Translation:Revision of the Haitian Constitution of 1806

by A. D. Sabourin et al.

REVISION
OF THE
HAITIAN
CONSTITUTION
OF
1806.

AT PORT-AU-PRINCE.
FROM THE GOVERNMENT PRESS.

(1816.)

REVISION
OF TITLES I. II. III. IV. V. VI.
VII. VIII. X. and XI. of the
Constitution of 1806, proposed by the
Senate in its Address to the People,

on the date of last February 6.

THE HAYTIAN PEOPLE proclaim, in the presence of the Supreme Being, the present Constitution of the Republic of Haïti, in order to consecrate forever its Liberty and its Independence.

FIRST TITLE.

GENERAL DISPOSITIONS.

FIRST ARTICLE

There cannot exist slaves within the territory of the Republic: slavery is forever abolished.

2.

All debt contracted for the acquisition of men is extinguished forever.

3.

The right of asylum is sacred and inviolable within the Republic, save in case of exception provided by law.

4.

The Government of Haïti is never hereditary it is elective.

5.

The Republic of Haïti will never form any enterprise with the view either to make conquests or to trouble the peace and internal order of foreign States or Islands.

6.

The rights of man in society are Liberty, Equality, Security, and Property.

7.

Liberty consists of the power to do that which does not harm the rights of others.

8.

Equality consists in this that the law is the same for all, whether it protects, whether it punishes.

Equality does not admit any distinction of birth, any inheritance of powers.

9.

Security results from the agreement of all in order to assure the rights of each.

10.

Property is the right to enjoy and to dispose of [one's] revenues, of his goods, of the fruit of his work and of his industry.

11.

Property is inviolable and sacred; every person either by himself, or by his representatives, has free disposition of that which is acknowledged to belong to him. Anyone who violates this right renders himself criminal to the law and responsible to the person troubled in his property.

12.

The law is the general will expressed by the majority of the Citizens or of their Representatives.

13.

That which is not forbidden by law cannot be prevented; none can be compelled to do that which it does not order.

14.

The city of Port-au-Prince is declared Capital of the Republic and the seat of Government.

15.

No civil or criminal law can have retroactive effect.

16.

Sovereignty resides essentially in the totality of the Citizens; no individual, no partial assembly of Citizens can attribute it to themselves.

17.

None can, without legal delegation, exercise any authority or fill any public office.

18.

Public offices cannot become the property of those who exercise them.

19.

The social contract cannot exist, if the division of powers is not established, if their limits are not fixed, and if the responsibilities of officers are not assured.

20.

All the duties of man and of citizenship derive from these two principles engraved by nature into all hearts: Do not unto others that which you do not wish them to do unto you. Do constantly unto others all the good which you might wish to receive yourself.

21.

The obligations of each to society consist in defending, serving, and living in accordance with the laws, and respecting those who are its organs.

22.

No one is a good citizen if he is not a good son, good father, good brother, good friend, good husband.

23.

No one is a good man if he is not frankly and religiously an observer of the laws.

24.

Those who overtly violate the laws declare themselves to be in a state of war against society.

25.

Those who, without openly violating the laws, evade them through ruse or through phrasing, harm the interests of all and render themselves unworthy of benevolence and of esteem.

26.

It is in the maintenance of property that repose the culture of lands, all products, all means of labor and all social order.

27.

Every citizen owes his services to the fatherland and to the maintenance of liberty, of equality and of property, all the beliefs which the law calls on him to defend.

28.

The house of each citizen is an inviolable asylum. During the night, no one has the right to enter there except in case of fire, of flood, or of request from the interior of the house. During the day, one may enter there for [some] special reason, determined either by a law or by an order emanating from a public authority.

29.

No domestic visit can take place except by virtue of a law or of a higher order, and [only] for the person or object expressly designated in the act which orders the visit.

30.

No one can be pursued, arrested, or detained except in those cases determined by law.

31.

No one can be barred from speaking, writing and publishing his thought. Writings cannot be censored prior to their publication. No one is responsible for that which he has published except in those cases provided by law.

32.

Individual responsibility is formally attached to all public offices.

33.

