Constitution of Mexico (1824)

PREAMBLE

The Supreme Executive Power appointed provisionally by the Sovereign Congress of the Nation, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting; KNOW ye that the said Sovereign Congress has decreed and sanctioned the following:

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES.

In the name of almighty God, supreme author and legislator of society. The general constituent congress of the Mexican nation in discharge of the duties imposed upon it by its constituents in order to fix their political independence, to establish and consolidate their liberty and to promote their prosperity and glory decree as follows:

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES.

TITLE I.

ONLY SECTION. Of the Mexican Nation, its Territory and Religion.

Article 1.

The Mexican nation is for ever free and independent of the Spanish government and of every other power.

Article 2.

Its territory comprehends the former vice-royalty of New Spain, the captain-generalship of Yucatan, the former commandancies of the internal provinces of the East and West and Upper and Lower California with the lands annexed and the adjacent islands in both oceans. A constitutional law will be made for designating the boundaries of the Federation as soon as circumstances will permit.

Article 3.

The religion of the Mexican nation shall perpetually remain the Roman Catholic and Apostolic. The nation protects it by wise and just laws and prohibits the exercise of any other.

TITLE II.

ONLY SECTION. Of the form of Government of the Nation, in its integral parts, and of the division of the Supreme Power.

Article 4.

The Mexican nation adopts for the form of its government a popular representative and federal republic.

Article 5.

The constituent parts of the Federation are the following States and Territories, viz: the States of Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Texas, Durango, Guanajuato, Mexico, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Oajaca, Pueblo de los Angeles, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Sonora and Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Vera Cruz, Jalisco, Yucatan, and Zacatecas; the Territories of Upper California, Lower California, Colima, and Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. A constitutional law will fix the character of Tlascala.

Article 6.

The Supreme power of the Federation as to its exercise, is divided into the legislative, executive and judicial powers.

TITLE III. Of the Legislative Power.

SECTION I. Of its Nature, the Mode of exercising it.

Article 7.

The legislative power of the nation is confided to a General Congress, which is divided into two chambers, one for the Deputies, and the other for the Senators.

SECTION II. Of the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 8.

The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of representatives, the whole of which shall be elected every two years by the citizens of the States.

Article 9.

The qualifications of the electors shall be constitutionally prescribed by the legislatures of the states, to which it also belongs to regulate the elections conformably to the principles established by this constitution.

Article 10.

The general basis for the appointment of deputies shall be the population.

Article 11.

A deputy shall be elected for every eighty-thousand inhabitants and for every fraction exceeding forty thousand. Any state, which may not have so large a population is nevertheless entitled to one deputy.

Article 12.

A census of the whole confederation shall be taken within five years, and shall be renewed afterwards every ten years, which shall serve to designate the number of deputies to which each state is entitled. In the meantime the elections are to be regulated on the basis established in the preceding article, and the census which served to regulate the election of deputies in the congress now in session.

Article 13.

There shall also be elected in every state deputies substitutes in proportion of one for every three deputies or one for every fraction of two. States having less than three deputies will elect one substitute.

Article 14.

Every territory containing more than fifty thousand inhabitants, shall name one deputy and one substitute, who shall have voice and vote in the formation of all laws and decrees.

Article 15.

A territory not possessing the aforesaid population, shall name a deputy and a substitute, who shall have the right to speak on all subjects. The elections of the deputies from the different territories shall be regulated by a special law.

Article 16.

In all the states and territories of the Federation, the appointment of the deputies shall take place the first Sunday in the month of October next preceding the renovation, which is an indirect election.

Article 17.

As soon as the election of deputies is concluded, the electoral boards shall, through their president, forward to the council of the government evidence, in due form, of the act of election, and duly certified, and they shall notify to the persons appointed in their election, which shall serve as their credentials.

Article 18.

The president of the council of the government shall give to this evidence, spoken of in the preceding article, that direction which is prescribed by the regulations of said council.

Article 19.

In order to be appointed deputy it is necessary:
1st. To have, at the time of election, full twenty-five years.
2d. To have resided in the state from which elected full two years, or to be born in it, though residing in a different state.

Article 20.

Those not born in the territory of the Mexican nation, must, in order to be elected deputies, have resided at least eight years within the same, and possess real estate in some part of the republic worth eight thousand dollars, or some species of industry making them an income of one thousand dollars annually.

Article 21.

Are excepted from the operation of the preceding article:
1st. All those born in any part of America, which, in 1810, depended on Spain, and which has not united with any other nation, and which no longer remains dependent on Spain, for whom three years residence will suffice, provided they have the other requisites prescribed by the 19th article.
2d. All military men not born in the territory of the Republic, but who have supported with arms the independence of the country, for whom it shall be sufficient to have resided eight years in the country and to possess the qualifications required by article 19.

Article 22.

The election of deputies on account of residence shall be preferred to that made on account of birth.

Article 23.

The following cannot be deputies, viz:
1st. Those deprived of, or suspended from, the rights of citizens.
2d. The president and vice president of the Union.
3d. The members of the supreme court of justice.
4th. The secretaries of the different departments, their officers and secretaries.
5th. The officers of the treasury, whose employments extend throughout the Union.
6th. The governors of the states and territories, the commandant generals, the right reverend archbishops and bishops, the governors of the archbishops and bishops, the provisor and vicar generals, the circuit judges, and the commissary generals of war and finance for the states and territories in which they exercise their functions.

Article 24.

In order that the persons comprehended in the preceding article may be elected deputies, it is necessary that their functions should have entirely ceased six months previous to the elections.

SECTION III. Of the Chamber of the Senators.

Article 25.

The senate shall be composed of two senators from each state, elected by an absolute majority of the legislature of each state, one half of their number to be renewed every two years.

Article 26.

The senators elected in the second place shall cease to hold their places at the end of the two first years, and afterwards the most ancient.

Article 27.

