ART. 34. During the present year, and last of every ten years following, Congress may augment the number of its deputies, on the basis of one for every thousand souls.
ART. 35. The election of deputies proper and substitutes, shall be holden at the same time in each and every district of the state.
ART. 36. To be eligible to the office of deputy, proper or substitute, the following qualifications at the time of the election shall be required.
First,--To be a citizen in the enjoyment of his rights.
Second,--To have attained the age of Twenty-five years.
Third,--To be domiciliated in the state, and to have resided therein the last two years immediately preceding the election.
ART. 37. Those not born within the territory of the republic, to be eligible as deputies, proper or substitutes, shall have been eight years domiciliated therein, and possess real estate to the amount of eight thousand dollars, or an industrious employment that shall yield than one thousand dollars per annum, and the qualifications provided in the preceding article.
ART. 38. Natives of any other part of America, subject to Spain in 1810, and not now annexed to any other nation, nor in subjection to the former, shall be excepted from the foregoing article, and for such three years domicil in this republic, and the requisites prescribed in article 36. Shall be sufficient.
ART. 39. The following persons cannot be deputies, proper or substitutes.
First,--The governor and vice governor of the state, and members of the executive council.
Second,--Officers of the republic.
Third,--Civil officers appointed by the executive of the state.
Fourth,--Ecclesiastics, exercising any jurisdiction or authority in the district where the election is holden.
Fifth,--Foreigners in time of war between their own country and this republic.
ART. 40. The officers of the republic, or of the state, comprised in the foregoing article, to be eligible as deputies, shall have entirely ceased in office four months previous to the election.
ART. 41. Should the same person be chosen deputy proper for two or more districts, he shall prefer the choice for that wherein he is domiciliated for the time being. Should he not be domiciliated in either, that of his native district shall prevail. Should he neither be domiciliated in, or a native of any of said districts, that of the one which the deputy chosen shall himself designate, shall be effective. In either of these cases, or in that of death, should it be impossible, in the opinion of congress, for the deputies proper to perform their functions, the respective substitute deputies shall fill their places.
ART. 42. Should the same person also prove to be elected substitute deputy for two or more districts, the same order of preference shall be observed as provided in the three first parts of the preceding article, and in the other districts that remain without a substitute deputy, the vacancy shall be filled by the one who received in the respective electoral assembly, the next highest number of votes to that of the one whose place is to be filled. In case of a tie, it shall be decided by lot.
ART. 43. The deputies during the time of discharging their duties, shall receive from the state treasury such pay as the preceding congress shall assign them, and they shall furthermore be paid the amount that said congress thinks proper for the expense they have to incur in repairing to the place of session, and in returning home after the close of the same.
ART. 44. At no time, in no case, and to no authority shall the deputy be responsible for the opinions they manifest in the discharge of their duties. In criminal actions that should be commenced against them they shall be tried by the tribunals hereinafter mentioned, and from the day of their election until the expiration of the two years term of service, they can be accused only before congress, which shall form itself into a grand jury, for declaring whether there be a just ground of action.
ART. 45. During the time of their service, reckoned for this object from the day of their election, they can obtain no office of provision of the executive, either for themselves, or request it for another, not even promotion, except by the scale in their respective career.
(Transcription, errors in original preserved)
ART. 46. For the election of deputies, municipal and district electoral assemblies shall be holden.
ART. 47. Municipal electoral assemblies shall be composed of citizens in the enjoyment of their rights, domiciliated, and resident within the limits of the respective Ayuntamiento. No person of this class shall decline attending the same.
ART. 48. Said assemblies shall be holden on the first Sunday, and day following, in the month of August of the year preceding that of the renewal of congress, for choosing district electors, who are to elect the deputies, and eight days previous, the president of each Ayuntamiento, without the necessity of awaiting any orders shall convoke the citizens of his district by the proper edict, or as the custom may be, to convene in order to hold the election at the time and in the manner this consitution provides, previously giving notice to the haciendas and ranchos of said district that it may come to the knowledge of the inhabitants thereof.
ART. 49. That the citizens may more conveniently attend, each Ayuntamiento, according to the locality and population of its territory, shall determine the number of municiple assemblies to be formed within its limits, and the public places where they shall be holden, designating to each the places corresponding thereto.