The Constitution guarantees the alienation of the national domains, and the concessions accorded by the Government, either as a national grant or otherwise.

34.

The national holidays instituted by the laws of the Republic will be conserved, to wit: that of the Independence of Haïti, the first of January of each year; that of Agriculture, the first of May; that of the birth OF ALEXANDRE PETION, President of Haïti, will be solemnized the second of April, in recognition of his high virtues.

35.

A general establishment of public assistance will be created and organized for the elevation of abandoned infants, the relief of the infirm poor and the furnishment of work for the healthy poor who shall not have been able to procure it.

36.

A public Institution will also be created and organized, common to all Citizens, free with regard to the education indispensable for all men, which establishments will be distributed gradually in a ratio combined with the division of the Republic.

37.

Codes of civil, criminal and penal law, of procedure and of commerce, common to all the Republic, will be made.

38.

No white, whatsoever his nation, shall set foot on this territory with the title of master or of landowner.

39.

[The following] are recognized Haitians, the whites who make up part of the army, those who exercise civil office, and those who were admitted into the Republic by the publication of the Constitution of 27 December 1806; and none other, in the future, after the publication of the present Revision, shall be able to pretend to the same right, nor to be employed,^[1] nor to enjoy the right of citizenship, nor to acquire property in the Republic.

TITLE TWO.

OF TERRITORY.

40.

The Isle of Haïti (also called Saint-Domingue) with the adjacent isles which depend upon it, forms the territory of the Republic.

41.

The Republic of Haïti is one and indivisible; its territory is distributed into Departments, to wit: the Departments of the South (Sud), of the West (Ouest), of Artibonite, and of the North (Nord), whose limits are known and designated by the law of the Central Assembly of Saint-Domingue, on the date of 10 July 1801. Other Departments will be designated by a law which will fix their extent.

42.

The Departments will be divided into Districts (Arrondissements) and Communes, whose number and limits will be equally designated by law.

43.

The Legislative Power can change and rectify the limits of the Departments, Districts and Communes, when it deems appropriate.

TITLE THREE.

POLITICAL STATUS OF CITIZENS.

44.

Every African, Indian and those issued from their blood, born of colonies or foreign countries, who might come to reside in the Republic, will be recognized as Haitians, but shall not enjoy the rights of citizenship except after one year of residence.

45.

No Haitian shall be able to commence his military career except at the rank of simple soldier.

46.

Exercise of the rights of citizenship are lost by conviction for violent or infamous crimes.

47.

Exercise of the rights of citizenship are suspended 1st by judicial interdiction for cause of fury, dementia, or imbecility.

2nd By the status of bankrupt debtor or immediate heir, defending free title, of all or part of the estate of a bankrupt.

3rd By the status of a domestic [working] for wages.

4th By the status of accusation.

5th By a judgment of contumacy, except that the judgement be annulled.

TITLE FOUR.

OF RELIGION AND OF MORES.

48.

The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion being that of all Haitians, the State and its Ministers will specially protect it.

49.

Every other religious cult is permitted in the Republic, in conformity to the laws.

50.

The Constitution accords to the President of Haïti the faculty of soliciting, hereafter, from His Holiness the Pope, the residence in the Republic of a Bishop, in order to elevate to the Priesthood young Haitians whose calling might be to embrace the ecclesiastic state.

51.

The Executive Power assigns to each minister of religion the extent of his spiritual administration. These ministers cannot in any manner form a body within the State.

52.

Marriage, by its civil and relgious institution, tending to the purity of mores, spouses who practice the virtues required by their state will be always distinguished and specially protected by the Government.

53.

The rights of infants born within marriage will be fixed by the laws which tend to expand the social virtues, in order to encourage and cement the ties of families.

TITLE FIVE.

OF LEGISLATIVE POWER.

54.

The Legislative Power resides in a House of Representatives of the Communes (Chambre des Representans des Communes) and in a Senate (Senat).

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMUNES.

55.

No law will be promulgated, unless the project shall have been proposed by the Executive Power, discussed and adopted by the House of Representatives of the Communes and certified by the Senate.

56.

