the said dominions.

Art. 19. Foreigners who, already enjoying the rights of Spaniards, have obtained from the Cortes letters of citizenship.

Art. 20. A foreigner, to obtain such letters, must have married a Spanish woman, and have established or introduced into the Spanish dominions some profitable invention or manufactory, or possess real property on which he has paid direct taxes, or carry on trade, and have a stock of his own deemed sufficient by the Cortes, or have rendered eminent services advantageous to the nation, or in its defence.

Art. 21. Those who are also Spanish citizens who are the legitimate children of foreigners born in the Spanish dominions, who have never gone abroad without leave of the government, are full twenty-one years of age, and reside in any part of the said dominions, and exercise any office, profession, or useful trade whatever.

Art. 22. To Spaniards born in Africa, from whatever stock or lineage, the way to citizenship is open, and they may acquire it by their virtue and merit; and the Cortes shall grant letters of citizenship to those who shall render the country eminent services, or shall distinguish themselves by their talents, application, and good character; provided they are born of free parents united in lawful wedlock, are married to a free woman, and reside in the Spanish dominions, and follow a profession, occupation, or useful trade with their own means.

Art. 23. Those only who are citizens are capable of obtaining civil offices, and of electing persons to fill them, when by law required.

Art. 24. The rights of Spanish citizenship are lost—

1. By being naturalized in another country;

2. By accepting an employment from a foreign government;

3. By being sentenced to a corporal or ignominious punishment, unless afterwards restored to civil rights by a competent authority;

4. By residing out of the Spanish territory for the space of five successive years, without being commissioned by or having obtained leave from the government.

Art. 25. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is suspended—

1. By a judicial decree on account of moral or physical incapacity;

2. By becoming a bankrupt, or by being indebted to the treasury;

3. By being a domestic servant;

4. By having no employment, occupation, or well known means of support;

5. By being under a criminal prosecution;

6. And, from and after the year 1830, by being unable to read and write.

Art. 26. The rights of citizenship can only be lost or suspended in the cases mentioned in the two last articles.

Title III. Of the Cortes.

Chapter I. How the Cortes are to be assembled.

Art. 27. The Cortes are a meeting of all the representatives of the nation, appointed by the citizens in the manner hereafter described.

Art. 28. The basis of the national representation is the same in both hemispheres.

Art. 29. That basis is the people, composed of natives whose parents and ancestors were born in the Spanish dominions, and of those who have obtained citizenship from the Cortes, and those mentioned in the 21st article.

Art. 30. The population of the European dominions shall be computed from the census of 1797, until a new one can be made: a census of the ultramarine dominions shall also be made; for the present their population shall be computed from the most authentic census among the last made.

Art. 31. Each portion of the population amounting to seventy thousand souls, shall send one deputy to the Cortes, conformably to the provisions of the 29th article.

Art. 32. If, after a distribution of the population among the several provinces, it shall happen that in any of them there shall be a surplus of more than thirty-five thousand souls, they shall appoint another deputy in the same manner as if they amounted to seventy thousand: but if their number does not exceed thirty-five thousand, they shall have no right to appoint a deputy.

Art. 33. Any province, the population of which shall not amount to seventy thousand, but shall not be less than sixty thousand, shall appoint a deputy; but, if it be under that number, it shall be added to that of the next province, in order to complete the required number of seventy thousand. The island of St. Domingo is excepted from the provisions of this article, and shall appoint a deputy whatever be the amount of its population.

Chapter II. Of the Election of Deputies to the Cortes.

Art. 34. Electoral meetings shall be held in parishes, districts, and provinces, in order to elect deputies to the Cortes.

Chapter III. Of Electoral Meetings of Parishes.

Art. 35. The electoral meetings of parishes shall be composed of all the citizens residing in and inhabiting the respective parishes, including the secular clergy.

Art. 36. In the peninsula, islands, and adjacent possessions, these meetings shall always be held on the first Sunday of October, in the year next preceding that of the meeting of the Cortes.

Art. 37. In the ultramarine provinces they shall be held on first Sunday of December, fifteen months before the meeting of the Cortes. In both cases previous notice shall be given by the magistrates.

Art. 38. The parish meetings shall appoint one elector for each two hundred inhabitants.

Art. 39. If the inhabitants of the parish amount to more than three hundred, they shall, although not amounting to four hundred, appoint two electors; if their number is above five hundred, they shall appoint three electors, although their number shall not amount to six hundred; and so on progressively.

Art. 40. In those parishes where the number of inhabitants shall not amount to two hundred, but shall not be under one hundred and fifty, they shall nevertheless appoint one elector; and the inhabitants of those parishes whose population does not amount to one hundred and fifty shall be united to those of the next parish, and they shall together elect one or more electors, according to their numbers.

Art. 41. The parish meeting shall elect, by a majority of votes, eleven commissioners, who shall nominate one parish elector.

Art. 42. If the parish meeting shall furnish two electors, they shall elect twenty-one commissioners, and thirty-one if they have the nomination of three; and, in order to avoid confusion, the number of commissioners shall in no case exceed thirty-one.

Art. 43. It will be observed, that, for the greater convenience of small places, those parishes which contain twenty inhabitants shall nominate one commissioner; those which contain from thirty to forty shall nominate two; those which contain from fifty to sixty shall nominate three, and so on progressively. Those parishes whose inhabitants do not amount to twenty shall be joined to the next parish for the election of one commissioner.

Art. 44. The commissioners of small places thus nominated shall assemble in the most convenient town, and, being eleven, or at least nine, shall elect one parish elector. If their number amounts to twenty-one or at least seventeen, they shall elect two; if thirty one and not less than twenty-five be present, they shall elect three, and so on progressively.

Art. 45. No man can be chosen parish elector unless he is a Spanish citizen, above five and twenty years of age, and an inhabitant residing in the parish.

Art. 46. The parish meetings shall be presided over by the principal civil officer, or by the mayor of the city, town, or village where they shall be held; and, in order to give a greater solemnity to the election, they shall be assisted by the rector of the parish. And if, in consequence of the number of its parishes, two or more meetings should be held at the same time in the same city or town, one of them shall be presided over by the principal civil officer, or by one of the alcaldes, another by the other alcalde, and the rest each by one of the regidors or aldermen, to be chosen by lot.

Art. 47. The voters being assembled at the town-house, or at the usual place, they shall, at the appointed hour, headed by their president, proceed to the parish church, where the rector of the parish shall celebrate a solemn mass to the Holy Ghost, and shall deliver a discourse suitable to the occasion.

Art. 48. After divine service they shall return to the place from whence they came, and the meeting shall proceed to the nomination of two inspectors and one secretary, who shall be taken from among the voters present, the doors of the hall remaining open.

Art. 49. This being done, the president shall inquire whether any voter has a complaint to make of a bribe being offered for the election of a particular person. In that case an affidavit of the fact shall be taken in a solemn and public manner, during the sitting. The accusation being proved, the offenders shall be deprived of their rights of suffrage; and those whose accusations are unsupported by proof shall, in like manner, be deprived of the said right; and from this sentence there shall be no appeal.

Art. 50. If there should be any doubt respecting the qualifications of any citizen to vote, the meeting shall decide on it during the session, and their decision shall be carried into effect, and without any appeal therefrom.

Art. 51. The election of commissioners shall immediately follow, each voter designating a number of persons equal to that of the commissioners required; and for that purpose he shall draw near the table placed before the president, inspectors and secretary, and there shall write down their names in the presence of the said officers. No voter shall inscribe his own name on the list of candidates in any election, on pain of losing his right of voting.

Art. 52. This being over, the president, inspectors, and secretary shall carefully examine the lists, and the president shall, in an audible voice, publish the names of those who by a majority of votes have been elected commissioners.

Art. 53. Prior to the adjournment of the meeting, the commissioners elect shall withdraw to a private room, and shall proceed to nominate one or more electors for the parish which they represent, and the person or persons who shall obtain more than one half of the votes shall be appointed elector. The said election shall be afterwards published in the meeting.

Art. 54. The secretary shall make a record of the proceedings, which shall be signed by him, the president, and the commissioners, and a copy of it, authenticated by the abovementioned persons, shall be delivered to the member or members elect, as evidence of his or their election.

Art. 55. No citizen can excuse himself from any of the above public duties, under any pretense whatever.

Art. 56. No citizen shall appear at the parish meeting with side or other arms.

Art. 57. The election being verified, the meeting shall immediately be dissolved. Every other act of the said meeting shall be null and void.

Art. 58. The members of the meeting shall proceed to the parish church, where a solemn Te Deum shall be sung. The elector or electors shall be placed between the president, inspectors, and secretary.

Chapter IV. Of Electoral District Meetings.

Art. 59. The electoral district meetings shall be composed of the parish electors, who shall assemble in the chief town of the district, in order to nominate the elector or electors who are to repair to the chief city of the province to elect deputies to the Cortes.

Art. 60. In the peninsula and adjacent islands those meetings shall always be held on the first Sunday in November, in the year next preceding that of the meeting of the Cortes.

Art. 61. In the ultramarine provinces the said meetings shall be held on the first Sunday of January next following the month of December in which the parish meetings shall have been held.

Art. 62. In order to ascertain the number of electors who are to be nominated by each district, the following regulations shall be observed.

Art. 63. The number of district electors shall be three times greater than that of the deputies whom they shall have to elect.

Art. 64. If it shall happen that in one province the number of districts shall exceed that of the electors required by the next preceding article for the nomination of deputies, each district shall nevertheless nominate one elector.

Art. 65. If the number of districts shall be less than the requisite number of electors, each district shall nominate one, two, or more, until the necessary number be completed; but if one elector be still wanted, he shall be nominated by the most populous district; if two, the next most populous district shall nominate the second; and so on progressively.

Art. 66. Agreeably to the 31st, 32d, 33d, 63d, 64th, and 65th articles, the census shall determine the number of deputies to be nominated by each province, and how many electors each of its districts shall appoint.