ART. 50. They shall be presided, one by the chief of police, or the Alcalde, and the rest by the other individuals of the Ayuntamiento, as it shall fall to them by lot, and in defualt of the latter, said corporation shall choose for president of the respective municipal assembly, an inhabitant of the district assigned thereto, who can read and write.
ART. 51. On the aforementioned Sunday in August, the hour of the meeting having arrived, and the citizens assembled in the place appointed, being together, the said assembly shall commence by choosing from among themselves, by majority of vote one secretary and two tellers, who can also read and write.
ART. 52. The election shall remain open on both days specified in article 48, four hours each, divided in morning and evening, and a register shall be kept in each assembly to record therein the votes of the citizens convened to choose the district electors, entering alphabetically the names of the voters and candidates.
ART. 53. To be eligible as district elector it shall be required to be a citizen in the exercise of his rights, to have attained the age of twenty-five years--to be able to read and write, and to be domiciliated and resident in the same district one year, immediately preceding the election.
ART. 54. Each citizen shall vote for the respective district electors, viva voce or in writing, in the former case the voter shall call the name of those for whom he votes, in an audible voice, and should he give in his vote in writing, the secretary shall read the ticket in the same manner, and enter the same in the register, indispensably in the presence of the voter. No person shall vote for himself in this or the other electoral acts under penalty of losing the right of voting.
ART. 55. In a district where only one deputy is to be elected, eleven, and where two or more, twenty-one electors shall be chosen.
ART. 56. Doubts or controversies that arise whether any person or persons present possess the qualifications required for voting shall be decided verbally by the assembly, and the decision shall be executed without appeal for that time and purpose only, it being understood that the doubt shall not turn upon the provision of this constitution, or other laws. Should there be a tie in resolving thereon, absolutory sentence shall be given.
ART. 57. Should complaints arise of bribery, subornation, or force to cause the election to result in favor of particular persons, the case shall be publicly and verbally canvassed and brought to a decision. Should the accusation prove to be true, the offenders shall be deprived of a voice, active and passive. False accusers shall suffer the same penalty. From this decision there shall be no appeal. Doubts in regard to the nature of the testimony shall be decided in the manner stated in the preceding particle.
ART. 58. Municipal assemblies shall be holden with open doors, without any guard and no person, of whatever class, shall appear armed therein.
ART. 59. The election on both days having terminated, the president, secretary and tellers of each assembly shall proceed to count and cast up the number of votes received by the several candidates in the register, and sign the same, which having been done the assembly shall be dissolved, and any other act in which they interfere shall not only be null, but shall be considered an offence against the public safety.--Said register shall be delivered enclosed to the secretary of the respective Ayuntamiento.
ART. 60. On the second Sunday of the month of August aforesaid, each Ayuntamiento shall convene in their respective town halls in public session. In their presence, the president, tellers and secretary of the municipal assemblies being also present, the registers shall be opened, and in view of all said registers, a general list shall be formed alphabetically, comprising all the candidates and number of votes they have received.
ART. 61. Said list and the act of the corporation that shall be written out relative to the subject, shall be signed by the president of the Ayuntamiento, and secretary of the same, and the secretaries of the assemblies. Two copies of the aforementioned list shall then be drawn off, authorized by the same persons, one of which shall be immediately posted in the most public place, and the other delivered with the corresponding official letter, signed by the president of the Ayuntamiento to two individuals whom said board shall appoint from its own body that they may proceed to the capital of the district to join those commissioned by the other Ayuntamientos, in order to make the general regulation of the votes.
ART. 62. On the fourth Sunday in August those commissioned by the Ayuntamientos shall present themselves, with the credentials of their appointment, to the chief of police, and in his default, to the first alcalde of the capital of the district, and the former or latter, as the case may be, presiding, they shall meet in the town halls in public session, and, in view of all the lists, shall form a general list of the persons chosen district electors by the citizens of their respective district, stating the number of votes they have received, and places of their residence.
ART. 63. In order to make the said general regulation of votes, the concurrence of four commissioners at least shall be required. In districts where said number cannot meet, the Ayuntamiento of the capital town shall choose from their own body the persons wanting to complete the same.