The House of Representatives of the Communes is composed of Three Members for the Capital of the Republic, of Two for the Capital of each Department, and of One Member for each Commune.

57.

It establishes the public Contributions, in determining the nature, quantity, duration and mode of taxation;

58.

Legislate, after the basis established by the Constitution on the Administration;

Forms and maintains the Armed Forces;

Makes the Laws and the Regulations, on the manner of organizing and governing;

Fixes the value, weight and type of Moneys;

Establishes the weights and measures which will be uniform for all the Republic;

Consecrates definitively and for always the alienation of National Domains;

Makes all the Laws necessary to maintain the exercise of the Powers defined and delegated by the Constitution;

Determines the formation and the attributions of a Council of Notables in each commune, in order to legislate the details of local Administration which will not have been provided by the Laws:

In a word, the House of Representatives of the Communes exercises the Legislative Authority concurrently with the Senate.

59.

In order to be a Member of the House of Representatives of the Communes, one must be a landowner, and aged Twenty-five years at least.

60.

The Representatives of the Communes represent the entire Nation and cannot receive any particular mandate.

They exercise their offices for five years and are named as follows:

61.

Every five years, from the First to the tenth of February, the Municipal Assemblies form in each Commune, or are convoked by an Address from the President of Haïti, and name each among the citizens of the place, the number of deputies proscribed by article 56.

62.

They also name an alternate in order to replace the Deputy, in case of death, resignation or disqualification.

Which deputies so named, they return to the capital of Government, in order to constitute the House of Representatives of the Communes.

63.

The municipal assemblies cannot take up any other object, except that which is proscribed by the Constitution.

Their policy belongs to them; the elections are by secret ballot.

64.

Every citizen convicted of having sold or purchased a vote, is excluded from all public office for 20 years, and in case of recurrence, it is forever.

65.

The Commissioner of the Executive Power at the Civil Tribunal of each Department, his Surrogates and the Notaries serving their offices in the communes, are obliged, upon pain of dismissal, to inform the Executive Power of the opening and of the closing of the municipal assemblies.

They cannot interfere in their operations, nor enter into the place of their sessions; but they can demand communication of the Minutes of each session in the 24 hours which follow it; and they are obliged to denounce to the Executive Power infractions which may be made against the Constitutional Act.

In all cases, the House of Representatives of the Communes pronounce on the validity of the operations of the Municipal Assemblies.

66.

One must have attained the age of majority in order to vote in the municipal assemblies.

67.

The duration of the municipal assemblies shall not exceed ten days.

68.

A representative of the communes can be indefinitely reelected by reason of his good conduct.

69.

Following notification made to representatives of their nomination, they will travel to Port-au-Prince in order to exercise the office attributed to them: the absolute majority of representatives assembled together constitute the House of Representatives of the Communes.

70.

The place of the sessions of the House of Representatives of the Communes is fixed in the Capital.

71.

The Representatives of the Communes assemble the first of April of each year, in the location prepared for the deliberations of the House.

72.

Their session is for three months at most.

73.

The House of the Communes receives annually the report rendered by the Secretary of State, which is submitted by the President of Haïti:

74.

In the interval between one session and the other, the President of Haïti, can convoke it according to the exigency of the case.

75.

The opening of each session of the House of Representatives of the Communes is done by the President of Haïti in person.

76.

If by invasion of the enemy or by whatever impediment the Legislative Body cannot assemble at Port-au-Prince, the Senate will determine the place of meeting.

77.

The House of Representatives of the Communes has the right of policy over its Members, but it cannot pronounce a penalty stronger than Censure, or arrest for 15 days.

78.

The Sessions of the Representatives of the Communes are public, it can however deliberate behind closed doors, and its deliberations are rendered public by way of a Journal bearing the title of Bulletin of the Laws (Bulletin des Lois.)

79.

Every deliberation of the House of the Communes, votes by division; in case of doubt, it does a roll call, but then the votes are secret.

80.

The Members of the House of the Communes receive an indemnity evaluated at two hundred gourdes per month, and one gourde per league which they will have to travel in order to reach the seat of Government, which compensation is at the expense of their respective commune, after the manner which will be established by law.