Art. 67. The electoral district meetings shall be presided over by the principal civil officer or mayor of the chief town of the district, before whom the parish electors shall appear, provided with the proper proofs of their election, in order that their names may be inscribed on the records of the meeting.

Art. 68. On the appointed day the parish electors shall assemble, together with the president, in the consistorial hall, with open doors, and they shall proceed to the appointment of one secretary, and two inspectors, taken from among the electors.

Art. 69. The electors shall afterwards exhibit their certificates of election, that they may be examined by the secretary and inspectors, who on the next following day shall give an account of their regularity. The certificates of the secretary and inspectors shall be examined by a committee of three members of the meeting, who shall be appointed for that purpose, and who shall report on the same on the next following day.

Art. 70. On the same day, the parish electors being assembled, the reports on the certificates of election shall be read; and if any objection shall be made either to the certificates or to the electors, on account of their not having the requisite qualifications, the meeting shall, in the same sitting, decide on that subject, and there shall be no appeal from their decision.

Art. 71. This being done, the parish electors, headed by their president, shall repair to the principal church, where a solemn mass to the Holy Ghost shall be celebrated by the priest who shall stand highest in hierarchical order, who shall also deliver a discourse on the occasion.

Art. 72. After divine service the electors shall return to the consistorial hall, and take their seats without any preference. The secretary shall read this chapter of the constitution, and the president shall put the question contained in the 49th article, and every particular of its contents shall be observed.

Art. 73. Immediately afterwards the election for one or more district electors shall take place; they shall be balloted for in successive order, in a secret manner, by ballots, on which the name of the person whom each voter chooses to nominate shall be inscribed.

Art. 74. The poll being closed, the president, secretary, and inspectors shall count the votes, and that person shall be elected who shall have at least one half of them in his favour and one over. The president shall publish the result of each election. If no person shall have the absolute majority of the suffrages, the two candidates who shall have obtained the greatest number of votes shall be balloted for a second time, and he who shall have the majority in his favour shall be nominated. If two persons shall have the same number of votes, they shall draw lots.

Art. 75. No man can be chosen a district elector unless he is a citizen in the full exercise of his civil rights, above twenty-five years of age, and an inhabitant residing in the district, whether he be a layman or one of the secular clergy. The election may fall upon citizens either in or out of the meeting.

Art. 76. The secretary shall make up a record of the proceedings, which shall be signed by him, the president, and inspectors, and a copy of the same, authenticated by the above-named officers, shall be delivered to the member or members elect, as evidence of his or their election. The president of the meeting shall send another copy of the said proceedings, signed by him and the secretary, to the president of the provincial meeting, who shall cause the election to be published in the newspapers.

Art. 77. All the provisions of the 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th articles concerning parish meetings shall be observed in those of districts.

Chapter V. Of Provincial Electoral Meetings.

Art. 78. The provincial electoral meetings shall be composed of all the district electors of the province, who shall convene in the principal city, in order to nominate their respective number of deputies to the Cortes, to act as representatives of the nation.

Art. 79. In the peninsula and adjacent islands those meetings shall always be held on the first Sunday of December, in the year next preceeding that of the meeting of the Cortes.

Art. 80. In the ultramarine provinces they shall be held on the second Sunday in March of the same year in which the district meetings shall be assembled.

Art. 81. The provincial electoral meetings shall be presided over by the principal civil officer of the capital of the province, before whom the district electors shall appear, provided with the certificate of their election, in order that their names may be inscribed on the records of the meeting.

Art. 82. On the appointed day the district electors shall assemble, together with the president, in the consistorial hall, or any other building suitable to the solemnity of the proceedings, with open doors, and they shall proceed to nominate, by a majority of votes, one secretary and two inspectors from among the electors.

Art. 83. If a province has only one deputy to elect, he shall be balloted for by at least five electors, distributing that number among its districts, or forming new ones for that special purpose.

Art. 84. The four chapters of this constitution which relate to the subject of elections, and afterwards the proceedings of the district electors, transmitted by their respective presidents, shall be read. The electors shall produce the certificates of their nomination, that they may be examined by the secretary and inspectors, who on the next following day shall report thereon. The certificates of the secretary and inspectors shall be examined by a committee of three members of the meeting, who shall be appointed for that purpose, and who shall make their report on the next following day.

Art. 85. On the same day, the district electors being assembled, the reports on the certificates of election shall be read; and if any objection be made, either to the certificates or to the electors, on account of their not having the requisite qualifications, the meeting shall in the same sitting decide on that subject, and there shall be no appeal from their decision.

Art. 86. This being done, the district electors, headed by their president, shall repair to the cathedral or principal church, when a solemn mass to the Holy Ghost shall be celebrated by the bishop, or, in his absence, by the priest who shall stand highest in hierarchical order, who shall also deliver a discourse on the occasion.

Art. 87. After divine service they shall return to the place of meeting, and, with open doors, the electors shall take their seats without any preference. The president shall put the question contained in the 49th article, and every particular of its contents shall be observed.

Art. 88. Afterwards the electors present shall proceed to the election of one or more deputies, who shall be balloted for in successive order, and for that purpose each elector shall draw near the table placed before the president, inspectors, and secretary, and there shall, in the presence of said officers, write down the name of the person for whom he votes. The secretary and inspectors shall be the first to give in their votes.

Art. 89. The poll being closed, the president, secretary, and inspectors shall count the votes, and that person shall be elected who shall have at least one half of them in his favour, and one over. If no person shall have the absolute majority of suffrages, the two candidates who shall have obtained the greatest number of votes shall be balloted for a second time, and he who shall have the majority in his favour, shall be duly elected. If two persons shall have the same number of votes, they shall draw lots, and the president shall publish the result of each election.

Art. 90. After the deputies shall have been elected, the meeting shall proceed in the same manner to the nomination of substitutes, whose number shall be in each province in the proportion of one to three deputies. If a province elects no more than one or two deputies, it shall nevertheless nominate one substitute. These substitutes shall repair to the Cortes in case of the death of a deputy of a province, or of his being deemed incapable by the said Cortes, at whatever period these two events may happen after the election.

Art. 91. No man can be elected a deputy to the Cortes unless he is a citizen in the full exercise of his civil rights, above five and twenty years of age, and inhabitant of the province, and has resided therein at least seven years, whether he be a layman or of secular clergy; and the election may fall on citizens either in or out of the meeting.

Art. 92. No one can be a deputy to the Cortes who has not a suitable income of his own.

Art. 93. The provision of the next preceding article shall remain suspending until the next meeting of the Cortes shall have decided when it is to have its full effect, and shall have determined the quota of the income, from what kind of property it must proceed; and whatever they shall determine on that subject shall be a constitutional law, the same as if it was here inserted.

Art. 94. If it shall happen that the same person is elected by the province in which he was born, and likewise by that which he inhabits, his election by the latter shall prevail, and the substitute elected by the province which gave him birth shall repair to the Cortes and supply his place.

Art. 95. Ministers, counsellors of state, and those who hold offices in the king's household cannot be elected deputies to the Cortes.

Art. 96. No foreigner, though naturalized, can be a deputy to the Cortes.

Art. 97. No public functionary appointed by the government can be elected deputy to the Cortes by the province in which he exercises his office.

Art. 98. The secretary shall make up a record of the elections, which shall be signed by him, the president, and all the electors.

Art. 99. Afterwards all the electors, without exception, shall give to all the deputies, and to every one in particular, full powers in the following form, and shall deliver to each deputy that which concerns him, that he may exhibit it to the Cortes.

Art. 100. The powers shall be expressed in these words:

"In the town or city of in the year in the hall of before me the underwritten notary and the witnesses called for that purpose appeared (here insert the names of the president and of the district electors composing the provincial electoral meeting), who being convened in constitutional form, did declare and say, that the elections for parish and district electors having been duly made, agreeably to the constitution of the Spanish monarchy, and with all the forms and solemnities prescribed by the same, as it appears by the original certificates inscribed in the records, the said electors of the districts of the province of assembled on the day of the month of of the present year, have nominated the deputies who are to represent this province in the Cortes, and that the honourable N. N. N. are the persons whom they have elected for that purpose, as appears by the minutes of the said election, signed by N. N. In consequence whereof they do grant, by these presents, to all and each of them full powers to exercise and fulfil the august functions of their office, and, together with the other deputies to the cortes, agree to and propose, as representatives of the nation, all that they may deem conducive to its general welfare, by virtue of the powers vested in them by the constitution, confining themselves within the limits which it prescribes, without altering, derogating, or varying, under any pretence whatever, from any of its articles; that they, the said constituents, by virtue of the powers granted to them, as electors appointed for the nomination of deputies, do bind themselves, as well in their own names as in the name of all the inhabitants of this province, to acknowledge as lawful, and to support and obey all that the said deputies to the Cortes shall enact and resolve, agreeably to the constitution of the Spanish monarchy. Done in the presence of N.N., witnesses, who, together with the said constituents, have signed these presents, which I certify."

Art. 101. The president, electors, and secretary shall immediately send to the permanent committee of the Cortes a copy, signed by them, of the minutes of the proceedings concerning the elections, and they shall cause the result of the said elections to be printed, and shall forward a copy thereof to each town and borough of the province.

Art. 102. The salaries of the deputies shall be paid by their respective provinces at the rate which shall be determined by the Cortes, on the second year of each general deputation, for the ensuing one; and the ultramarine provinces shall allow their deputies what sum they may think necessary to cover the expenses of their outward and homeward voyages.

Art. 103. With the exception mentioned in the 328th article, the provincial electoral meetings shall conform themselves to the provisions of the 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th.

Chapter VI. Of the Assembling of the Cortes.

Art. 104. The Cortes shall meet every year in the capital of the kingdom, in an edifice appropriated to that special purpose.

Art. 105. They may, if they think it convenient, remove to another place, provided that place be not more than twelve leagues distant from the capital, and that two thirds of the deputies present shall concur in the resolution.

Art. 106. The session of the Cortes shall every year last three successive months, and shall begin on the first day of March.

Art. 107. The Cortes may only in the two following cases prorogue their sessions for at most one month longer: first, if the king shall desire it; secondly, if the Cortes deem it necessary, and two thirds of the members concur in the resolution.