ART. 64. The citizens resulting, by this general scrutiny, to have the greatest number of votes in the list, shall be considered constitutionally chosen as electors. In case of a tie between two or more persons it shall be decided by lot.
ART. 65. The aforementioned list, and act relative to the subject shall be signed by the president, commissioners, and secretary of the Ayuntamiento of the capital of the district. Copies of both shall be drawn off authenticated by the same persons, and forwarded by the president to the permanent deputation of congress, to the governor of the state, and to the Ayuntamientos within the precincts of the district.
ART. 66. Said president shall forward the corresponding official letter forthwith to the electors chosen, in order that they may meet in the capital of the district on the day provided by the constitution, for the purpose of holding the electoral assembly of the same.
ART. 67. District electoral assemblies shall be composed of the electors chosen by the citizens in the municipal assemblies, who shall meet in the capital of the respective district to choose the deputy or deputies corresponding thereto, to meet in congress as representatives of the state.
ART. 68. Said assemblies shall be holden at the expiration of fifteen days from making the general regulation of votes mentioned in article 62, the electors convening in the town halls or in the building considered most appropriate for so solemn an act, with open doors, and without a guard, and no person, of whatever class, shall appear armed in the said assemblies.
ART. 69. They shall be presided by the police chief, and in his default, by the first alcalde of the capital of the district, commencing their sessions by choosing from their own body, by majority of vote, a secretary and two tellers; the president shall then cause the credentials of the electors to be read, which shall be the official letters, wherein they were notified of their appointment.
ART. 70. The president shall then inquire if there be any legal nullity on the part of any elector for his being such; and should it be proved in the act that there is, the elector shall loose the right of voting. The president shall afterwards also enquire if any bribery, subornation, or force has been used for the elections of any particular person, and should it be proved in the act that there has, the delinquents shall be deprived of a voice, active and passive, and false accusers shall suffer the same penalty. Doubts that arise in either case shall be decided by the assembly, in the manner mentioned in article 56.
ART. 71. The electors present shall then immediately proceed to make choice of the deputy or deputies corresponding to the district, and they shall be elected one by one by secret scrutiny, by means of slips which each elector shall deposite in an urn placed upon a table at the foot of Crucifix, after being sworn before the same, and by the president that for deputies to the congress of the state, he will give his vote for those citizens, who in his opinion possess the qualifications of education, integrity, probity, and well known adherence to the cause of the national independence.
ART. 72. On conclusion of the voting, the president, tellers and secretary shall examine the votes, and the candidate who received more than one half of the votes shall be deputy, constitutionally elected, the president declaring each election. Should no one have received the absolute majority, the two highest candidates shall be run in a second balloting. Should more than two persons have received a like respective majority, they shall all be run in the second balloting, and the same shall be done when no one has received said majority, but all an equal number of votes. In all these cases the candidate receiving the majority of votes shall be elected; should there be a tie, the balloting shall be repeated once only, and should there still be a tie, it shall be decided by lot.
ART. 73. Should one individual only have received the respective majority, and two more more persons an equal number of votes, but greater than that of all the others, to decide which of them shall run in a second balloting with the former, there shall be a second balloting between them, and othe one who should receive the most votes shall enter in a competition with the candidate who received the respective majority. In case of a tie the balloting shall be repeated, and should there still be a tie, it shall be decided by lot. In the second balloting between the ones who received the respective majority over all the candidates, and his rival, the provision made in the last part of the preceding article shall be observed.
ART. 74. When one person only has received the respective majority, and all the rest an equal number of votes, to determine which of the latter shall enter in competition in a second balloting with the former, the entire provision made in the preceding article with this view in respect to those between whom there was a tie shall be executed, and to determine also which of the rival candidates shall be elected deputy, the provision of the last part of said article shall be observed.
ART. 75. The election of deputies proper having closed, that of the substitutes shall immediately follow in the same method and form, and the latter having also terminated, a list containing the names of all the deputies elected, signed by the secretary of the respective assembly, shall be immediately posted in the most public place. The electoral act shall be signed by the president and all the electors, and the former, the secretary and tellers, shall forward copies, authenticated by themselves, to the permanent deputation of congress, to the governor of the state, and to all the ayuntamientos of the district. Said assemblies, as soon as they have performed the acts pointed out in this law, shall immediately dissolve, and any other in which they interfere shall be null, and furthermore reputed an offence against the public safety.