81.

The offices of the Representatives of the Communes are incompatible with all [other] public offices paid by the State.

82.

No proposition can be deliberated or adopted by the House of Representatives of the Communes, except they observe the following forms:

It makes three readings of the proposition.

The interval between these three readings cannot be less than five days; discussion is open before each reading: nevertheless, after the first and the second, the House can decide that there is a need for postponement or that there is no need to deliberate.

Every proposition must be distributed two days before the second reading.

83.

After the third reading, the House decides if there is a need or not for postponement.

84.

Every proposal submitted to discussion and definitively rejected at the third reading, cannot be reproduced except after one full year.

85.

Exempt from the forms prescribed by the above articles are propositions acknowledged and declared urgent by a prior decision of the House.

86.

The House of Representatives of the Communes sends to the Senate in twenty-four hours, the laws rendered by it, which cannot be executed except after approval by the Senate.

87.

Every law not approved by the Senate, can be presented again by the House after the period of one year.

88.

At any time whatsoever, a proposition rejected as part of a bill, can nevertheless be reproduced within a new bill.

89.

The members of the House of the Communes and those of the Senate, cannot be searched, accused, or judged at any time for that which they have said or written in the exercise of their offices.

90.

Every civil action can be directed against the members of the House of the Communes; but imprisonment cannot be exercised against them.

91.

For criminal acts, they can be seized in flagrante delicto; but notice is given without delay to the House; and prosecution shall not be continued except after it will have ordered the arraignment.

92.

Other than cases in flagrante delicto, the Representatives of the Communes cannot be taken before police officers nor placed in a state of arrest, before the House has ordered the arraignment.

93.

In the case of the two preceding articles, a Representative of the Communes cannot be brought before any other Tribunal than the High Court of Justice.

94.

They are brought before the same Court for the acts of treason, of malversion, of manoeuvering to overthrow the Constitution and of attempt against the interior security of the Republic.

95.

No denunciation against a member of the House of the Communes, can give rise to prosecution, if it is not rendered in writing, signed and addressed to the House.

96.

If after having deliberated in the form prescribed by article 79, the Chamber admits the denunciation, it declares it in these terms: " the denunciation against ............ for the act of ......... dated ............ signed by ......... is admitted.

The accused is then called; he has in order to appear a period fixed by the House, and, when he then appears, he is heard in the interior of the place of sessions.

97.

Whether the accused shall be present or not after this period, the House on examination of the facts, declares if there is need or not for prosecution.

98.

Every deliberation relating to the accusation of a Representative of the Communes is taken by roll call and by secret ballot.

99.

Accusation admitted against a Representative of the Communes entails suspension.

100.

If he is acquited by the judgment of the High Court of Justice, he resumes his offices.

SENATE.

101.

The Senate is compised of twenty-four members and shall never be able to exceed this number.

102.

The House of Representatives of the Communes names the Senators. Their offices last nine years.

103.

In order to be a Senator, one must be aged thirty complete years.

104.

Every citizen can without distinction claim the charge of Senator, by his virtues, his talents and his patriotism.

105.

Military offices alone are never compatible with those of Senator.

106.

A military officer named to the Senate cannot receive two indemnities; he shall opt between the indemnity of Senator and that of his military grade.

107.

At the session which will precede the time of renewing the Senators, the Executive Power forms a list of three Candidates for each Senator to be elected, taken from the generality of the Citizens, which he addressed to the House of the Communes.

108.

The House of the Communes elects from the proposed Candidates, the number of Senators prescribed in order to form the Senate, and their election is made by secret ballot.

109.

The same mode of election will be followed in the cases of death, resignation &c. of Senators, and the nomination to vacant places will be made within eight days at the latest.

110.

The Senate will instruct the President of Haïti on the nomination of new Senators; who should render themselves to their offices within the period of 15 days after notification of their election.

111.

The Senators to be elected cannot in any case be taken from among the Members of the House of the Communes in office.

112.

A Senator cannot be reelected except after an interval of three years.

113.

The Senate is charged with the filing of the Constitution.

114.