Art. 108. All the deputies shall be renewed every two years.

Art. 109. If the war, or the occupancy by the enemy of any part of the territory of the monarchy, shall prevent the timely appearance of all or any of the deputies of one or more provinces, their places shall be supplied by the former deputies of their respective provinces, who shall draw lots between themselves until the number wanted be completed.

Art. 110. Deputies cannot be elected to serve a second time until another election has intervened.

Art. 111. On their arrival at the capital, the deputies shall appear before the standing committee, who shall cause their names, and that of the province by which they were elected, to be inscribed on the records of the said Cortes.

Art. 112. On the year that the deputies shall be renewed, the first preparatory meeting shall be held with open doors on the 15th day of February; it shall be presided over by the president of the standing committee, and the inspectors and secretaries shall be elected by the said committee from among its remaining members.

Art. 113. At this sitting all the deputies shall exhibit their powers, and two committees shall be appointed by a majority of votes; one, composed of five members, shall examine the powers of all deputies; the other, composed of three, shall examine those of the committee of five.

Art. 114. On the 20th of the same month, the second preparatory meeting shall be held also with open doors, and the two above-mentioned committees shall make their report on the legality of the powers, regard being had to the copies of the proceedings of the provincial elections.

Art. 115. In this sitting and those which shall be deemed necessary until the twenty-fifth day, all doubts concerning the legality of the powers and qualifications of the deputies shall be definitely settled by a majority of votes.

Art. 116. In the year next following that in which the deputies shall have been renewed, the first preparatory sitting shall be held on the 20th of February; and, until the 25th, as many others as shall be deemed necessary for the verification of the powers of the new deputies, in the form already prescribed in the three next preceding articles.

Art. 117. The last preparatory sitting shall be held every year, on the 25th day of February, on which day the following oaths shall be administered to all the deputies, who for that purpose shall put their hands upon the holy gospels. Int. Do you swear to protect and maintain the Roman catholic and apostolic religion, and not to admit any other into the kingdom? Ans. I do. Int. Do you swear faithfully to support the constitution of the Spanish monarchy, sanctioned by the general and extraordinary Cortes of the nation in the year 1812, and to prevent any attempt to violate the same? Ans. I do. Int. Do you swear faithfully to discharge the duties of the office with which the nation has intrusted you, and to have always in view the good and prosperity of this same nation? Ans. I do swear it.―If you observe your oath, may God reward you!―if not, may he call you to an account for it!

Art. 118. They shall then proceed to a private election, by an absolute majority of votes, of one president, one vice-president, and four secretaries, taken from the said deputies; which being done, the Cortes shall be considered as duly organized and constituted, and all the functions of the permanent sitting shall cease.

Art. 119. On the same day a committee, composed of twenty-two members and two of the secretaries, shall be appointed to wait upon the king, in order to inform him of the Cortes being duly constituted, and of the president whom they have elected, and that he may make known whether he shall attend the opening of the Cortes, which shall take place on the first day of March.

Art. 120. If the king shall be out of the capital, the said information shall be transmitted to him in writing, and he shall return his answer in the same manner.

Art. 121. The king shall personally attend the opening of the Cortes; but, if prevented therefrom by some cause or other, the opening shall be made by the president on the appointed day, and shall on no pretence whatsoever be postponed. The same formalities shall take place on the closing of the Cortes.

Art. 122. The king shall enter the hall of the Cortes without guards; he shall only be attended by those persons who shall be designated by the regulations of the Cortes concerning the ceremonies to be observed at his entrance and departure.

Art. 123. The king shall deliver a speech, in which he shall propose to the Cortes what he may think proper, to which the president shall answer in general terms. If the king shall not personally attend, he shall send his speech to the president, that he may read it to the Cortes.

Art. 124. The Cortes cannot deliberate in the king's presence.

Art. 125. When the ministers of state shall have any communications to make in the name of the king to the Cortes, they shall attend the debates at such times and in such manner, as shall be determined by the Cortes; the y shall have the privilege of expressing their sentiments, but shall not be present when the votes are taken.

Art. 126. The sittings of the Cortes shall be public, and the galleries shall be cleared only in those cases in which secrecy is required.

Art. 127. In the debates of the Cortes, and all that belongs to their internal order and government, the regulations which shall be made by these general and extraordinary Cortes shall be observed, without prejudice to the alterations which successive Cortes may think proper to make.

Art. 128. The persons of the deputies shall be inviolable, and they shall not be responsible in case for their opinions before any tribunal. In criminal cases they shall be amenable to the tribunal of the Cortes only, in the form and manner which shall be prescribed by the regulations for their internal government. During the sessions of the Cortes, and for one month afterwards, no deputy can be prosecuted or arrested for debt.

Art. 129. No deputy shall, during the term of his office, which shall be reckoned from the time of his election being made known to the permanent committee of the Cortes, accept for himself, nor solicit for another, any office at the king's disposal, nor even promotion, unless it be in the regular course, according to the profession which he exercises.

Art. 130. Neither shall he, while he is a member of the Cortes, and for one year after he shall have ceased to act as such, receive for himself, or solicit for another, any pension or dignities whatever at the king's disposal.

Chapter VII. Of the Powers of the Cortes

Art. 131. The Cortes shall have power―

1. To propose and decree the laws, and to explain and repeal them if necessary;

2. To administer the oath to the king, the prince of Asturias, and the regency, as prescribed under their respective articles;

3. To decide upon every question of fact or law concerning the succession to the crown;

4. To appoint a regency or a regent of the kingdom when required by the constitution, and determine the restrictions under which the regency or the regent are to exercise the royal authority;

5. To cause the prince of Asturias to be publicly acknowledged;

6. To appoint a guardian to the minor king, when required by the constitution;

7. To approve, before they are ratified, all treaties of offensive alliance and of subsidy, and special treaties of commerce;

8. To allow or forbid the admission of foreign troops into the kingdom;

9. To decree the creation or suppression of offices in the tribunals established by the constitution, and likewise of public offices;

10. To determine every year, on the king's proposal, the number of the sea and land forces, and how many are to be kept on foot in time of peace, and to what extent they shall be increased in time of war;

11. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

12. To determine the expenses of the public administration;

13. To lay annually the imposts and taxes;

14. To borrow money, when necessary, on the national credit;

15. To approve the assessment of the taxes among the several provinces;

16. To examine and approve the accounts of the expenditure of the public money;

17. To establish custom-houses and fix the rates of duties;

18. To decide what is necessary for the administration, preservation, and alienation of the public property;

19. To fix the value, weight, purity, stamp, and the denomination of the several coins;

20. To adopt a standard of weights and measures the most just and convenient;

21. To promote and favour all branches of industry, and remove all obstacles by which they might be impeded;

22. To establish a general plan of teaching for the public schools throughout the monarchy, and approve of the plan which shall be prepared for the education of the prince of Asturias;

23. To approve of the general regulations concerning the public health, and the general police throughout the kingdom;

24. To protect the political freedom of the press;

25. To enforce the responsibility of the ministers of state and other public functionaries;

26. And, lastly, to give or refuse their consent in all those cases in which it is required by the constitution.

Chapter VIII. Of the Laws, and of the Royal Sanction.

Art. 132. Every deputy has a right to propose laws, but it must be done by bill in writing, accompanied with the reasons on which it is founded.

Art. 133. The bill shall be read a second time, two days at least after it shall have been brought in, and the Cortes shall deliberate whether it shall be debated or not.

Art. 134. When admitted to debate, the Cortes may previously refer it to a committee, if in their opinion the importance of the subject requires it.

Art. 135. The bill shall be read a third time, four days at least after it shall have been admitted, and the Cortes shall appoint the day on which it shall be debated.

Art. 136. On the appointed day the bill and each of its sections shall be debated.

Art. 137. The Cortes shall decide when the bill is sufficiently debated, and, having decided that it is, they shall determine whether the question shall be taken.

Art. 138. If it be decided that the question shall be taken, it shall immediately be put to the vote, and the bill shall be admitted in whole or in part, and with such amendments as shall have been proposed during the debate.

Art. 139. The question shall be decided by an absolute majority of votes, and it shall be necessary to form a quorum that one half of all the deputies composing the Cortes and one more be present.

Art. 140. If the Cortes shall reject a bill at whatever period of the debate, or shall resolve that the question shall not be taken, it shall not be brought in again the same year.

Art. 141. If it shall have passed, it shall be drawn up in writing by duplicates in the form of a law, and shall be read to the Cortes; afterwards the two originals, signed by the president and two secretaries, shall immediately be presented to the king, by a committee appointed for that purpose.

Art. 142. The king sanctions the laws.

Art. 143. He shall sanction them in the following form, signed with his own hand: "Let it be executed into a law."

Art. 144. The king shall refuse his sanction in the following form, also signed with his own hand: "Let it be returned to the Cortes," and he shall explain his reasons for not sanctioning the same.

Art. 145. The king shall be allowed thirty days for the use of that prerogative; but, if during that period, he has not given, or refused his sanction, it shall be understood by that alone that he has given it, and he shall actually give it.

Art. 146. After the king shall have given or refused his sanction, one of the two original copies of the bill shall be returned to the Cortes for their government, and it shall be deposited in their archives; the other copy shall remain in the possession of the king.

Art. 147. If the king shall refuse his sanction, the same bill shall not be brought in again before the Cortes of that year, but may be brought in before the Cortes of another year.

Art. 148. If the same bill shall again be brought in, and be passed by the Cortes of the following year, it shall be a second time presented to the king, who shall give or refuse his sanction in the form mentioned in the 143d and 144th articles; and in the last case it shall not be brought the Cortes of that year.

Art. 149. If the same bill shall be brought in for the third time, and shall have passed in the Cortes of the following year, it shall be considered, by that alone, as having received the king's sanction; and, on the bill being presented to him, he shall in fact sanction it in the form prescribed in the 143d article.