ART. 76. The president shall also seasonably dispatch the corresponding official letter to the deputies proper and substitutes, accompanied by an attested copy of the act, to serve them as a credential of their election.
ART. 77. No citizens shall decline discharging from any cause or pretext, the duties mentioned in this section.
ART. 78. Congress shall meet every year and hold its sessions, at the place that shall be designated by law for that purpose. When it should find it convenient to remove to another place, it may do so, provided, that two-thirds of all the deputies shall so agree.
ART. 79. The deputies shall present their credentials to the standing deputation of congress that it may proceed to examine and determine on the same, having in view the attested copies of the elections of the electoral district assemblies.
ART. 80. On the 28th of December of the year preceding that of the renewal of congress, the deputies newly elected and members of the permanent deputation shall meet in public session, and the president and secretary of said deputation shall act in said assembly. Said assembly shall discuss the subject of the legality of the credentials and qualifications of the deputies, and doubts that arise in regard to these two points shall be decided by said assembly, by majority of vote, these members of the standing deputation who have not been re-elected not having a vote.
ART. 81. The president shall then administer to the deputies the corresponding oath to respect the constitutive act, the constitution of this republic, and that of the state, and cause the same to be respected, and fully to fulfil the duties of their trust.
ART. 82. The deputies shall then proceed to elect from among themselves by ballot, and majority of all the votes, a president, vice president and two secretaries, with which the permanent deputation shall cease in all its functions, and the members thereof immediately retiring, should they not have been re-elected, the president of congress shall declare that said body is solemnly and legally established.
ART. 83. For holding all other sessions, ordinary and extra, the deputies shall meet four days previous to that of opening the same in the manner provided in the first part of article 80, in order to resolve, in the same form as mentioned in the second part of said article, upon the legality of the credentials and qualifications of the deputies that are again presented, and being approved the deputies shall immediately be sworn in as prescribed in article 81, and they shall then proceed to make choice of a president, vice president and secretaries in the same manner as provided in article 82.
ART. 84. Congress shall open its ordinary sessions on the first day of January, annually, and on the first of September, of every year following that of the renewal of congress, it being the duty of the governor to attend, in such important acts, who shall deliver a message in accordance with the state of affairs, to which the president of congress shall reply in general terms.
ART. 85. On the day following that of the opening of the ordinary sessions, the governor shall present himself to give information to congress in writing, of the state of the public administration, proposing the measures or reforms that may be made in each and every department thereof.
ART. 86. The sessions of congress shall be daily, with no other interruption than that of annual hollidays. They shall all be public, except those whereon subjects are to be treated requiring reserve, which may be private.
ART. 87. The ordinary sessions of congress, commencing on the first of January shall continue for that month, and the three following, of February, March and April, and shall not be prorogued except for one month at the longest, and in only two cases, first on petition of the governor, second, should congress itself judge necessary, and in both cases the vote of two thirds of all the members shall be required. The ordinary sessions commencing on the first of September shall continue for the 30 days of said month, and from no cause and under no pretence shall they be prolonged. Both shall be closed with the same formalities as prescribed for opening the same.
ART. 88. Congress, before closing its ordinary sessions, shall choose from its own body a permanent deputation composed of three members, proper, and one substitute which shall continue during the whole of the interval between both terms of ordinary session. The first chosen shall be president, and last member proper, secretary thereof.
ART. 89. When circumstances or business occur during the interval between both terms of ordinary session, requiring a meeting of congress, it may be convoked to extra session, provided, that by unanimous vote two-thirds of the members of the standing deputation, and of the executive council, convened for that purpose, shall so agree.
ART. 90. Should the circumstances or business that occasioned the extra convocation of congress be very weighty and urgent, the standing deputation, convened with the council and other members present in the capital, shall take the necessary temporary measures, and give notice thereof to congress as soon as it shall have convened.