When there occurs a vacancy in the senate on account of death, resignation, or other cause, such vacancy shall be filled by the legislature of the respective state, if such legislature be in session, and if not, as soon as it may be in session.

Article 28.

In order to be senator the same qualities are required, which are prescribed in the preceding section for deputy, and moreover to be thirty years at the time of the election.

Article 29.

Those who cannot be deputies cannot be senators.

Article 30.

Article 22 shall likewise govern the election of senators.

Article 31.

When the same individual is elected senator and deputy, he shall prefer the election prior in point of time.

Article 32.

The periodical election of senators shall take place in all the states on the same day, which shall be the 1st of September next, to the renewal of one-half of the senate.

Article 33.

When the election of senators concludes, the different legislatures shall forward a certificate of the same, through their presidents to the council of government, in the usual form of acts of election, and make known to the persons elected their appointment by another instrument which shall serve as a credential of their election. The president of the council of government shall dispose of these certificates of election in the manner prescribed in the 18th article.

SECTION IV. Of the Economical Functions of the two Chambers and of the Prerogatives of their Members.

Article 34.

Each chamber in its preparatory boards, and in all which has reference to its interior government, will observe the regulations which shall be formed by the present congress, without prejudice to such reforms, which may in future be introduced, if both chambers shall deem it proper.

Article 35.

Each chamber is judge of the elections of its respective members, and shall resolve all doubts which may arise relative to the same.

Article 36.

The chambers cannot open their sessions without the concurrence of more than half of all the members elected; but the members present of both chambers ought to unite on the day indicated by regulation for the interior government of both, and compel respectively their absent members to attend under the penalties prescribed by law.

Article 37.

The chambers shall communicate with each other and with the executive power by means of their secretaries, or by means of deputations.

Article 38.

Each of the chambers in their capacity of grand jurors can take cognisance of the following offences, viz:
1st. Of the President of the Union, for the crimes of treason against the national independence, or the established form government, and for bribery and corruption committed during the period of his employment.
2d. Of the same president; for acts manifestly intended to hinder the elections of presidents, senators and deputies, or to prevent them from serving in their respective employments during the periods pointed out by the constitution, or for preventing the chambers from exercising any of the powers conferred on them by the constitution.
3d. Of the members of the supreme court of justice, and the secretaries of the departments; for any offences committed during the time of their holding their employments.
4th. Of the governors of the states; for infractions of the constitution, the laws of the Union, or the orders of the President of the Federation, which are not obviously contrary to the constitution and the general laws of the Union, and also for the publication of laws or decrees of the legislatures of their respective states contrary to the same constitution and laws.

Article 39.

The Chamber of Representatives shall be exclusive grand jurors, when the President and his ministers shall be accused of acts in which the senate and the council of government have intervened by virtue of their attributes. The same chamber shall also serve as grand jurors in all cases where the vice president shall be accused of any offence committed during the time of holding his office.

Article 40.

The Chamber before which may have been made the accusations spoken of in the preceding articles, shall form itself into a grand jury, and shall declare by vote of two-thirds of its members present, if there be sufficient cause for having the accused tried, in which event he shall be suspended from office, and the cause sent to the competent tribunal.

Article 41.

Every deputy and senator has the right of presenting in writing propositions and projects of laws or decrees in his respective Chamber.

Article 42.

The deputies and senators are not responsible for any opinions which they may express in the discharge of their employments, and they can never be called to account for the same.

Article 43.

In criminal prosecutions brought against the senators or deputies from the day of their election, until two months after they shall have discharged their functions, the former cannot be accused except before the Chamber of Deputies, and the latter, except before the Senate, and in the event of similar accusations the Chamber shall form itself into a grand jury, for the purpose of determining if there be any foundation for such accusation.

Article 44.

If the Chamber, constituting the grand jury in the cases mentioned in the preceding article, should declare by the vote of two-thirds of the members present, that the accusation is well founded; the accused remains suspended from his employment, and placed at the disposal of the competent tribunal.

Article 45.

The compensation of the deputies and senators shall be determined by law, and be paid by the General Treasury of the Confederation.

Article 46.

Each Chamber as well as the boards spoken of in the 36 art., may issue such orders as it deems convenient, in order to carry into effect any resolutions adopted by virtue of the function, delegated to each by virtue of articles 35, 36, 39, 40, 44 and 45 of the constitution, and the President of the United States ought to cause them to be executed, without possessing the right of making any observations on their tenor.

SECTION V. Powers of the General Congress.

Article 47.

No resolution of the General Congress shall assume any other form than that of a law or a decree.

Article 48.

The resolutions of the General Congress, in order to have the force of a law or decree ought to be signed by the President, except in those cases excepted by the Constitution.

Article 49.

The laws or decrees, which emanate from the General Congress, shall have for their object:
1st. To sustain the national independence, and to provide for the preservation and security of the nation in its exterior relations.
2d. To preserve the Federal Union of the States, and peace and public order in the interior of the Confederation.
3d. To maintain the independence of the States among themselves, so far as respects their government according to the Constitutive act and this Constitution.
4th. To sustain the proportional equality of obligations and rights which the states possess in point of law.

Article 50.