The Senate is permanent; it cannot adjourn during the session of the House of Representatives of the Communes.

115.

The seat of the Senate is fixed at Port-au-Prince, save in the cases provided by article 76.

116.

Its sessions are public, it can when it judges appropriate, deliberate behind closed doors.

117.

The absolute majority of its members assembled, constitute the Senate.

118.

The Senate announces by a Message to the Chief of the Executive Power the openning of its sessions.

It warns by the same way, the House of Representatives of the Communes and the President of Haïti, of replacements to be made in its midst for cause of death, resignation &c, of one or more of its members.

119.

The Senate installs new Senators, and receives their oath of fidelity.

120.

The Senators receive from the public Treasury, an annual indemnity of sixteen hundred gourdes.

121.

The Senate corresponds directly with the President of Haïti for all that interests the administration of public affairs in general; but cannot, in any case call him into its midst for acts of his administration.

122.

All individual correspondence touching public affairs, is prohibited between the members of the Senate and those of the House of the Communes.

123.

To the Senate alone appertains the naming of the President of Haïti: all other nomination is illegal and against the Constitution.

124.

The Senate on the denunciation of the Chief of the Executive Power or of the House of the Communes, renders decrees of accusation against the Accounting Agents and the members of the Judiciary Body; who cannot be judged by ordinary Tribunals without this formality.

125.

The Constitution attributes to the Senate the Power of sanctioning or of rejecting all treaties of peace, of alliance or of commerce, acts by the President of Haïti with Foreign Powers, and also declarations of war.

126.

The Senate decrees the sums which should be allocated to each part of public service, after the budget of expenditure furnished by the Secretary of State.

127.

Neither the Senate, nor the House of the Communes can delegate their powers which are attributed to them by the Constitution.

No more can they interfere with judicial cases, or with the attributes of the Executive Power.

128.

Responsibility before essentially weighing on the [Secretary] or the Secretaries of State and also on other grand functionaries, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Communes, can summon them in order to hear them, whether on the acts of their administration or of non-performance of laws which concern them.

The Functionaries designated by the present article, called for these causes, are heard in general committee; and if there results from their conduct, proof of wrong-doing, wastefulness or every other offense tending to the overthrow of the constitution, and of compromising the security of the State, the Senate renders a decree of accusation against them.

129.

Said functionaries thus decreed accused, are suspended from their office and returned to the High Court of Justice in order to judge conformity to the laws.

130.

Every functionary acquitted by the High Court of Justice resumes his offices by right.

131.

The Senators and the Representatives of the Communes enjoy, both in office and out, the respect of the Citizens.

The national and legislative guarantee of the Senators and also their responsibility towards the Nation, is common with the Representatives of the Communes as is provided by articles 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100.

132.

Every law addressed to the Senate, by the House of the Communes will be subject to the formalities laid down by articles 82, 83, 84 and 85.

133.

Every law accepted by the Senate, will bear this formula: "The Senate decrees acceptance of (such Law bearing such title) which will be, within twenty-four hours sent to the President of Haïti, in order to have its execution following the mode established by the Constitution."

134.

In the case of rejection of a Law proposed by the House of Representatives of the Communes, the Senate will never be required to elaborate its reasons.

135.

The Senate exercises over its members the same policy prescribed by article 77, for those of the House of Representatives of the Communes.

136.

When the Senate will adjourn, it will permit a permanent Committee - this committee shall not be able to take any pause except for its convocation.

TITLE VI

PROMULGATION OF LAWS.

137.

The President of Haïti seals the Laws and Decrees of the Legislative Body within two days after their reception,

138.

The Promulgation of Laws and acts of the Legislative Body is made in these terms. "In the name of the Republic, the President of Haïti orders that (Law or Decree) of the Legislative Body above, shall be stamped with the seal of the Republic, published and executed."

139.

Every Law is obligatory within twenty four hours of its promulgation for the capital of the Republic; within three days for its district; within eight days for the other districts of the Department, and within a month for all the Republic.

140.

In any case, the promulgation of acts of the Legislative Body cannot be suspended.

TITLE VII.

EXECUTIVE POWER.

141.