ART. 91. When congress meets to hold extra sessions, the same deputies shall be called to concur therein, whose duty it is to attend the ordinary sessions of that year, and they shall be exclusively engaged upon the subject or subjects comprized in the letter of convocation; but should they not have concluded the same by the time the ordinary sessions are to be opened, the extra sessions shall be closed, and the business for which they were called, be continued in the former.
ART. 92. Holding extra sessions shall not impede the election of new deputies at the time prescribed by this constitution.
ART. 93. The extra shall be opened and closed with the same formalities as the ordinary sessions.
ART. 94. The governor shall cause all resolutions adopted by congress on removal of its residence, or prorogation of its sessions, to be executed, without making observations thereon.
ART. 95. Congress in all that pertains to its internal order and government, shall observe the rules that shall be formed by the present congress, with power to make therein, such reforms as it may judge necessary.
ART. 96. The deputies shall be entirely renewed every two years, and those of the preceding congress may be re-elected, but they shall not be obligated to accept this charge until after the interval occupied by a deputation. The deputies of the present congress shall for this time be excepted from the provision of this article, and shall not be re-elected to the next constitutional congress.
ART. 97. The following prerogatives shall belong to congress.
First,--To enact, interpret, amend or repeal the laws relative to the administration and internal government of the state in all its branches.
Second,--Regulate the votes received by citizens at the electoral district assemblies for governor, vice governor and councillors, and make choice of the same, as the case may be.
Third,--To decide by ballot the ties that occur between two or more persons in elections to said trust.
Fourth,--Resolve upon doubts that arise upon said elections, and upon the qualifications of the persons elected.
Fifth,--Examine the reasons offered by those elected for not accepting said offices, and resolve thereon as it shall think proper.
Sixth,--Form itself into a grand jury for declaring whether there be a just ground of action, both for critics of office, and for crimes in general, committed against the deputies of congress, the governor, vice governor, members of the council, secretary of state, and members of the supreme tribunal of justice of the state.
Seventh,--Render the responsibility of the said public functionaries effectual, and provide that it be exacted of the other officers as the case may be.
Eighth,--Determine every year the state expenditures in view of the pre estimates to be presented by the executive.
Ninth,--Establish or confirm the imposts, or contributions necessary for covering said expense in accordance with this constitution, and that of the republic. Regulate their collection, determine their application, and approve their distribution.
Tenth,--Examine and approve the accounts of the disposition of all the funds of the state.
Eleventh,--Contract debts in case of need, on the credit of the state, and designate guaranties for covering the same.
Twelfth,--Enact what is proper for the administration, preservation, and alienation of the property of the state.
Thirteenth,--Create, suspend or abolish public office of the state; assign, diminish or augment them their salaries, recesses, or labours.
Fourteenth,--Grant rewards or recompenses to corporations or persons who may have rendered signal services to the state, and decree public honors to perpetuate the memory of great men.
Fifteenth,--Regulate the method of recruiting the men required for the service or replacement of the companies of the standing garrison militia, of cavalry, or of active militia, belonging to the same auxiliary arm of defence as the former, which are destined to the defence of the state by their institution, and approve of the allotments made among the towns of the state, of the portions that respectively belong to them for fulfilling that object.
Sixteenth,--Enact what is proper for the enrollment and instruction of the civic militia of the state, and appointment of its officers agreeably to the discipline that is now, or shall be hereafter prescribed by general law.
Seventeenth,--Promote and encourage public knowledge and education by laws and the progress of the sciences, arts, and useful establishments, removing the obstacles that retard such commendable objects.
Eighteenth,--Protect the political liberty of the press.
Nineteenth,--Intervene, and give or withhold its consent in all those acts and cases wherein it is provided in this constitution.
ART. 98. The following shall be the powers of the standing deputation
First,--To watch over the observance of the constitutive act, constitution and general laws of union, and the private laws of the state in order to give notice to congress of the violations it may have noticed.
Second,--Convoke congress to extra session as the case may be and in the manner prescribed by this constitution.
Third,--Discharge the functions assigned it in articles 79 and 80.
Fourth,--Notify substitute deputies in order that they may join congress in their turn in lieu of the deputies proper, and in case of default or absolute impossibility of both, communicate the corresponding orders to their respective district, that it may proceed to a new election.