The exclusive powers possessed by the General Congress are the following, viz:
1st. To promote instruction by securing for a limited time to authors the exclusive privilege to their works; by establishing colleges for the Marine, Artillery and Engineer Departments; by erecting one or more establishments, for the teaching of the natural and exact sciences, the political and moral sciences, the useful arts and languages; without prejudice to the rights which the states possess, to regulate the public education in their respective states.
2d. To promote the general prosperity, by decreeing the opening of roads, canals, and their improvement without hindering the states from opening and improving their own; establishing post offices and post roads, and securing for a limited time to inventors, or those who have perfected, or introduced any new invention, the exclusive privilege for their respective invention, improvements or new introductions.
3d. To protect and regulate the political liberty of the press in such a manner that its exercise can never be suspended, and much less be abolished in any of the states or territories of the confederation.
4th. To admit new states and territories into the federal union, and to incorporate the same with the nation.
5th. To regulate definitively the boundaries of the states, and terminate the differences, when they cannot agree among themselves about the lines of demarcation of their respective districts.
6th. To erect territories into states and regulate them in conformity with those already existing.
7th. To unite two or more states, upon their petition to that effect, into one, or two erect new states within the limits of those already in existence, with the approbation of three-fourths of the members present in both chambers, and the ratification of an equal number of the legislatures of the other states of the Union.
8th. To fix the general expenses, establish the contributions necessary in order to defray them, to regulate their collection, determine their expenditure, and to require annually account of the same from the government.
9th. To contract debts on the credit of the confederation, and to fix the guarantees of their repayment.
10th. To acknowledge the national debt, and indicate the means to consolidate and extinguish the same.
11th. To regulate the commerce with foreign nations, between the different states of the Union and with Indian tribes.
12th. To give instructions for the forming of Concordates with the Holy See, to approve and ratify the same, and to regulate the exercise of patronage (patronato) in the whole Union.
13th. To approve treaties of peace, alliance, friendship, confederation, armed neutrality, and all others which the President of the United States may enter into with foreign powers.
14th. To establish ports of all kinds, erect custom-houses, and designate their location.
15th. To determine and render uniform the weight, fineness, value, stamp and denomination of the coins throughout the Union, and to adopt a general system of weights and measures.
16th. To declare war, upon examining the facts presented to its consideration by the President of the United States.
17th. To establish rules for the granting of letters of marque, and for declaring valid or invalid prizes on water and land.
18th. To designate the force of the army and navy, to fix the contingent of men to be furnished by each state, to establish ordinances and rules for their organization and service.
19th. To form regulations for the organization, arming and disciplining of the local militia of the states; reserving to each state the appointment of its own officers and the faculty of instructing them according to the discipline laid down in the aforesaid regulations.
20th. To grant or refuse the entrance of foreign troops into the territory of the confederation.
21st. To permit or to refuse to squadrons belonging to foreign powers to remain for more than one month in Mexican harbors.
22d. To permit the departure of national troops beyond the limits of the republic.
23d. To create or suppress all public employments of the Federation, to fix, increase or diminish the appointed salaries, rewards, in case of retirement, and pensions of the same.
24th. To grant rewards and compensations to persons who have rendered great services to the republic, and to decree public honors in memory of great men.
25th. To grant amnesties and indulgences for offenses the cognisance of which appertains to the tribunals of the confederation, in such cases, and upon observing the prerequisites prescribed by law.
26th. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization.
27th. To establish general rules as to bankruptcy throughout the Union.
28th. To select a place of residence for the supreme powers of the Federation and to exercise in its district the attributes of the legislative power of a state.
29th. To change such residence whenever it may deem it necessary.
30th. To grant laws and decrees for the interior administration of the Territories.
31st. To dictate all laws and decrees, which may conduce to accomplish the objects spoken of in the forty-ninth article without intermeddling with the interior administration of the states.

SECTION VI. Of the Formation of the Laws.

Article 51.

The formation of all laws and decrees may begin indistinctly in either of the chambers, except those having for their object the levying of contributions or of raising taxes, which must originate in the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 52.

The following shall be considered as initiatives of laws:
1st. Propositions which the President of the United Mexican States shall deem advantageous to the Union and which as such he shall specially recommend to the Chamber of Deputies.
2d. Propositions, projects of laws or decrees, which the legislatures of the states may address to either chamber.

Article 53.

All projects of laws or decrees without any exception whatever shall be successively discussed in the two chambers, observing in both with exactness what it prescribed in the regulations as to the form of debate, as well as to the delays and modes of proceeding in voting.

Article 54.

Propositions of laws or decrees, which have been rejected in the chamber, where they originated, before the final reading cannot again be proposed by any member during the sessions of that year, nor until the ordinary sessions of the years following.

Article 55.

If the propositions of laws or decrees after having been discussed be approved by an absolute majority of the members present in both chambers, they shall be sent to the president of the United States, who if he also approves shall sign and publish the same; and if not, shall return them with his observations within ten working days to the chamber whence they originated.

Article 56.

The propositions of laws or decrees returned by the president, according to the preceding article, shall be a second time discussed in the two chambers. If in each of them, they be approved by two-thirds of the members present, they shall again be sent to the president, who without further excuse must sign and publish them; but if not approved by the votes of two-thirds of the members, they cannot again be proposed until the year following.

Article 57.

If the president should not return a proposed law or decree within the period prescribed in the 55th article, it shall be considered as approved by that very fact, and be promulgated as law; unless while the delay is not yet expired, congress should have closed or suspended its sessions, in which event the return must be made on the first day thereafter when congress shall again unite.

Article 58.

The projects of law or decrees once wholly rejected by the chamber of revision, shall be returned by said chamber to that in which it originated. If upon re-examination in the latter, it be approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall be sent back again to the chamber by which it was rejected, who shall not again reject it, unless by the vote of two-thirds of the members present.

Article 59.

All proposed laws or decrees, which, on a second examination, have been approved by two-thirds of the members of the chamber where they originated, and not disapproved by two-thirds of the chamber of revision, shall be sent to the president who must sign and circulate them, or send them back within ten working days to the chamber where they originated.

Article 60.

All propositions of laws or decrees which, according to the preceding article, the president may send back to the chamber where they originated, shall be again considered, and if they are approved by two-thirds of the members present, and the chamber of revision be not equally divided, they shall be returned to the president, who shall cause them to be published. But if in their origin they were approved by two-thirds of the chamber, or disapproved by an equal number of the chamber of revision, they cannot again be taken up except at a subsequent regular session.

Article 61.

In case they should be reproved a second time by the chamber of revision, according to article 58, the proposition shall be considered as thrown out, and it cannot again be taken up until the following year.

Article 62.

In the amendments, which the chamber of revision may make to proposed laws or decrees, the same formalities must be observed as on other subjects requiring the approbation of the president.