Art. 150. If the day on which the Cortes are to close their session shall arrive before the expiration of the thirty days allowed to the king for giving or refusing his sanction, he shall give or refuse it, during the first eight days of the session of the next Cortes; and if he shall not have done it within that time, the bill shall nevertheless be considered as sanctioned, and the king shall actually sanction it in the form prescribed; but if he shall refuse to give his sanction, the said bill may be debated by the same Cortes.

Art. 151. Although one or more years may have elapsed since the king shall have refused to sanction a bill without its having been brought in again, yet, if such a bill shall be brought in, in the same legislature which originally passed it, or in one of the two immediately following legislatures, it shall be considered as the same bill in relation to the king's sanction mentioned in the three preceding articles; but if, during the three above-mentioned legislatures, the bill shall not have been brought in again, although it may afterwards be brought in in the same words, it shall be considered as a new bill with respect to the king's sanction.

Art. 152. If at the second or third time that the bill shall be brought in, within the term prescribed in the next preceding article, it shall be rejected by the Cortes, at whatever period if may afterwards be proposed, it shall be considered as a new bill.

Art. 153. The laws are repealed in the same manner, and with the same formalities, that they are made.

Chapter IX. Of Promulgating the Laws.

Art. 154. After a law shall have been published in the Cortes, the king shall be apprized thereof, and he shall immediately proceed to the promulgation of the same.

Art. 155. The king shall promulgate the laws in the following form: N. (the king's name), by the grace of God and the constitution of the Spanish monarchy, king of Spain, to all to whom these presents shall come, know ye: that the Cortes have decreed, and we do sanction the following law (here shall be inserted the literal text of the law): Wherefore, we order all the tribunals, magistrates, chiefs, governors, and other civil, military, and ecclesiastical authorities, of every rank and description, to conform themselves to the said law, and to see it maintained and executed in all its parts. You shall take the proper measures to have the said law carried into effect, printed, and published. (It shall be directed to the ministers of the several departments.)

Art. 156. All the laws shall be transmitted, in the name of the king, by the ministers of the several departments, to all and every supreme tribunal, those of the provinces, and other superior authorities, who shall transmit them to the subordinate.

Chapter X. Of the Permanent Committee of the Cortes.

Art. 157. The Cortes, before they close their session, shall appoint a committee, which shall be denominated the permanent committee of the Cortes; it shall be composed of seven persons taken from among the deputies, to wit: three deputies from the European provinces; three from those of the ultramarine dominions; and the seventh shall be chosen by lot from among the European and ultramarine deputies.

Art. 158. The Cortes shall at the same time appoint two substitutes for the said committee, one from Europe, and the other from the ultramarine provinces.

Art. 159. The functions of the permanent committee shall continue from the end of the session of one ordinary Cortes to the commencement of another.

Art. 160. The permanent committee shall have power―

1. To see that the constitution and laws have been duly observed, in order to render an account to the next Cortes of all the infractions which have come to their knowledge;

2. To convoke extraordinary Cortes in the cases prescribed by the constitution;

3. To discharge the functions mentioned in the 111th and 112th articles;

4. To give notice to the substitutes to fill the places vacated by deputies, and, in case of death or absolute inability of the deputies and substitutes of a province, to give the proper orders that the said province may proceed to a new election.

Chapter XI. Of the Extraordinary Cortes.

Art. 161. The extraordinary Cortes shall be composed of the same deputies who constitute the ordinary Cortes, during the two years for which they are elected.

Art. 162. The permanent committee shall convoke them on an appointed day in the three following cases:

1. If the crown shall be vacant;

2. If the king be unqualified, in any manner whatever, to hold the reins of the government, or shall manifest his desire to abdicate the crown in favour of his successor, the committee being in the first case authorized to take all the necessary measures to ascertain the king's inability;

3. If, in critical circumstances, or upon some peculiarly arduous business, the king shall think proper to convene them, in which cases he shall give information thereof to the permanent committee of the Cortes.

Art. 163. The extraordinary Cortes shall take cognizance of no other object but that for which they have been convened.

Art. 164. The sessions of the extraordinary Cortes shall commence and close with the same formalities that are prescribed for the ordinary Cortes.

Art. 165. The extraordinary Cortes being assembled, shall not prevent the election of new deputies at the prescribed period.

Art. 166. If it shall happen that the extraordinary Cortes have not closed their session on the day appointed for the meeting of the ordinary Cortes, the former shall cease their functions, and the latter shall resume the debate of the subject for which the former had been convoked.

Art. 167. The permanent committee of the Cortes shall continue the functions ascribed to them by the 111th and 112th articles in the case mentioned in the next preceding article.

Title IV. Of the King.

Chapter I. Of the Inviolability of the King, and of his Authority.

Art. 168. The person of the king is sacred and inviolable, and he can do no wrong.

Art. 169. The king shall be styled, his catholic majesty.

Art. 170. The executive power shall be vested exclusively in the king, and his authority shall extend to all that may be conducive to the preservation of the public order and safety of the state, conformably to the constitution and laws.

Art. 171. Besides the prerogative of sanctioning and promulgating the laws, the king shall also have power―

1. To make such decrees, regulations, and restrictions as he may think necessary for the full execution of the laws;

2. To see that justice be promptly and fully administered throughout the kingdom;

3. To declare war, and make and ratify treaties of peace, laying the same afterwards with the documents before the Cortes;

4. To appoint the magistrates of all the civil and criminal tribunals, on the nomination of the council of state;

5. To nominate to all the civil and military offices;

6. To present, with the advice of the council of state, to all bishoprics, benefices, and ecclesiastical dignities of royal patronage;

7. To grant honours and distinctions of every kind, according to law;

8. To take the command of all the sea and land forces, and appoint the generals;

9. To dispose of the armed force, and distribute the same in the most convenient manner;

10. To direct the diplomatic and commercial relations with foreign powers, and appoint ambassadors, ministers, and consuls;

11. To coin money, on which his bust and name shall be stamped;

12. To regulate the administration of the public monies in all its branches;

13. To pardon criminals according to law;

14. To propose to the Cortes the making or repealing of such laws as may be advantageous to the general welfare of the nation, in order that they may debate the subject according to the form prescribed;

15. To permit or forbid, with the consent of the Cortes, the publication of decrees of ecclesiastical councils and pontifical bulls containing provisions of general import; if they relate to particular affairs or matters involving the concerns of government, the advice of the council of state shall be taken; and if they relate to or involve subjects of litigation, the supreme tribunal of justice shall take cognizance thereof, and decree upon the same according to law;

16. To appoint and remove from office, the ministers of state and others.

Art. 172. The restrictions on the royal authority are as follows:―

1. The king shall not, under any pretence whatever, prevent the meeting of the Cortes, in the cases and at the periods prescribed by the constitution, nor suspend or dissolve them, nor in any manner whatever embarrass their sessions and deliberations. Those who shall be instrumental in the above cases, either by their advice or assistance, shall be declared traitors, and prosecuted as such;

2. He shall not go out of the kingdom without the consent of the Cortes, or else he shall be understood to have abdicated the crown;

3. He shall not alienate, grant, renounce, or transfer, in any manner whatever, the royal authority, or any of its prerogatives, to another.

If from some cause or other he shall wish to abdicate the crown in favour of his next successor, he shall be obliged to have the consent of the Cortes;

4. He shall not alienate, grant, or exchange any province, city, borough, or any other portion of the Spanish territory, however small its extent may be;

5. He shall not enter into an offensive alliance, nor make a special treaty of commerce with any foreign power, without the consent of the Cortes;

6. He shall not engage by treaty to furnish supplies to a foreign power without the consent of the Cortes;

7. He shall not transfer or alienate the national property without the consent of the Cortes;

8. He shall not of his sole authority levy any imposition, either directly or indirectly, nor demand any supplies under whatever denomination, or for any object whatever; but all grants of public money shall be directed by the Cortes;

9. He shall not grant any exclusive privilege to any person or corporation whatever;

10. He shall not take the property of any person or corporation, nor hinder or impede the free possession, use, and benefit thereof; and if at any time it shall be necessary, for an object of public utility, to take an individual's property, that man shall be indemnified, and an equivalent, to be estimated by honest and indifferent persons, shall be given to him;

11. He shall not deprive any individual of his liberty, nor of his own authority inflict upon him any punishment. The minister of state who shall have signed such order, and the judge who shall have executed it, shall be responsible therefor to the nation, and prosecuted as violators of personal liberty. He may only in cases when the welfare and safety of the state shall require it, give orders for the arrest of any person, but on condition that such person shall within forty-eight hours be delivered over to the competent tribunal or magistrate;

12. Before he shall contract marriage, he shall give notice thereof to the Cortes, in order to obtain their consent, and if he shall omit that formality, he shall be considered as having abdicated the crown.

Art. 173. The Cortes shall administer to the king on his accession to the throne, or, if he be under age, when he shall assume the reins of the government, an oath in the words following:

I, N., (the king's name) by the grace of God and the constitution of the Spanish monarchy, king of Spain, do swear by God and the holy gospels, that I will protect and maintain the Roman catholic and apostolic religion, and will not permit any other in the kingdom; that I will support the constitution and laws of the Spanish monarchy, and cause the same to be observed, and that all my actions shall be directed to its good and welfare; that I will not alienate, transfer, or dismember any portion of the kingdom; that I never will exact any produce, money, or any thing else which shall not have been decreed by the Cortes; that I will not deprive any one of his property; and, above all, that I will respect the national and individual liberty: and if I shall act in opposition to the whole or part of this my oath, my orders shall not be obeyed, and all such acts shall be null and void. May God help and defend me if I am true to my oath, and call me to an account if I violate it!

Chapter II. Of the Succession to the Crown.

Art. 174. The kingdom of Spain is indivisible; and from the promulgation of the constitution the succession to the throne shall be always taken from among the lawful descendants, male or female, in regular order of primogeniture and representation of the lives hereafter mentioned.

Art. 175. No one shall be king of Spain who was not born in lawful wedlock.

Art. 176. The males shall have the preference over the females, and the elder always over the younger, when in the same degree; but females of a nearer line or degree shall have the preference over the males of one more distant.