Fifth,--Receive the certified copies of the acts of election of the electoral district assemblies for governor, vice governor, and members of the executive council, and deliver them to congress as soon as it is installed.
ART. 99. The form, intervals, and mode of proceeding in discussion and in voting on projects of law or decree shall be provided in the internal rules of congress.
ART. 100. No project of law or decrees that should be rejected according to the rules, shall be again proposed until the ordinary sessions of the year following; but this shall not prevent any one or more of their articles from forming a part of other projects not rejected.
ART. 101. One more than the half of the entire number of deputies shall form a quorum for dictating measures and steps not possessing the character of law or decree. For discussing and voting upon projects of law or decree, and dictating orders of great importance, the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members shall be required.
ART. 102. Should a project of law or decree, after being discussed, be approved, it shall be communicated to the governor, who should he also approve it, shall immediately proceed to promulgate and circulate the same with the corresponding formalities; but should he not, he may make thereon such observations as he may deem proper, previously hearing the council, and shall return the same with his remarks to congress within ten available days, reckoned from its reception.
ART. 103. The projects of law or decree returned by the governor according to the preceding article shall be discussed the second time, and the public speaker, whom the executive should designate, may attend the discussion. Should they be approved by two-thirds of the members present, in this second discussion, they shall be again communicated to the governor, who without objecting, shall immediately proceed to their formal promulgation and circulation, but should the said projects not be approved in this form, they cannot be again proposed until the sessions of the year following.
ART. 104. Should any project of law or decree not be returned by the governor within the time assigned in article 102, it shall be considered from that very fact as sanctioned, and shall be promulgated as such, unless congress should have closed or suspended its sessions during said term, in which case it shall be returned on the first day of the next term of session.
ART. 105. Laws shall be repealed with the same formalities and by the same steps as they are established.
ART. 106. The electoral district assemblies, on the same day, and in the same method they must perform the election of deputies to the state congress, shall proceed to elect the individuals who are to elect the deputies to the general congress, choosing, for every seven thousand souls, one person possessing the qualifications required by article 53 of this constitution. In districts wherein there proves to be an excess of population of more than three thousand five hundred souls, for this fraction another elector shall be chosen, and in those whose population does not amount to seven thousand, one shall be chosen notwithstanding. The election having closed, said juntas shall forward a certified copy of their act to the vice governor of the state, and also the corresponding attested copy to each person elected, to serve him as a credential.
ART. 107. The electors thus chosen shall repair to the capitol of the state where they shall present themselves to the vice governor, or person acting in his stead, and convening under the presidence of either three days previous to the first Sunday of October, in public session, in the building they consider most appropriate, they shall choose from among themselves two tellers and a secretary that they may examine the credentials, and report on the day following whether they are in conformity of law. A committee of three persons shall likewise be chosen, to examine the credentials of the secretary and tellers.
ART. 108. On the day following they shall again assemble, the minutes shall be read, and should any defect be found in the credentials or qualifications of the electors, the meeting shall decide without adjourning, and the resolution thereof shall be carried into effect without appeal, for that time and case only, it being understood that the doubt cannot turn upon any provision in this or any other law.
ART. 109. On the first Sunday of the aforementioned month of October, the electors having convened, and one more than the half of them all being present, in the form provided by this constitution for the election of deputies to the state congress, they shall proceed to the election of those who are to represent the state in the general congress. This having been concluded, the meeting shall make the proper provision for complying with article 17 of the federal constitution, and it shall then dissolve.
Title I, Section I, Articles 33-39
Title I, Section I, Articles 40-45; Title I, Section II, Article 46
Title I, Section II, Articles 47-54
Title I, Section II, Articles 54-61
Title I, Section II, Articles 61-69
Title I, Section II, Articles 69-74
Title I, Section II, Articles 74-77; Title I, Section III, Articles 78-81
Title I, Section III, Articles 82-89
Title I, Section III, Articles 89-96; Section IV, Article 97
Title I, Section IV, Article 97
Title I, Section IV, Article 98; Section V, Articles 99-103
Title I, Section V, Articles 103-105; Title I, Appendix, Articles 106-109
Title I, Appendix, Article 109; Title II, Section I, Articles 110-113