Article 63.

The portions of a proposed law or decree, which may be once disapproved by the chamber of revision, are subject to the same formalities as those propositions which have been wholly disapproved.

Article 64.

In the interpretation, modification, and repeal of laws and decrees the same formalities must be observed which are required for their formation.

Article 65.

Whenever any resolution of the general congress is communicated to the President of the Republic, it must be signed by the presidents of both chambers, and by a secretary belonging to each.

Article 66.

No law or decree can be formed in either chamber without the presence of an absolute majority of the members composing it.

SECTION VII. Of the Time, Duration and Place of holding the General Congress.

Article 67.

The general congress shall meet every year on the 1st of January, in the place designated by law. The regulations for the interior government of the same, shall prescribe the formalities previous to the opening of the same, as well as those to be observed at its installation.

Article 68.

The President of the Confederation shall assist at this opening, and shall pronounce a discourse suitable to this important act; to which, the presiding officer of the congress shall reply in general terms.

Article 69.

The ordinary sessions of congress shall beheld daily, without any other interruption than solemn days of festivals; and in order to suspend its meetings for more than two days, the consent of both chambers is necessary.

Article 70.

The chambers shall reside in the same place; and they cannot remove to another, without previously agreeing on such removal, as well as the time and manner of effecting it, and designating the same point for their reunion. But if both agree on the removal, but differ as to time, mode and place, the President of the States shall decide the question, by choosing one of the places in dispute.

Article 71.

The general congress shall close its sessions annually on the 15th of April, with the same formalities prescribed for its opening, with the faculty of prolonging it for thirty working days whenever they deem it necessary, or the President of the Federation may request it.

Article 72.

Whenever the general congress may unite in extra session, it shall be composed of the same deputies and senators which formed the ordinary session, and who will confine their attention exclusively to the objects for which they were convoked; but if these be not disposed of at the day appointed for the regular session, the extra session must be closed, and the points pending left to the decision of the ordinary congress.

Article 73.

The resolutions taken by congress relative to the change, prorogation, or suspension of its sessions, according to the three preceding articles, must be communicated to the president, who will cause them to be executed without making any observations thereon.

TITLE IV. Of the Supreme Executive Power of the Confederation.

SECTION I. Of the persons to whom this Power is confided, and their Election.

Article 74.

The supreme executive power is entrusted to a single individual, who shall be styled President of the United Mexican States.

Article 75.

There shall also be a vice president, who shall discharge all the duties of the president, in case of physical or moral inability of the latter.

Article 76.

In order to be president or vice president it is necessary to be born a Mexican citizen, to be thirty-five years of age at the time of election, and residing in the country.

Article 77.

The president cannot be re-elected until the fourth year after his functions have ceased.

Article 78.

He who has been elected president or vice president of the republic, will discharge these functions in preference to all others.

Article 79.

The 1st of September, of the year immediately preceding that on which the new president ought to enter his office, the legislature of each state must elect, by an absolute majority of votes, two individuals, of which one at least shall not be a resident of such a state.

Article 80.

When the vote has been taken, the legislatures shall forward to the president of the council of government, evidence of the act of election in due form, in order that he may dispose of the same in the manner prescribed by the regulations of the council.

Article 81.

On the 6th of January following, the evidence, spoken of in the preceding section, shall be opened and read in joint session of the chambers, if two-thirds of the votes of the states have been received.

Article 82.

When this evidence has been read, the senators shall retire and a committee, appointed by the chamber of deputies, and composed of one member from each state represented, shall give an account of the result.

Article 83.

The chamber shall forthwith proceed to examine the election, and enumerate the votes.

Article 84.

He who unites the absolute majority of the votes of the legislatures shall be president.

Article 85.

If two were to possess a majority, he shall be president who has the greatest number of votes, and the other vice president. In case of equality, the chamber of deputies shall elect one as president, and the other shall be vice president.

Article 86.

If neither have the absolute majority of votes of the legislatures, the chamber of deputies shall elect the president and vice president, choosing for each one having the greatest number of votes.

Article 87.

When more than two individuals possess a majority, or equal number of votes, the chamber shall choose among them the president or vice president, choosing for each one having the greatest number of votes.

Article 88.

If one have the absolute majority, and two or more an equality of votes, but greater than the rest, the chamber shall choose from those having the greatest votes.

Article 89.

If all have an equal number of votes, the chamber shall choose a president and vice president from among the whole; as also, when one has a greater number, and the rest an equal number of votes.

Article 90.

Should there be a tie, when voting upon the elections of the legislatures, the vote shall be repeated once, and if it still continues to be a tie, chance shall decide.

Article 91.

In competitions between two or more, having an equal number of votes, the voting must be directed to reduce the competitors to two or one, in order that the remaining party be placed in competition with him who has the majority of votes.

Article 92.

As a general rule, in voting for president and vice president, chance shall not be resorted to till after two votings.

Article 93.

In voting on the elections of the legislatures, as well as on the nomination of the president and vice president, the representations of each state shall have but one vote; and in order to have a decision of the chamber, there must be an absolute majority of votes.

Article 94.

In order to deliberate on the objects mentioned in the preceding article, there must concur more than one-half of the whole number of members, and three fourths of the deputies of the states.

SECTION II. Of the Duration of the Presidency and Vice Presidency, and the mode of filling Vacancies in each, and of their Oath.

Article 95.

The President and Vice President of the Union shall enter on their functions on the 1st of April; and shall vacate their offices, on the same day four years afterwards, by a new and constitutional election.

Article 96.

If from any cause whatever, the elections of president and vice president should not be completed and published by the first of April on which the installation is to take place, or the persons elected should not be ready to enter on the office, the functions of the former shall, nevertheless, cease, and the chamber of deputies, voting by states, shall elect a president ad interim.

Article 97.