Art. 177. The son or daughter of the king's eldest son, in case of his father dying without having succeeded to the crown, shall have the preference over his or her uncles, and shall immediately succeed to his or her grandfather by right of representation.

Art. 178. As long as the direct line of succession shall exist, the crown shall not be vested in a collateral branch.

Art. 179. The king of Spain is our lord Don Ferdinand VII. of Bourbon, who at present reigns.

Art. 180. After Don Ferdinand VII. of Bourbon, his lawful descendants, either males or females, shall succeed to the crown, and after them his brothers or sisters, and the brothers or sisters of his father and their lawful descendants, in the order already mentioned, regard being had, as to each of them, to the right of representation, and to the preference due to the nearest line over those which are more distant.

Art. 181. The Cortes shall exclude from the succession that or those persons who shall be unqualified to govern, or who shall have by their deeds deserved to forfeit the crown.

Art. 182. If it shall happen that all the lines herein mentioned shall become extinct, the Cortes shall call another family to the throne whom they shall think most for the advantage of the nation, and the order and rules of succession already prescribed shall be followed.

Art. 183. If the crown shall fall, or has already fallen, upon a female, she shall not contract marriage without having first obtained the consent of the Cortes; and in the contrary case she shall be considered to have abdicated the crown.

Art. 184. When a woman shall wear the crown, her husband shall have no authority whatever over the kingdom, nor any share in its government.

Chapter III. Of the King's Minority, and of the Regency.

Art. 185. The king is a minor until he attains the full age of eighteen years.

Art. 186. The kingdom shall be governed by a regency during the minority of the king.

Art. 187. It shall likewise be governed by a regency if the king, from some physical or moral cause, shall be incapacitated from exercising his authority.

Art. 188. If the cause which prevents the king from holding the reins of the government shall last longer than two years, the Cortes, instead of appointing a regency, shall have the power of appointing his next successor, if he be of full age, regent of the kingdom.

Art. 189. In case the crown shall be vacant during the minority of the Prince of Asturias, the extraordinary Cortes shall assemble if the ordinary Cortes are not in session. The provisional regency shall be composed of the queen mother, if she be living, of the two deputies of the permanent committee of the Cortes the most ancient in the order of their election, and of two of the oldest counsellors of state, that is to say, the president of the council, and the next to him in seniority. If the queen mother be not living, then the third elder counsellor of state shall be one of the regency.

Art. 190. The provisional regency shall be presided over by the queen, if she be living, and, in default of her, by the eldest member of the permanent committee of the Cortes in order of election.

Art. 191. The provisional regency shall expedite no business but that which can admit of no delay, and they shall appoint and remove public functionaries only pro tempore.

Art. 192. The extraordinary Cortes being assembled, they shall appoint a regency composed of three of five persons.

Art. 193. No one can be a member of the regency who is not a citizen in the full exercise of his rights; foreigners are also excluded, although naturalized.

Art. 194. The regency shall be presided over by one of its members, on the nomination of the Cortes, who shall also decide, if necessary, whether the presidency shall be exercised by all the members by turns, or otherwise, and in what manner.

Art. 195. The regency shall exercise the royal authority in the manner which shall be prescribed by the Cortes.

Art. 196. An oath shall be administered to the provisional and permanent regency, in the form prescribed by the 173d article, with the additional clause that they shall be faithful to the king. The permanent regency shall moreover swear that they will confine themselves within the limits prescribed by the Cortes in the exercise of the royal authority; and that when the king shall be of age, or his inability shall cease, they will place the reins of government into his hands, on pain of being punished as traitors, if they shall delay but a moment so to do.

Art. 197. All the acts of the regency shall be issued in the name of the king.

Art. 198. That person shall be the guardian of the minor king whom the late king shall have appointed for that purpose by his last will and testament; and, for want of such appointment, the queen mother shall be the guardian of the minor king, whilst she shall remain a widow; and, in default of her, such guardian shall be appointed by the Cortes. In the first and last cases the guardian must have been born in the kingdom.

Art. 199. The regency shall see that the education given to the minor king be suited to his high dignity, and conformable to the plan which shall be adopted by the Congress.

Art. 200. The Cortes shall fix the compensation which shall be paid to the members of the regency.

Chapter IV. Of the Royal Family, and of the Recognition of the Prince of Asturias.

Art. 201. The king's eldest son shall be styled Prince of Asturias.

Art. 202. The other children of the king shall be styled Infants of Spain.

Art. 203. The children of the Prince of Asturias shall likewise be styled Infants of Spain.

Art. 204. No other persons but those abovementioned shall have the title of Infants of Spain.

Art. 205. The infants of Spain shall enjoy the same honours and distinctions which they have hitherto enjoyed; they shall be capable of being appointed to all offices, except those of judicature and of deputies to the Cortes.

Art. 206. The Prince of Asturias shall not leave the kingdom without the consent of the Cortes, otherwise he shall ipso facto forfeit his right to the crown.

Art. 207. He shall likewise forfeit his right to the crown by remaining abroad longer than he had been allowed, and on being required to re-enter the kingdom, refusing to comply with the summons within the time prescribed by the Cortes.

Art. 208. The Prince of Asturias, the infants and infantas, and their children and descendants, if subjects of the king, shall not marry without having first obtained his consent, and that of the Cortes, on pain of forfeiting their right to the crown.

Art. 209. An authenticated copy of the certificates of birth, marriage, and death of all the members of the royal family shall be delivered to the Cortes; and if they are not assembled, to the permanent committee, to be deposited among their archives.

Art. 210. The Prince Asturias shall be acknowledged as such by the Cortes, with the formalities which shall be prescribed by the regulations for their internal government.

Art. 211. That acknowledgement shall be made by the first Cortes assembled after his birth.

Art. 212. The Prince of Asturias, after he shall have completed his fourteenth year, shall, before the Cortes, take the following oath: "I, N. (his name) Prince of Asturias, do swear by God and the holy gospels, and that I will defend and maintain the Roman catholic and apostolic religion, and will not permit any other in the kingdom; that I will support the constitution, and that I will be faithful and obedient to the king. So help me God."

Chapter V. Of the Provision for the Royal Family.

Art. 213. The Cortes shall fix the annual provision for the king's household, which shall be commensurate to the high dignity of his person.

Art. 214. All those royal palaces belong to the king, which were possessed by his predecessors; and the Cortes shall assign such lands as they shall think most convenient for the king's sports.

Art. 215. The Cortes shall determine what sum shall be annually allowed to the Prince of Asturias from the day of his birth, and to the infants and infantas from that on which they shall be full seven years of age, for their establishment, which sum shall be commensurate to their respective dignities.

Art. 216. The Cortes shall determine what sum shall be allowed to the infantas for their dowries, when they shall marry; and, that sum being paid, the yearly provision for their establishment shall cease.

Art. 217. If the infants shall marry and reside in the kingdom, they shall continue to receive the yearly sum allowed for their establishment; but if they shall marry and reside out of the kingdom, the said yearly allowance shall cease, and a gross sum shall be paid to them, to be determined by the Cortes.

Art. 218. The yearly sum to be allowed to the queen dowager, for her establishment, shall be determined by the Cortes.

Art. 219. The compensation for the services of the members of the regency shall be paid out of the sums allowed for the establishment of the king's household.

Art. 220. At the beginning of each reign the Cortes shall fix the sums which shall be allowed for the king's household, and for the establishments of his family, as mentioned in the above articles; and during that reign no alterations shall be made therein.

Art. 221. All those sums shall be paid out of the national treasury, to the administrator appointed for that purpose by the king, and all the accounts shall be settled by the said administrator.

Chapter VI. Of the Ministers of State

Art. 222. There shall be seven ministers of state, to wit:

One for foreign relations.

One for the department of the peninsula and adjacent islands.

One for the department of the ultramarine dominions.

One for the department of justice and favours.

One for the department of finances.

One for the department of war.

One for the department of the navy.

The Cortes shall make such alterations in this arrangement as experience shall point out, or circumstances may require.

Art. 223. No one can be a minister of state who is not a citizen, in the full exercise of his rights; foreigners are also excluded, although naturalized.

Art. 224. A special regulation, approved by the Cortes, shall determine the kind of business which shall belong to each department.

Art. 225. All the king's ordinances shall be signed by the minister of state of the corresponding department.

Art. 226. The ministers of state shall be responsible to the Cortes for signing ordinances contrary to the constitution and laws, and their having been ordered by the king so to do shall not be admitted as an excuse.

Art. 227. The ministers of state shall every year produce an estimate of the funds necessary for the administration of their respective departments, and shall give in their accounts in the manner which shall hereafter be determined.

Art. 228. In order to enforce the responsibility of the ministers of state, the Cortes shall first decree that there is a cause of accusation.

Art. 229. Such decree having been issued, the minister of state shall be suspended from his functions, and the Cortes shall deliver to the supreme tribunal of justice all the documents relative to the cause; the said tribunal shall take cognizance thereof, and determine on its merits, according to law.

Art. 230. The Cortes shall fix the compensation which shall be paid to the ministers of state for their actual services.

Chapter VII. Of the Council of State.

Art. 231. The council of state shall be composed of forty persons, who shall be citizens, in the full exercise of their rights. Foreigners are excluded, although naturalized.

Art. 232. The counsellors shall be precisely of the following description, to wit: four and no more of the ecclesiastical order, distinguished for their talents and merit, two of whom shall be bishops; four and no more shall be grandees of Spain, of reputed virtue, and possessing the necessary knowledge; and the other members shall be chosen from among the subjects the most distinguished for their learning and merit, or the services they have rendered to the state in any principal branch of the administration or government. The Cortes cannot propose any person to be a counsellor of state who at the time shall be a member of their body. Twelve members at least of the council of state shall be natives of the ultramarine provinces.

Art. 233. All the counsellors of state shall be nominated by the king, on the presentation of the Cortes, in manner hereinafter mentioned.