The Executive Power is delegated to a Magistrate who holds the title of PRESIDENT OF HAYTI.

142.

The [term of the] President of Haïti is for life.

143.

The President before entering into the exercise of his offices shall swear before the Senate, the following oath: "I swear to the Nation, to carry out faithfully the office of President of Haïti, to maintain by all my power the Constitution; to respect and to make respected the rights and independence of the Haitian People.

144.

If the President has never taken the oath, within the period of fifteen days after notification of his election, it is supposed it has been refused, and the Senate will procede within twenty-four hours, to a new election.

145.

In order to be President, one must be aged thirty-five years.

146.

Every citizen of the Republic is eligible for the Office of President of Haïti.

147.

In case of vacancy by death, resignation or disqualification of the President, the [Secretary] or the Secretaries of State will exercise in council, the Executive Authority until the election of a new President.

148.

If the Senate is not assembled, its permanent Committee will convoke it extraordinarily in order for it to procede without delay to the election of a President.

149.

The President provides after the law, to the exterior and interior security of the Republic.

150.

He can make Proclamations conforming to the laws and for their execution.

151.

He commands the Armed forces on land and on sea.

152.

He oversees and assures the execution of the laws in the Tribunals, by Commissioners of his nomination whom he can revoke at will.

153.

He proposes the laws, except those which regard the assessment, quantity, duration and mode of taxation of public contributions, their increase or diminution; these are discussed, adopted or rejected by the House of the Communes, in those cases motivating rejection.

154.

The projects which the President proposes, are drafted in articles, in every case of discussion of these projects, the President can retire them; he can reproduce them, modifed at the next session of the House.

155.

He can make every treaty of commerce, of alliance and of peace with Foreign Nation, and also declarations of war,: which will not be valid except after having received the approval of the Senate.

156.

He names the Agents to the Foreign Powers or Governments, whom he revokes at will.

157.

He equally names all the Civil and Military Officers, and determines the place of their residence.

158.

Foreign relations and all which can concern them appertain to the President of Haïti.

159.

If the President of Haïti is informed that some conspiracy is being woven against the interior security of the State, he can issue warrants of arrest against the authors and accomplices: but he is obliged under the penalties laid against the crime of arbitrary detention, to return them within the period of two days before the Tribunal able to judge them.

160.

The President of Haïti receives an annual indemnity of Forty thousand gourdes.

161.

The Executive Power oversees taxation and payment of contributions and gives all orders to this effect.

162.

He equally oversees the manufacture of moneys by Agents of his choice.

163.

To the Senate alone appertains examinating and decreeing the culpability of the President of Haïti.

164.

The Constitution accords to the President of Haïti the right to designate the Citizen who should succeed him.

This choice will be set down in an autograph letter sealed and addressed to the Senate, which shall not be able to open [it] before the vacancy of the Presidency.

This Deposit will be guarded within a particularly firm casket by two different keys, one of which will rest in the hands of the President of Haïti and the other in those of the President of the Senate.

165.

The President can by his volition remove his choice and replace it in the same manner which [is] above.

166.

The Senate admits or rejects the citizen designated by the President of Haïti to succeed him.

In case of rejection, it procedes within twenty four hours to the nomination of the President of Haïti.

167.

There will be for the President of Haïti, a Secretary-General charged with [his] personal work.

TITLE EIGHT.

JUDICIARY POWER.

168.

A Grand Judge will be created, charged with the administration of Justice and whose attributes will be established by Law.

169.

The Judges cannot interfere with the exercise of the Legislative Power, nor make any regulation.

170.

They cannot arrest nor suspend the execution of any Law, nor summon before them Administrators by reason of their office.

171.

No one can be denied access to the Judges whom the Law assigns him, by any Commission, nor by any other attributes except those which are determined by a prior Law.

172.

Judges, Commissioners of the Executive Power and their Substitutes at the Tribunals, are paid by the State.

173.

Judges cannot be removed from office except for legally judged treason, nor suspended except by an admitted accusation.

174.

Judges, Commissioners of the Executive Power and their Substitutes, cannot be removed from their offices for any public service, unless from eminent danger.

175.