In case the president or vice president be temporarily prevented, what has been prescribed in the preceding article shall take place, and if the impediment were to occur while the congress is not in session, the supreme executive power is confided to the president of the supreme court of justice and two individuals chosen by the absolute plurality of votes of the council of the government. These cannot be members of the general congress, and they ought to possess the qualifications required of the president of the Union.

Article 98.

While the elections above spoken of are making, the president of the supreme court of justice discharges the executive power.

Article 99.

In the event of perpetual impossibility of the president or vice president, congress, and in their recess the council of government, shall provide for the case according to the 96th and 97th articles, and take steps that the legislatures proceed to elect a president and vice president according to the constitutional forms.

Article 100.

The election of president and vice president made by the legislatures, in consequence of the perpetual impossibility of those holding these offices, shall not prevent the ordinary elections which take place the first of September every four years.

Article 101.

The president and vice president elected every four years, ought to be on the first of April in the place where the supreme powers of the Union reside, and take an oath before he united chambers to fulfil their duties in the following form: I, -------, appointed president (or vice president) of the United Mexican States, swear before God and his holy evangelists, that I will faithfully discharge the office which the United States have entrusted me with, and that I will observe, and cause to be observed, exactly the constitution and the general laws of the confederation.

Article 102.

If neither the president nor the vice president present themselves to take the preceding oath, and the session of congress is open, they shall take such oath before the council of government as soon as each presents himself.

Article 103.

If the vice president present himself, and take the oath before the president, he shall be at the head of government until the president has taken the oath of office.

Article 104.

The president and vice president, constitutionally appointed according to the 99th article, and the individuals provisionally appointed to exercise the functions of president according to the 96th and 97th articles, shall take the oath mentioned in the 101st article, before the chambers if in session, and if not, before the council of the government.

SECTION III. Of the Duration of the Presidency and Vice Presidency, and the mode of filling Vacancies in each, and of their Oath.

Article 105.

The president may propose to congress such new laws or reform in old laws as he may think conducive to the general good, by proposing them to the chamber of deputies.

Article 106.

The president may once, within ten working days, make observations on laws and decrees passed by the general congress, and suspend their publication until the resolution of congress, except in cases provided for by the constitution.

Article 107.

The president, while he remains in office, can only be accused before one of the chambers, and only for the offences mentioned in the 38th article, and committed at the time therein specified.

Article 108.

Within one year, counting from the time at which the office of the president ceases, he cannot be accused except before the chambers, for offences mentioned in the 38th article, as well as for all others committed during the time he was in office. When the years is passed, he cannot be accused for such offences.

Article 109.

The vice president, during the four years of his employment, can only be accused before the chamber of deputies for an offence committed during the time of such employment.

SECTION IV. Of the Attributes of the President, and the Restrictions of his Powers.

Article 110.

The attributes of the president are the following:
1st. To publish, circulate, and cause to be observed, the laws and decrees of the general congress.
2d. To make regulations, decrees, and orders for the better observance of the constitution, constitutive act, and general laws.
3d. To execute the laws and decrees having for their object the preservation of the integrity of the Union, and to sustain its exterior independence, and its interior union and liberty.
4th. To appoint and remove at pleasure the secretaries of state.
5th. To watch over the collection, and decree the appropriation of the general contributions agreeably to law.
6th. To name the heads of the treasury, the general commissaries, diplomatic agents, consuls, colonels and other superior officers of the permanent army, and of the armed and active militia, with the approbation of the senate, and in the recess, by the council of the government.
7th. To appoint the other officers of the permanent army and of the armed and active militia, and the officers of the confederation observing therein the dispositions of the law.
8th. To appoint, out of three candidates proposed by the supreme court, the judges and fiscals of the circuit and district courts.
9th. To grant discharges and furloughs, and regulate the pensions of the military, agreeably to law.
10th. To dispose of the permanent army and navy and the active militia for the interior security and external defence of the nation.
11th. To dispose of the local militia for the same objects, and even employ the same beyond the limits of their respective states and territories, after previous consent of the general congress, which shall specify the force necessary, and, if congress be not in session, the council of the government shall give its consent, and make the aforesaid specification.
12th. To declare war in the name of the United Mexican States, upon a previous decree of the general congress; grant letters of marque according to the provisions of law.
13th. To make concordats with the Apostolic See, according to the terms of the 12th power of the 50th article.
14th. To direct diplomatic negotiations, and make treaties of peace, friendship, alliance, truce, confederation, armed neutrality, commerce, and all other kinds; but in order to give or withhold ratification of the same, the approbation of the general congress is necessary.
15th. To receive ministers and other agents of foreign powers.
16th. To ask of the general congress the prorogation of their sessions for thirty working days or less.
17th. Convoke extra sessions of congress when he things it necessary, and two-thirds of the members present of the council of government shall agree to it.
18th. Also to convoke extra sessions of congress, when two-thirds of the members present of the council of government think it necessary.
19th. To see that prompt and perfect justice is administered by the supreme court and other tribunals of the Union, and that their decrees be carried into effect, according to law.
20th. To suspend from their employments, for a space not exceeding three months, and deprive of not more than half their salaries for the same period, all persons employed by the Union, who violate his orders or decrees, and, if he thinks such persons should be tried, to send them before the competent tribunals.
21st. To approve or retain decrees of councils, pontificial bulls, letters, and rescripts, with consent of the general congress, consulting the senate, and, in the recess, the council of government, when they treat on subjects peculiar to the administration, and the supreme court, when on subjects of litigation.

Article 111.

The president, in publishing the laws and decrees, shall use the following formula: "The President of the United Mexican States makes known to the inhabitants of the Republic, that the General Congress has decreed as follows: [here insert the text]." Wherefore, I order that the same be printed, published, and circulated and carried into effect.

Article 112.