Art. 234. The Cortes shall make out a list of each of the three classes of counsellors of state, in the proportions abovementioned, each list containing three times the number required, out of which the king shall choose the forty individuals who are to compose the council of state, taking the ecclesiastics, grandees, and the commons from their respective classes.

Art. 235. When there shall be a vacancy in the council of state, the Cortes who shall first assemble shall lay before the king a list of three persons of the corresponding class, out of whom he shall choose one.

Art. 236. The council of state is the only council of the king, who shall take their advice on arduous and important questions, and principally on the subject of giving or refusing his sanction to the laws, declaring war, and making treaties.

Art. 237. The council shall have the privilege of presenting to the king three candidates for each vacancy in ecclesiastical livings and offices of judicature.

Art. 238. The king shall make the necessary regulations concerning the government of the council of state, after having previously taken their advice, which regulations shall be laid before the Cortes, for their approbation.

Art. 239. No counsellor of state shall be removed from office, without lawful cause, which shall be certified by the supreme tribunal of justice.

Art. 240. The Cortes shall fix the compensation which shall be allowed to the counsellors of state.

Art. 241. On taking possession of their offices, the counsellors of state shall, before the king, make oath that they will maintain the constitution; that they will be faithful to him; and that their advice shall always be directed to the welfare of the nation, without regard to private interests.

Title V. Of the Tribunals and the Administration of Justice in Civil and Criminal Cases.

Chapter I. Of the Tribunals.

Art. 242. The tribunals shall have the exclusive power of applying the laws in civil and criminal cases.

Art. 243. Neither the Cortes nor the king shall in any case exercise the judicial functions; prevent the trial of pending suits; nor order a review or rehearing of adjudged cases.

Art. 244. The order of proceeding in the several causes shall be determined by the laws. It shall be the same for all the tribunals; and neither the Cortes nor the king shall deviate from it.

Art. 245. The tribunals shall exercise no other functions than those of hearing and determining causes, and of causing their judgments to be carried into execution.

Art. 246. They shall not suspend the execution of the laws, nor make any regulations concerning the administration of justice.

Art. 247. No Spaniard shall be tried by special commissions, in civil or criminal cases, but by the competent tribunal, invested by law with proper authority.

Art. 248. There shall be but one judicature for all classes of persons, in all cases, civil and criminal, not herein specially exempted.

Art. 249. The ecclesiastics shall continue under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as it now is or may be hereafter established by law.

Art. 250. The military shall likewise remain under their own jurisdiction, as is or shall be hereafter provided by law.

Art. 251. No one shall be appointed to the office of judge or magistrate who was not born in the Spanish territory, and is not full five and twenty years of age. The other requisite qualifications shall be determined by the laws.

Art. 252. The judges and magistrates shall not be removed from office, whether appointed for a limited time or for life, unless legally convicted of improper conduct; and they shall not be suspended from their functions, unless there shall be an accusation depending against them in legal form.

Art. 253. If any complaints against a magistrate shall be laid before the king, and, after a due investigation, shall appear to him to be well grounded, he may, with the advice of the council of state, suspend such magistrate from his functions; but shall refer the case to the supreme tribunal of justice, which shall decree on the merits of the case according to law.

Art. 254. The judges shall be personally responsible for their non-observance of the laws in civil and criminal cases.

Art. 255. A popular action will lie against all judges and magistrates who shall be accused of bribery, corruption, and prevarication.

Art. 256. The Cortes shall fix the compensation which shall be allowed to the judges and magistrates.

Art. 257. Justice shall be administered in the king's name, and all the decrees and mandates of the superior tribunals shall likewise be issued in his name.

Art. 258. The civil and criminal code, and that of commerce, shall be the same throughout the kingdom, without prejudice to the alterations which, in particular circumstances, the Cortes shall think necessary to make therein.

Art. 259. There shall be established in the capital of the kingdom a tribunal, which shall be denominated the supreme tribunal of justice.

Art. 260. The number of magistrates who shall compose that tribunal, as well as the place of their sittings, shall be determined by the Cortes.

Art. 261. That tribunal shall have power―

1. To adjust the controversies which shall arise between the several courts of justice throughout the Spanish territory, and those which shall arise between these courts and the special tribunals established in the peninsula and adjacent islands. In the ultramarine dominions, the like controversies shall be adjusted as the law shall direct;

2. To try the ministers of state, after the Cortes shall have decreed that there is cause of accusation against them;

3. To take cognizance of all cases relating to the dismissal or suspension of the members of the council of state and of the magistrates of the several courts;

4. To take cognizance of all criminal suits brought against the ministers and counsellors of state, and the judges of the several courts. The preparatory proceedings shall be had before the civil officer the highest in rank, who shall report the same to that tribunal;

5. To take cognizance of all criminal prosecutions against members of this supreme tribunal; and when a case shall occur in which it shall be necessary to enforce the responsibility of this supreme tribunal, the Cortes shall, in manner prescribed by article 228, proceed to the appointment of a tribunal for that purpose, which shall be composed of nine judges chosen by lot from among double that number;

6. To take cognizance of the accounts of public functionaries, who are bound to render the same by law;

7. To take cognizance of all litigious manners concerning the royal advowsons, and right of patronage;

8. To issue prohibitions to the superior ecclesiastical tribunals, and keep them within the proper limits of their jurisdiction and the law;

9. To take cognizance of appeals for errors in law, which may be interposed from the sentences of superior tribunals, to correct the errors, remit the proceedings, and enforce the responsibility mentioned above, art. 254. As to the ultramarine provinces, the correction of errors shall belong to the courts of audience, in manner and form as will be hereinafter mentioned;

10. To receive the communications of the several tribunals on the subject of their doubts respecting the proper construction of any law, and to take the king's advice thereon, laying before him the documents in their possession, that he may obtain a proper decision from the Cortes;

11. To examine the lists of civil and criminal cases, which shall be forwarded to them by the courts of audience, in order to accelerate the administration of justice; to send copies thereof to the government for the same purpose, and cause them to be printed for public information.

Art. 262. All civil and criminal suits shall be hard and determined within the territorial jurisdiction of each respective court of audience.

Art. 263. The courts of audience shall take cognizance, in the second and third instances, of all civil and criminal causes brought before the inferior tribunals within their respective districts, in the manner determined by the law; and likewise of all causes respecting the dismissal and impeachment of the inferior judges of their district, and shall report the same to the king.

Art. 264. Those magistrates who shall have heard and determined a cause in the second instance, shall not sit as judges in the third trial of the same.

Art. 265. The courts of audience shall likewise take cognizance of all controversies which may arise between the inferior judges of their district.

Art. 266. They shall moreover take cognizance of the sentences of the ecclesiastical tribunals and other authorities within their district, and keep them within proper legal limits.

Art. 267. They shall also receive from all the inferior judges within their district, notice of all criminal prosecutions, and lists of all civil and criminal causes pending in their respective tribunals, and the stage in which they are, in order to promote the prompt execution of justice.

Art. 268. In the ultramarine provinces the courts of audience shall take cognizance of appeals for errors in law; the appeal shall be made to those courts which shall have a sufficient number of magistrates to form three distinct tribunals, and have in no instance had cognizance of the cause. In those courts of audience that have not that number of magistrates, these appeals shall be interposed from one court of audience to another within the district of the same superior government; and in the case where there shall be but one court of audience in such district, the appeal shall be carried to the court of the next district.

Art. 269. The court of audience having decreed, that there is error in the proceedings appealed from, shall make a report thereof and forward the proper documents to the supreme tribunal of justice, that it may enforce the responsibility mentioned above, art. 254.

Art. 270. The courts of audience shall transmit, every year, to the supreme tribunal of justice, correct lists of all civil causes; and every six months, of all criminal cases, decided by, or pending before their respective tribunals, together with the state of forwardness of the said causes, and of those reported to them by the inferior tribunals.

Art. 271. The number of the judges who are to compose the courts of audience, and which shall never be less than seven, shall be determined by law and special regulations, as well as the rules to be observed by those tribunals, and the places where they shall be established.

Art. 272. When it shall be found convenient to make a new division of the Spanish territory, as mentioned in art. 11, the number of courts of audience shall be regulated accordingly, as well as the places in which they shall be established.

Art. 273. The districts shall be proportionably equal, and in each chief district town there shall be a judge with a competent jurisdiction.

Art. 274. The powers of those judges shall be absolutely limited to litigated cases, and the law shall determine those that shall come within their jurisdiction in the chief and other towns of their district, and to what amount they can give judgment without appeal.

Art. 275. Justices of the peace (alcaldes) shall be established in all the towns, and the law shall determine how far their power shall extend in contentious and family affairs.

Art. 276. All the judges of the inferior tribunals shall, within three days at farthest, render an account to their respective courts of audience of all the criminal causes brought before them, and they shall afterwards report the state of those proceedings at such times as shall be prescribed by the said courts respectively.

Art. 277. They shall also transmit, every six months, to their respective courts of audience, general lists of all the civil causes; and every three months, of all the criminal ones pending before their tribunal, mentioning the state of forwardness in which they are.

Art. 278. The law shall decide whether special tribunals shall be established to take cognizance of certain peculiar cases, which the law shall define.

Art. 279. The judges and magistrates, before they shall enter upon the exercise of their functions, shall take an oath to maintain the constitution, to be faithful to the king, to observe the laws, and to administer justice with impartiality.

Chapter II. Of the Administration of Justice in Civil Cases.

Art. 280. No Spaniard can be deprived of the right of having his differences terminated by arbitrators chosen by both parties.

Art. 281. Accords of arbitrators shall be carried into execution, if the parties have not reserved to themselves the right of appealing therefrom.

Art. 282. The alcalde of each town shall exercise therein the office of mediator, and in all cases of civil complaints for wrongs done or injuries received, the parties shall appear before him in that capacity.

Art. 283. The alcalde, assisted by two men of good character, appointed by each of the parties, shall hear the allegations of the parties; and, after taking the advice of the two abovementioned persons, he shall take such measures as he may think best calculated to effect a compromise, without any further proceedings; and the controversy shall in fact be terminated if the parties choose to abide by this extrajudicial decision.