Ascendant and descendant in direct line, brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins in the first degree and allies to these various degrees cannot be simultaneously members of the same Tribunal.

176.

The Sessions of the Tribunals are public; the Judges deliberate in secret; the judgments are pronounced in a loud voice; [as] are its reasons.

177.

No Citizen if he is not aged twenty-five years at least, can be a judge or a Commissioner of the Executive Power.

OF CIVIL JUSTICE.

178.

The right to allow disputes to decided by arbiters of the parties' choice cannot be infringed.

179.

The decisions of these arbiters is without appeal if the parties have not expressly reserved it.

180.

The Legislative Power determines by a law, the number of Justices of the Peace and of their assessors within each Department.

181.

The law equally determines the objects which the Justices of the Peace and their Assessors know as a last resort; it assigns them to others except on charge of appeal.

182.

The affairs whose jugdment does not appertain to the Justices of the Peace, can be brought immediately before them in order to be settled; if the Justice of the Peace cannot settle them, he refers them to the Civil Tribunal.

183.

The law determines the number of Tribunals within each Department. The places where they are established, their mode of organization and the territory form their jurisdiction.

184.

There will be for each Civil Tribunal a Commissioner of the Executive Power, a Substitute and a Court Clerk.

185.

The Civil Tribunal pronounces as a last resort in the cases determined by law, on the appeals of judgments, whether from Justices of the Peace, or from arbiters, or from the Tribunals of another Department.

OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

186.

No one can be siezed except in order to be brought before a Police Officer, and no one can be placed in a state of arrest, or detained except by virtue of a warrant of arrest from the Police Officers or from the Executive Power in the case of article 159. by a Decree of prise de corps from a Tribunal or by a decree of arrest from the Legislative Power, in the cases where the pronouncement or the judgment of conviction to prison appertain to it.

187.

For the act which orders the arrest to be able to be executed, it must 1st. formally express the reason for the arrest and the law in conformity to which it is ordered, 2nd he who is its object has been notified and has been left a copy.

188.

Every person siezed and brought before a Police Officer, will be examined on the spot or within the same day at the latest.

189.

If it is the result of the examination that there is no cause for charges against her, she will as soon return to liberty;. or if there is a reason to send him to Jail (Maison d'Arrêt), she will be conducted there in the briefest period, which, in any case, shall not be able to exceed three days.

190.

No person arrested can be restrained, if she gives sufficient bail, in cases where the law permits remaining free upon bail.

191.

No person in the case where detention is authorized by law, can be conducted or detained except in the places legally and publically designated in order to serve in prison.

192.

No guardian or caretaker can receive or restrain any person except by virtue of a warrant of arrest in the forms prescribed by articles 159, and 161, of a decree of prise de corps, of a decree of accusation, or of a judgment of conviction to prison and unless the transcript has been made on its register.

193.

Every guardian or caretaker is required, without any order needing to be received by them, to represent the detained person to the Civil Officer having the policy of the House of detention, every time that it will be required by that officer.

194.

Representation of the person detained shall not be able to be refused to his parents and friends bearing the officer's order, which will be always held to grant it, unless the caretaker presents a Judge's order transcribed on his register in order to hold the person arrested in secret.

195.

Every man regardless of either his place or his employment, other than those to whom the law gives the right of arrest, who will give, sign, execute or cause to execute the order to arrest an individual, or whosoever in the same case of arrest authorized by law, will conduct, receive or restrain an individual in a place of detention not publically and legally designated; and every guardian or caretaker who will contravene the provisions of the preceding articles, will be prosecuted as guilty of the crime of arbitary detention.

196.

All severities employed in arrests, detentions or executions other than those prescribed by law, are crimes.

197.

The law determines the number of Criminal Tribunals in each Department, the place where they will be established, their mode of organization and the territory forming their jurisdiction.

198.

The Civil Judges can exercise the offices of Criminal Judges.

199.

The Legislative Power shall be able to establish the procedure by trials in criminal matters.

200.

A Tribunal of Cassation will be established for all the Republic, whose mode of organization and attributes will be fixed by law.

201.