The restrictions of the president's powers are the following:
1st. The president cannot command in person the army or navy without the previous consent of the general congress, or, in its recess, the council of government, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, and when he commands them with such permission, the vice president shall act as president.
2d. The president cannot deprive any one of his liberty, nor impose any punishment; when the welfare and security of the Union requires, he may, however, arrest persons, placing them, within forty-eight hours, at the disposition of competent tribunals.
3d. The president cannot occupy the property of any individual or corporation, nor disturb them in their possession or use of the same; and if in any case it should be necessary for some object of acknowledged utility to take the property of an individual or a corporation, it cannot be done without previous approbation of the senate, and in the recess, the council of government, always indemnifying the party the value fixed by appraisers chosen by himself and the government.
4th. The President cannot impede elections nor the other acts spoken of in the 38th article.
5th. Neither the President nor the Vice President can leave the republic during the time of their office, nor for a year afterwards.

SECTION V. Of the Council of the Government.

Article 113.

During the recess of Congress there shall be a Council of Government composed of half the senate, one from each state.

Article 114.

For the first two years the council shall be composed of those first elected by their respective legislatures, and in the sequel by the oldest.

Article 115.

The Vice President shall be president of the council, and he shall appoint according to his own regulation a president pro tempore to discharge his functions in his absence.

Article 116.

The attributes of this council shall be as follows:
1st. To watch over the observance of the constitution and the constitutive act and general laws, keeping a record of all incidents relating to this subject.
2d. To make such observations to the President as they deem useful to the accomplishment of the constitution and laws of the Union.
3d. To require, of their own accord, or at the request of the President, extra sessions of Congress, but in such cases two-thirds of the members present must concur, according to the 17th and 18th power of article 110.
4th. Give their consent for using the local militia, according to the 9th power of article 110.
5th. Approve of the appointments mention in the 6th power of article 110.
6th. Give its consent in the case of article 112, 1st power.
7th. Appoint two individuals, who jointly with the president of the supreme court, shall exercise provisionally the supreme executive power, according to article 97.
8th. To receive the oath of article 101, from the individuals of the supreme executive power, in the cases mentioned in the constitution.
9th. To give their opinion in the consultation with the President, according to the 21st power of article 110, and on other subjects on which he may consult them.

SECTION VI. Of the Business of Government.

Article 117.

For the despatch of the business of government of the republic, there shall be appointed such a number of secretaries as Congress may establish by general law.

Article 118.

All the regulations, decrees and orders of the President ought to be signed by the secretary of state of the department to which it belongs, and without this formality they are not to be obeyed.

Article 119.

The secretaries of state shall be responsible for all acts of the President, signed by them contrary to the constitution, the constitutive act, general laws, and the constitutions of particular states.

Article 120.

The secretaries of state shall give to each chamber, as soon as it opens, an account of the situation of their respective departments.

Article 121.

In order to be secretary of state, one must be born a Mexican citizen.

Article 122.

The secretaries of state shall form regulations for the distribution and despatch of business under their care, which shall be submitted by government to Congress for their approbation.

TITLE V. Of the Judicial Power of the Union.

SECTION I. Of the Nature and Distribution of this Power.

Article 123.

The judicial power of the Union shall reside in a supreme court of justice, and in circuit and district courts.

SECTION II. Of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Election, Duration and Oaths of its Members.

Article 124.

The supreme court of Justice shall be composed of eleven ministers, divided into three chambers, and of one fiscal, the general Congress having power to increase this number if they think proper.

Article 125.

In order to be elected member of the supreme court, it is necessary to be instructed in the science of law, in the opinion of the legislatures of the states, to have thirty-five years of age, be a natural born citizen of the republic, or born in some part of America, which prior to 1810 belonged to Spain, and which has separated from it, provided he have five years residence within the republic.

Article 126.

The individuals composing the supreme court of justice shall hold the office for life, unless removed according to law.

Article 127.

The election of members of the supreme court of justice shall take place on the same day, by the legislatures of the state by an absolute majority.

Article 128.

The elections concluded, each legislature shall send to the president of the council of the government a certified list of the twelve individuals elected, noticing him who has been appointed Fiscal.

Article 129.

The president of the council as soon as he shall have received the lists of at least three-fourths of the legislatures, shall dispose of them in the manner prescribed by the regulations of the council.

Article 130.

On the day appointed for the meeting of Congress, the said list shall be opened and read, in the presence of both chambers, after which the senators shall retire.

Article 131.

Immediately the chamber of deputies shall appoint by an absolute majority a committee, which must be composed of one deputy from each state, whose representatives are present, to which the lists must be sent, in order to verify the result, after which the chamber will verify the election and count the votes.

Article 132.

The individual or individuals uniting more than one half of the votes given by all the legislatures, and not by those of their respective members, shall be regarded as elected, and the chamber will so declare them.

Article 133.

If those uniting a majority of the suffrages spoken of in the preceding article do not amount to twelve, the same chamber shall elect successively among the individuals who have obtained the greatest number of votes of the legislatures, observing in relation to such election, what has been prescribed in the first section of Title IV, which treats of the election of President and Vice-President.

Article 134.

If a senator or deputy be elected minister or fiscal of the supreme court, he will prefer such election.

Article 135.

When a vacancy occurs in the supreme court, it shall be filled agreeably to the provisions of this section, information having been previously given to the governors and legislatures of the states.

Article 136.

The members of the supreme court, before entering into office, shall take the following oath before the president of the republic; "Ye swear by God our Lord to conduct yourselves faithfully and legally in the discharge of the duties confided to you by the nation, and if you act thus God will reward you, if not, punish you."

SECTION III. Of the Attributes of the Supreme Court.

Article 137.

The following are the attributes of the supreme court:
1st. To take cognisance of disputes, which may arise between the different states of the Union, whenever there arises litigation in relation to the same, requiring a formal decree, and that arising between a state and one or more of its inhabitants, or between individuals in relation to lands, under concessions from different states, without prejudice to the right of the parties to claim the concession from the party which granted it.
2d. To decide disputes which grow out of contracts and transactions between the supreme government and its agents.
3d. To consult upon the acceptance or refusal of papal bulls, letters and rescripts, granted on litigated points.
4th. Decide on the competency of the tribunals of the Union, and on conflicting jurisdictions between them and the state tribunals.
5th. To take cognisance:

Firstly. Of accusations against the president and vice-president according to articles 38 and 39, after the previous declaration of article 49.