Art. 284. No suit at law shall be commenced, if it shall not appear that conciliatory measures have first been resorted to.

Art. 285. All suits, of whatever consequence they may be, shall have at most three trials, and three final judgments. When two like sentences shall have been given, and the suit shall be carried to a third trial, the number of judges on that third trial shall be greater than that of those who sat on the second, in such proportion as shall be determined by law. The law shall likewise determine on general principles from the nature of the different tribunals, and of the causes to be brought before them, how and in what cases their sentences are to be put in execution.

Chapter III. Of the Administration of Justice in Criminal Cases.

Art. 286. The law shall direct how justice shall be administered in criminal cases, so that they may be regularly but speedily heard and decided, and the offenders brought to prompt punishment.

Art. 287. No Spaniard shall be arrested unless an information, or inquest of facts upon oath, has been previously taken and reduced to writing in due form of law, and unless from that inquest or information it shall appear that the offence charged subjects the offender to corporal punishment. Nor shall such arrest take place, without a special mandate from the judge, which shall be made known to the party at the time of arresting him.

Art. 288. Every person shall be bound to obey those mandates; any resistance offered thereto shall be considered as a high crime.

Art. 289. If resistance shall be offered, or if there is any reason to suspect that the offender may escape, force may be resorted to, in order to secure his person

Art. 290. The person arrested, before he is committed, shall be brought if possible before a judge, to be examined; otherwise he shall be carried to prison, and the judge shall examine him within twenty-four hours thereafter.

Art. 291. The prisoner shall not be examined upon oath; and in criminal cases, no oath shall be received from any person in his own cause.

Art. 292. Every one has a right to arrest any person or persons taken flagranti delicto, and to carry him or them before the judge, to be proceeded against as is prescribed by the next two preceding articles.

Art. 293. If there is cause for commitment, the judge shall issue his warrant to that effect in writing, stating the cause, a copy of which shall be delivered to the jailor, to be entered in his calendar. The jailor shall be made responsible if he receives any prisoner without that formality.

Art. 294. The property of an offender shall only be attached in cases involving pecuniary responsibility, and in proportion only to the extent of such responsibility.

Art. 295. No person shall be committed to prison who shall give sufficient bail, except in cases expressly provided by law.

Art. 296. At whatever stage of the prosecution, whenever it shall appear that the offence does not subject the offender to corporal punishment, he shall be set at liberty on giving bail.

Art. 297. The prisons shall be regulated so as to secure and not molest the person of the prisoners. Therefore, the jailors shall keep them clean and in good order; they shall separate those with whom the judges have forbidden all communication, but shall never confine them in dungeons or unhealthy cells.

Art. 298. The law shall direct the periods at which the prisons shall be inspected, and no prisoner, under any sentence whatever, shall be exempted from such inspection.

Art. 299. The judges and alcaldes who shall not conform themselves to the provisions of the preceding articles, shall be punished as guilty of false imprisonment, which shall be reputed a crime, and a punishment provided therefor by the criminal code.

Art. 300. Within twenty-four hours the accused shall be informed of the cause of his detention, and the name of his accuser, if there be any.

Art. 301. On the examination of the accused, all the documents shall be literally read to him, together with the depositions of witnesses, and their names, that, if they are unknown to him, hem ay know who they are.

Art. 302. The proceedings shall be afterwards published in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

Art. 303. Torture and other like compulsory means shall never be used.

Art. 304. The estates of criminals shall never be confiscated.

Art. 305. No punishment, for whatever crime, shall extend to the family of the offender for any period of time; the culprit alone shall suffer for his crime.

Art. 306. The house of a citizen shall not be entered by force, except in cases determined by law for the good order and safety of the state.

Art. 307. If afterwards the Cortes shall think proper to make a distinction between judges of fact, and judges of law, they shall establish such distinction in the most convenient manner.

Art. 308. If, in extraordinary circumstances, the safety of the state shall require that some of the formalities prescribed in this chapter, for the security of offenders, in the whole or part of the monarchy, be suspended, the Cortes shall decree such suspension for a limited time.

Title VI. Of the Internal Government of the Provinces and Towns.

Chapter I. Of Municipal Councils.

Art. 309. For the internal government of towns, there shall be municipal councils composed of the chief magistrates (alcalde or alcaldes), aldermen (regidors), and the procurator syndic, or town proctor; they shall be presided over by the principal civil officer; in default of him by the alcalde, or by him who has the oldest commission, if there are two.

Art. 310. There shall be municipal councils throughout the kingdom, even in those towns in which there is at present no such establishment. There shall be one in each town, the population of which, together with its district, amounts to one thousand souls, and proper limits shall be assigned to each township.

Art. 311. The number of persons of each class who are to compose the municipal councils shall be determined by law, according to the respective population of towns.

Art. 312. The alcaldes, regidors, and town proctors shall be elected by ballot in the several towns.

Art. 313. The citizens of each town shall assembly every year, in the month of December, in order to elect, by a majority of votes, and in proportion to their population, a certain number of electors, who shall be resident within the said town, and in the full exercise of the rights of citizenship.

Art. 314. The electors shall, in the same month, appoint by an absolute majority of votes, the alcalde or alcaldes, regidors, and town proctor or proctors, who shall enter on the exercise of their functions on the first day of January, of the following year.

Art. 315. The alcaldes shall be changed every year, as well as one half the number of regidors and town proctors, if there are two; if only one, he shall be changed every year.

Art. 316. The above-named officers shall not again be elected to the said offices, except after an interval of two years, if the population will admit of it.

Art. 317. No one shall be made an alcalde, regidor, or town proctor, who, besides being a citizen in the full exercise of his rights, is not above twenty-five years of age, and has not resided at least five years in the town; the other qualifications required to exercise such functions shall be determined by law.

Art. 318. No public functionary, appointed by the king, and in the exercise of his functions, shall be nominated to the office of alcalde, regidor, or town proctor. Those persons who serve in the militia are not included in this article.

Art. 319. No one, without a legal cause, can excuse himself from exercising the aforesaid municipal offices.

Art. 320. Each municipal council shall elect, by an absolute majority of votes, one secretary, who shall be paid out of the funds of the corporation.

Art. 321. The municipal councils shall have power―

1. To see that the town be kept clean and healthy;

2. To aid the alcalde in all that concerns the persons and property of the inhabitants, and the preservation of public order.

3. To collect and administer the corporation revenue, and excise duties, conformably to the law and regulations; also to appoint a treasurer, under the responsibility of those wo shall have elected him.

4. To assess and collect the contributions, and pay the same over into the proper treasury;

5. To superintend the grammar schools and other seminaries of learning, paid out of the funds of the corporation;

6. To oversee the hospitals, the foundling hospitals, and other charitable institutions, under such regulations as shall be prescribed;

7. To direct the construction and repairs of highways, causeways, bridges, and prisons; and also to take care of the woods and forests belonging to the township, and all public works of necessity, utility, and ornament;

8. To make municipal regulations for the town, and to transmit them to the Cortes for their approbation through the provincial council, who shall forward the same, together with their opinion thereon;

9. To promote agriculture, industry, and commerce, according to the locality and circumstances of the place, and any other thing which may be useful and advantageous to it.

Art. 322. If it shall happen that some works, or other objects of public utility, shall be wanted and that the corporation or town revenues shall not prove sufficient, and it shall be necessary to have recourse to excise duties, these shall not be levied without the previous authorization of the Cortes, communicated through the provincial council. If the object for which such duties are wanted cannot be delayed, the municipality may, with the consent of the said provincial council, lay the same pro tempore, until the determination of the Cortes be known. The monies accruing from these duties shall be administered in like manner with those proceeding from the corporation or town revenues.

Art. 323. The municipal councils shall discharge the above-mentioned duties, under the inspection of the provincial council, and shall transmit to them, every year, an authenticated account of the receipts and expenditures of the public monies.

Chapter II. Of the Civil Government of the Provinces, and of the Provincial Councils.

Art. 324. The civil government of the provinces shall be vested in a governor, or president, whom the king shall appoint in each of them for that purpose.

Art. 325. In order to promote the prosperity of the provinces, there shall be in each of them a council, which shall be denominated provincial council, and which shall be presided over by the person exercising the supreme authority within the province.

Art. 326. The provincial council shall be composed of the president and intendant of the province, and of seven members, who shall be elected as hereinafter prescribed, without prejudice to the alterations in that number which the Cortes shall think proper to make, or circumstances shall require, after the new partition of the provinces mentioned in the 11th article.

Art. 327. One half of the members of the provincial council shall be renewed every two years; the seats of the largest division shall be vacated at the expiration of the first two years, and the lesser division at the expiration of the second term; and so on progressively.

Art. 328. The members of the provincial council shall be elected by the district electors on the day after they shall have elected the deputies to the Cortes, and in the same manner.

Art. 329. They shall at the same time, and in the same manner, elect three substitutes for each provincial council.

Art. 330. No one shall be a member of a provincial council, who is not a citizen in the full exercise of his rights, is not above twenty-five years of age, and was not born, or has not resided in the province at least seven years, and has not a sufficient competency to enable him to live with decency. No functionary, appointed by the king, as mentioned in the 318th article, shall be a member of a provincial council.

Art. 331. No person shall be elected a second time, but after an interval of four years, from the time he shall have ceased to exercise his functions.

Art. 332. If, by some cause or other, the governor of the province be prevented from presiding at the provincial council, it shall be presided over by the intendant, and, on his default, by the first elected member.

Art. 333. The provincial council shall appoint a secretary, who shall be paid out of the funds of the province.

Art. 334. The provincial councils shall hold their sessions ninety days, at most, in the whole year, and these shall be fixed at the most convenient periods. In the peninsula, they shall assemble on the first day of March, and on the first day of June, in the ultramarine provinces.