The Executive Power denounces to this Tribunal, on the complaint of interested parties and without prejudice to the right of these said parties, the acts, and the judgments in which Judges have exceeded their powers.

202.

The Tribunal of Cassation annuls these acts if they give rise to felony, it places the defendants in a state of accusation after having called and heard them.

203.

The Tribunal of Cassation cannot pronounce on the facts of the trial, it returns it to a Tribunal which must [establish] them.

204.

Military offenses are subject to Special Councils and to particular forms of judgment, determined by law.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.

205.

There will be a High Court of Justice in order to judge the accusations admitted by the Legislative Body; whether against its own members, or against the President of Haïti, or against the [Secretary] or the Secretaries of State or all other Great public Offices.

206.

The High Court of Justice does not form itself except by virtue of a Proclamation of the Senate.

207.

It sits in the place which is designated to it, which cannot be twelve leagues from where resides the Senate.

208.

When the Senate has proclaimed the formation of the High Court of Justice, it is composed of a number of Judges taken at random from within the different Tribunals of the Departments.

This number cannot be less than fifteen, and they are presided over by the Grand Judge.

209.

In the case where the Grand Judge will be the same in a state of accusation, the President of Haïti will designate among the Grand Public Officers, he who will preside over the High Court of Justice.

210.

The judgements of the High Court of Justice are without appeal, the accused will have the right to recuse a third of its Judges and the judgments are not rendered unless [illegible.]

TITLE TEN.

OF AGRICULTURE AND OF COMMERCE.

211.

Agriculture, first source of the prosperity of States, will be protected and encouraged.

Its increase and its duration depend uniquely on the confidance and on the justice which should reciprocally exist between the Landowner and the Cultivator.

212.

The policy of the countrysides will be subject to particular laws.

213.

Commerce, another source of public happiness, will never suffer from interference and will receive the greatest protection.

214.

The person of foreigners and also their establishments of Commerce are placed under the loyalty and the safe-guard of the Nation.

TITLE ELEVEN.

OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

215.

There will be a Secretary of State named by the President of Haïti and who will reside in the Capital of the Republic.

216.

The law will fix the attributes of the Secretary of State.

217.

The detailed accounts of the public funds, signed and certified by the Secretary of State, are stopped the thirtieth of December in each year, in order to be rendered to the House of Representatives of the Communes, at the commencement of each session.

It will be the same with regard to the states of receipts of various contributions of all the public revenues.

218.

The states of these expenses and receipts are distinguished following their nature: they express the sums received and expended, year by year, within each part of the general Administration.

219.

The Secretary of State and the Grand Judge, are respectively responsible for the non-performance of the laws rendered by the Legislative Body, and also the acts of the Executive Power.

220.

These two Grand Officers are the Orators charged to deliver the words, in the name of the Executive Power before the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Communes.

221.

On the proposal of the President of Haïti, the House of Representatives will be able to create other offices of Secretary of State, if the needs of the service require it.

Au Grand-Goave, the 2 June 1816,
year 13.

Signed to the Original, PIERRE ANDRE,
N. VIALLET, JOSEPH GEORGE, M. BOIS-
ROND, MANIGAT, BRICE, LIGONDE, ELOY,
J. SIMON, CAVALIE, A. D. SABOURIN, Pre-
sident, N. D. LAFARGUE & DOUGE the elder Se-
cretaries.

(Below is written.)

Articles 80 & 201, are thus devised.

80.

The members of the House of the Communes receive an indemnity evaluated at Two hundred gourdes per month during their session and One gourde per league which they will have made in order to reach the seat of Government, which indemnity is charged to their respective Commune, after the mode which will be established by law.

201.

The Executive Power denounces to this Tribunal without prejudice to the interested parties, the acts and judgments in which Judges have exceeded their power.

(Signed) PIERRE ANDRE, N. VIALLET,
JOSEPH GEORGE, MANIGAT, ELOY, BRICE,
M. BOISROND, J. SIMON, LIGONDE, A.D.
SABOURIN President, DOUGE the elder & N.
D. LAFARGUE, Secretaries.

Notes

1. Probably refers only to public office. See the article on employé at the French Wikipedia.