Secondly. Of criminal prosecutions of the deputies and senators indicated in article 43, after the declaration spoken of in article 44.

Thirdly. Of those against the governors of the states in the cases mentioned in article 38, 3d part, after the declaration spoken of in article 40.

Fourthly. Of those against the secretaries of state agreeably to articles 38 and 40.

Fifthly. Of the civil and criminal affairs of the diplomatic agents and consuls of the republic.

Sixthly. Of causes in admiralty, prizes by land and water, and contraband; of crimes committed on the high seas; of offences against the united Mexican nation; of the officers of the treasury and justice of the Union; of infractions against the constitution and general laws, according to the dispositions of law.

Article 138.

It shall be determined by law, in what manner the supreme court shall take cognisance of the cause mentioned in this section.

SECTION IV. Mode of judging the Members of the Supreme Court.

Article 139.

To judge the members of the supreme court, the chamber of deputies shall elect every two years, in the first month of their ordinary session, and voting by states, twenty-four individuals, not members of congress, and possessing the qualifications of the members of the supreme court. From these shall be chosen by lot a fiscal, and a number of judges equal to the first chamber of the court, and when it is necessary, the chamber of deputies, and, in the recess, the council of government, shall elect in the same manner the other chambers (salas).

SECTION V. Of the Circuit Courts.

Article 140.

The circuit court of a judge skilled in law and a fiscal, both named by the supreme executive power from three candidates, designated by the supreme court, and of two associates, according to law.

Article 141.

To be circuit judge, it requires to be a citizen, and thirty years of age.

Article 142.

To these courts belong, to judge causes in admiralty; captures by land and sea, contraband; crimes committed on the high seas; offences against the United States of Mexico; suits against consuls, and civil causes in which the Union is interested exceeding five hundred dollars in value. A special law shall designate the number of these courts, the manner and form in which they ought to exercise their powers: they are under the inspection of the supreme court.

SECTION VI. Of the District Judges.

Article 143.

The United Mexican States shall be divided into a certain number of districts, in each of which there shall be a judge skilled in law (letrado), and who shall take cognisance, without appeal, of all causes in which the Union is interested, and whose value does not exceed five hundred dollars, and in the first instance of all causes which belong to the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.

Article 144.

To be judge of the district court, it is necessary to be a citizen of the Union, and twenty-five years of age. The president appoints these judges from three candidates named by the supreme court.

SECTION VII. General Rules for Administration of Justice in the States and Territories of the Union.

Article 145.

Each state shall give faith and credit to the acts, registers, and proceedings of the judges and other authorities of the other states, and congress shall establish a uniform law for proving such acts, registers, and proceedings.

Article 146.

The penalty of infamy does not extend beyond the person punished.

Article 147.

The confiscation of goods is forever abolished.

Article 148.

All judgments by commissions and retroactive laws, are forever prohibited.

Article 149.

No authority shall ever inflict the torture under any pretence.

Article 150.

No one can be confined unless there be half proof or indications of his guilt.

Article 151.

No one shall be detained on indications alone, for more than sixty hours.

Article 152.

No authority can direct the seizure and registry of papers and effects in houses, except in cases and in the form expressly prescribed by law.

Article 153.

No one is bound to accuse himself in criminal matters.

Article 154.

The military and ecclesiastic remain subject to the same laws and tribunals as heretofore.

Article 155.

o suit can be instituted, either for civil or criminal injury, without previous demand in conciliation.

Article 156.

No one can be deprived of the right of terminating his differences before arbitrators chosen by each party, in every stage of the cause.

TITLE VI. Of the States of the Federation.

SECTION I. Of the Particular Government of the States.

Article 157.

The government of each state shall be divided into three powers, viz: the legislative, executive, and judicial, and two or more of these can never be united in the same person or corporation, nor can the legislative power be vested in a single individual.

Article 158.

The legislative power of each state resides in a legislature, composed of the number of individuals determined by their particular constitutions, elected by the people, and removable at the time and in the manner they may prescribe.

Article 159.

The legislative power of each state resides in a legislature, composed of the number of individuals determined by their particular constitutions, elected by the people, and removable at the time and in the manner they may prescribe.

Article 160.

The judicial power in each state shall be exercised by the tribunals established by their constitutions, and all causes as well civil as criminal which originate in such courts must, be therein finally disposed of.

SECTION II. Of the Obligations of the States.

Article 161.

Each state is bound:
1st. To organize its government agreeably to the constitution and the constitutive act.
2d. To punish through their governors, their constitutions and laws.
3d. To cause the constitution and general laws of the Union to be observed, as well as all treaties made or to be made with foreign powers.
4th. To protect its inhabitants in the enjoyment of the liberty of writing, printing and publishing their political ideas, without license, or previous revision or approbation, causing however the laws relative to this matter to be duly observed.
5th. To surrender criminals to the governments of other states, claiming them.
6th. To surrender fugitives from other states to the persons justly claiming them or compel them in some other mode to satisfy the party interested.
7th. To contribute to the extinguishment of the debts acknowledged by congress.
8th. To send annually to each of the chambers of congress a circumstantial account of the receipts and expenditures of the treasuries in their respective districts, with the origin of each, the state of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, of the new modes of industry which might be usefully introduced and protected, as well as the population and the means of protecting and augmenting the same.
9th. To forward to the chambers, and in the recess of the council of government, and the executive power, a copy of their constitutions and laws.

SECTION III. The Restrictions of the Powers of the States.

Article 162.

No state can,
1st. Establish tonnage duties nor ports of entry without consent of congress.
2d. Impose duties on imports and exports without consent of congress.
3d. Have a standing army or navy without the consent of congress.
4th. Engage in transactions or declare war with foreign powers, resisting them however in case of actual invasion, of which immediate notice is given to congress.
5th. Enter upon any transaction with other states of the Union, without consent of congress, or its subsequent approval if it has reference to boundaries.