Art. 335. The provincial councils shall have power―

1. To take cognizance and approve of the assessment of the taxes accruing to the province among the different towns;

2. To see that in the towns, the public money be well employed, and examine their accounts, in order that, being authenticated by them, they may obtain the superior approbation, conforming themselves, in every point, to what is prescribed by law and the regulations;

3. To see that municipal councils are established where they are required, according to the provisions of article 310.

4. To propose to the government to levy excise duties for the erection of public works of general utility, or the repairing of old ones, in order to obtain the consent of the Cortes thereto.

If, in the ultramarine provinces, the urgency of the public works shall not permit to wait for the resolution of the Cortes, the provincial council may, with express consent of the governor of the province, levy an excise duty, giving immediately an account thereof to the government, in order to obtain the approbation of the Cortes.

The provincial council shall, under its responsibility, appoint a treasurer, for the collection of the excise duty; and the accounts of the expenditures, after being examined by the provincial council, shall be transmitted to the government, to be by them certified, and finally sent to the Cortes for their approbation;

5. To promote the education of youth, agreeably to the approved plans, encourage agriculture, industry, and commerce, and favour those who shall have made useful discoveries in any branch thereof;

6. To inform the government of the abuses which they shall have perceived in the administration of the public revenue;

7. To make the census of the inhabitants, and a statistical report upon the state of the province;

8. To see that the charitable institutions answer their respective objects, and to propose to the government such regulations as they shall think most conducive to the reformation of the abuses they may have observed;

9. To inform the Cortes of all infringements of the constitution made within their province;

10. The provincial councils of the ultramarine provinces shall attend to the order, economy, and progress of the missions for the conversion of infidel Indians, and to the prevention of abuses in that branch of administration. The commissioners of such missions shall render their accounts to them, which accounts they shall in their turn forward to the government.

Art. 336. If any provincial council shall exceed its powers, the king may suspend its members from their functions, giving information thereof to the Cortes, and of the motives which induced him so to do. The substitutes shall fill up the places of the suspended members.

Art. 337. All members of municipal and provincial councils shall, on entering upon the exercise of their functions, take an oath, the former before the principal civil officer of the jurisdiction, and in his absence the most ancient alcalde; and the latter before the principal civil officer of the province, to maintain the constitution of the Spanish monarchy; to obey the laws; to be faithful to the king; and religiously fulfil the duties of their office.

Title VII. Of Public Contributions.

Art. 338. The Cortes shall every year establish or confirm the taxes, whether direct or indirect, general, provincial, or municipal. Those already established shall subsist until a law be made to the contrary, or new ones be laid.

Art. 339. The taxes shall be assessed upon all the Spaniards in proportion to their ability, without exemption or privilege.

Art. 340. They shall be proportioned to the sums decreed by the Cortes for all the branches of the public service.

Art. 341. In order to enable the Cortes to determine the sums necessary for all the branches of the public service, the minister of finance shall, as soon as they shall be in session, transmit to them a general view of the sums wanted for the general expenditure, after he shall have himself received from each of the ministers of state an account of the monies necessary to cover the expenses of their respective departments.

Art. 342. The minister of finance, in transmitting to the Cortes a general view of the sums wanted, shall also submit to them a plan of taxation commensurate with the sum required.

Art. 343. If the king shall think that any of the taxes are too heavy or prejudicial, he shall make known the same to the Cortes, through the minister of finance, and shall, at the same time, propose such other mode of raising revenue as he shall think most convenient.

Art. 344. After the amount of the direct taxes shall have been fixed, the Cortes shall give their approbation to the apportionment thereof, which shall be made between the provinces according to their respective wealth, for which purpose the minister of finance shall transmit the necessary vouchers.

Art. 345. There shall be a national treasury, out of which the proceeds of the several taxes, designed for the service of the state, shall be taken.

Art. 346. There shall be a treasury in each of the provinces, into which the taxes of the province shall be collected for the general exchequer. These treasuries shall correspond with the national treasury, and shall hold their funds subject to its order.

Art. 347. No payment made by the national treasury shall be admitted into the treasurer's account, if it has not been made by virtue of an order from the king, countersigned by the minister of finance, in which shall be explained for what service such payment is required, together with the decree of the Cortes authorizing the same.

Art. 348. In order to ensure the correctness of the accounts of the national treasury, the receipts and expenditures shall be examined by the several committees appointed for the examination of the receipts and expenditures of the public revenue.

Art. 349. Those committees shall be so regulated that they may answer the purpose for which they are instituted.

Art. 350. There shall be a superior committee of accounts, which shall be organized by a special law, and intrusted with the examination of all accounts of public monies.

Art. 351. The accounts of the national treasury, which shall contain the yearly amount of the receipts and expenditures of the public monies, shall, as soon as they have obtained the final approbation of the Cortes, be printed, published, and forwarded to the provincial and municipal councils.

Art. 352. The accounts rendered by the several ministers of state, of the expenditures of the several branches of their departments, shall likewise be printed and published.

Art. 353. No other authority, except that to which it is immediately confided, shall interfere with the management of the public monies.

Art. 354. No custom-houses shall be established, except in the sea-ports, and on the frontiers. This article shall not be put in execution until the Cortes shall have determined upon it.

Art. 355. The Cortes shall first direct their attention to the acknowledged national debt; and they shall devise the best means for its gradual extinguishment, and the payment of the interest of that which is due; and they shall also make the proper regulations for the administration of that important branch; and point out the proper measures to be taken, which shall be pursued independently of the national treasury, and of the committees of accounts.

Title VIII. Of the National Military Force.

Chapter I. Of the Standing Army.

Art. 356. There shall be a standing naval and land army for the external defence of the state, and the preservation of good order in the interior of the monarchy.

Art. 357. The Cortes shall every year fix the necessary number of troops, according to existing circumstances, and devise the best means of raising them.

Art. 358. They shall likewise determine the number of ships of war which are to be fitted out or kept in commission.

Art. 359. They shall also regulate, by means of ordinances, the discipline, pay, order of promotion, administration, and all that relates to the good order of the army and navy.

Art. 360. Military schools shall be established for the several branches of military education in the army and navy.

Art. 361. No Spaniard shall be exempted from the military service, when thereto required by law.

Chapter II. Of the National Militia.

Art. 362. There shall be in each province corps of national militia, which shall be composed of the inhabitants of the said province, in proportion to its population and circumstances.

Art. 363. The manner in which these corps shall be formed, their number, and all that relates to their constitution, shall be regulated by a special ordinance.

Art. 364. The militia shall not be kept in constant service, except when circumstances require it.

Art. 365. The king shall have power to dispose of the militia to serve within their respective provinces; but he shall not employ them out of the said provinces, without the consent of the Cortes.

Title IX. Of the Public Instruction.

Art. 366. Grammar schools shall be established in all the towns of the monarchy, where children shall be taught to read and write, arithmetic, and the catechism of the catholic religion, in which shall be included a short explanation of the duties of a citizen.

Art. 367. There shall be likewise established a competent number of universities and other institutions, where the sciences, belles lettres, and the fine arts shall be taught.

Art. 368. The general plan of instruction shall be uniform throughout the kingdom, and the civil constitution of the monarchy shall be explained in all those universities and institutions where the divine and civil laws are taught.

Art. 369. There shall be a general administration of public learning, composed of persons of known merit, who, under the authority of the government, shall be intrusted with the superintendence of the public instruction.

Art. 370. The Cortes shall, by special statutes, regulate all that belongs to the important object of public education.

Art. 371. Every Spaniard shall enjoy the right of having his political ideas written, printed, and published, without a previous licence, revision, or approbation, but under such restrictions and responsibility as the law shall determine.

Title X. Of the Observance of the Constitution, and of the Mode of Making Amendments to It.

Art. 372. The Cortes shall, in their first sessions, take into consideration the infringements of the constitution which shall have been made known to them, in order to apply the proper remedy, and enforce the responsibility of the offenders.

Art. 373. Every Spaniard has a right to petition the Cortes or the king, in order to claim the due observance of the constitution.

Art. 374. Every civil, military, or ecclesiastical public functionary, on entering on the duties of his office, shall promise on oath to maintain the constitution, to be faithful to the king, and to discharge the duties of his office with integrity.

Art. 375. After eight years shall have elapsed from the time at which all the parts of the constitution shall have been put into execution, it shall be lawful to propose alterations, additions, or amendments, to any of its articles.

Art. 376. No alteration, addition, or amendment to the constitution shall be made, unless the assembly of the Cortes who shall have finally decreed it have special powers for the purpose.

Art. 377. Every proposition for making amendments to any article of the constitution shall be made in writing, and supported and signed by at least twenty deputies.

Art. 378. The bill for the amendment shall be read three times, and there shall be an interval of six days between each reading, and after the bill shall have been read the third time, the Cortes shall determine whether it shall be debated or not.

Art. 379. The bill being admitted to debate, it shall be proceeded upon with the same formalities as are prescribed for the enactment of laws, and afterwards the vote shall be taken on the question, whether the same shall be debated anew in the next general Cortes; and to that effect it shall be necessary that two thirds of the voters shall concur in the same opinion.

Art. 380. The next following general Cortes shall, after having gone through the same formalities, and with the concurrence of two thirds of its members, declare, within the two years of their sessions, that there is cause for granting special powers to make the amendment.

Art. 381. That declaration shall afterwards be published and forwarded to all the provinces, and, according to the period at which it shall be made, the Cortes shall determine whether the deputies to the next general Cortes, or of that next immediately succeeding, shall receive the abovementioned special powers.

Art. 382. Those powers shall be granted by the provincial electoral meetings, and the following clause shall be inserted therein: "And we likewise do grant unto them the special power of making to the constitution the amendment mentioned in the decree of the Cortes, the tenor of which is as follows: (here the decree shall be inserted literally:) the whole according to what is established by the said constitution, binding ourselves to acknowledge and hold as constitutional all that shall be decreed by virtue thereof."

Art. 383. The proposed amendment shall be debated anew, and, if approved of by two thirds of the deputies, it shall be enacted into a constitutional law, and as such shall be published in the Cortes.

Art. 384. The decree shall be presented to the king by a deputation, and he shall cause the same to be published and forwarded to all the authorities and towns in the monarchy.

Cadiz, the eighteenth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twelve.