TITLE VII.

ONLY SECTION. Of the Observance, Interpretation, and Reform of the Constitution and the Constitutive Act.

Article 163.

All public functionaries without exception, before entering on their offices must take an oath to observe the constitution and their constitutive act.

Article 164.

Congress will enact laws to punish those violating the constitution.

Article 165.

Congress alone has the right to interpret the constitution in doubtful cases.

Article 166.

The legislatures of the states may make observations on the different provisions of the constitution and constitutive act, but congress shall take them into consideration till the year 1830.

Article 167.

The congress of the present year will select such observations as deserve to be referred to the next congress, which must be communicated to the president who will cause them to be published without any observation.

Article 168.

Next congress in the first year of its ordinary session, shall take into consideration these observations, and make such reforms as it thinks necessary. But the same congress can not propose amendments and act on them.

Article 169.

The reforms and additions which may be proposed after 1830, shall be considered by congress in the 2d year of their session, and if regarded as necessary according to the preceding articles, this resolution shall be published for the consideration of the next congress.

Article 170.

To reform or add to this constitution or the constitutive act, all the rules shall also be observed, which are required for the formation of laws except that the president shall not have the right to make the observations of article 106.

Article 171.

Those articles of this constitution and of the constitutive act which establish the liberty and independence of the Mexican nation, its religion, form of government, liberty of the press and the division of the supreme powers of the Union and of the states can be never be changed.

Given in Mexico on the 4th of October in the year of our Lord 1824, in the 4th year of Independence, 3d of Liberty and 2d of the confederation.
Lorenzo de Zavala
Representative for Yucatan, President.
Florentino Martinez
Deputy for the State of Chihuahua, Vice President.
José Ignacio Gutierrez
For the State of Chihuahua
Miguel Ramos Arizpe
Erasmo Seguin
For the State of Coahuila and Texas
Francisco Antonio Elorriaga
Pedro Ahumada
For the State of Durango
Juan Ignacio Godoy
Victor Marquez
José Felipe Vazquez
José Maria Anaya Juan Bautista Morales
José Maria Uribe José Miguel Llorente
For the State of Guanajuato
Juan Ignacio Godoy
Juan Manuel Asorrey
José Francisco de Barreda
José Basilio Guerra
Carlos Maria Bustamante
Ignacio de Mora y Villamil
José Ignacio Gonzalez Caralmuro
José Hernandez Chico Condarco
José Ignacio Espinosa
Luciano Castorena
Luis de Cortazar
José Agustin Paz
José Maria de Bustamante
Francisco Maria Lombardo
Felipe Sierra
José Cirilo Gomez y Anaya
Francisco Patiño y Domínguez
For the State of Mexico
José Maria de Izazaga
Manuel Solórzano
José Maria de Cabrera
Ignacio Rayon
Tomas Arriaga
For the State of Michoacan
Servando Teresa de Mier
For the State of Nuevo Leon
Nicolas Fernandez del Campo Victores de Manero
Demetrio del Castillo
Joaquin de Miura y Bustamante
Vicente Manero Embides
Manuel José Robles
Francisco de Larrazabal y Torre
Francisco Estevez
José Vicente Rodriguez
For the State of Oajaca
Mariano Barbosa
José Maria de la Llave
José de San Martin
Rafael Mangino
José Maria Jiménez
José Mariano Marin
José Vicente de Robles
José Rafael Berruecos
José Mariano Castillero
José Maria Perez Dunslaguer
Alejandro Carpio
Mariano Tirado Gutierrez
Ignacio Zalvidar
Juan de Dios Moreno
Juan Manuel Irrizarri
Miguel Wenceslao Gasca
Bernardo Copco
For the State of Puebla
Felix Osores
Joaquin Guerra
For the State of Queretaro
Tomas Vargas
Luis Gonzaga Gordoa
José Guadalupe de los Reyes
For the State of San Luis Potosi
Manuel Fernandez Rojo
Manuel Ambrosio Martinez de Vea
José Santiago Escobosa
Juan Bautista Escalante y Peralta
For the State of Sonora and Sinaloa
Pedro Paredes
For the State of Tamaulipas
José Miguel Guridi y Alcocer
For Tlaxcala
Manuel Arguelles
José Maria Becerra
For the State of Vera Cruz
José Maria Covarrubias
José de Jesus Huerta
Juan de Dios Cañedo
Rafael Aldrete
Juan Cayetano Portugal
For the State of Jalisco
Manuel Crecencio Rejon
José Maria Sanchez
Fernando Valle
Pedro Tarrazo
Joaquin Casares y Armas
For the State of Yucatan
Valentin Gomez Farias
Santos Velez
Francisco Garcia
José Miguel Gordoa
For the State of Zacatecas
Manuel Ortiz de la Torre
For the Territory of Lower California
José Maria Jerónimo Arzac
For the Territory of Colima
José Rafael Alarid
For the Territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México
Manuel de Vega y Cosio
Deputy for the State of Vera Cruz, Secretary
Epigmenio de la Piedra
Deputy of Mexico, Secretary
José Maria Castro
Deputy of the State of Jalisco, Secretary
Juan José Romero
Deputy of the State of Jalisco, Secretary

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

In consequence we enjoin on all tribunals, justices, commanders, governors and other authorities as well civil as military and ecclesiastical, of whatever class and dignity, that they observe and cause to be observed, accomplished and executed this present decree in all its parts. You will therefore hold it understood for its execution and take suitable dispositions to have it printed, published and circulated.
In the National Palace of Mexico, 4th October, 1824.
Guadalupe Victoria
President
Nicholas Bravo
Miguel Dominguez
A. D. Juan Guzman
Which is made known to you for your information and its accomplishment.--May God preserve you many years.
Mexico, 4th October, 1824.
Juan Guzman