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CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF

GREECE.

[Adopted at Napoli, May, 1827.] In the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity.

The Greek nation, met for a

third time in a national assembly, proclaims by its legitimate repre. sentatives, before God and man, its political existence and independence, and establishes the follow. ing fundamental principles to serve as a constitution :

CHAP. 1.-Of Religion.

Art. 1. In Greece every man shall profess freely his own religion, and obtain for his worship the same protection; but the orthodox religion of the Greek church is the religion of the state.

CHAP. 2. Of the State. 2. Greece is one and indivisible. 3. It consists of eparchates, (provinces.)

4. All those provinces shall be esteemed eparchates of Greece which have taken, or shall take up arms against the despotic government of the Turks.

CHAP. 3.-Of the Public Law of the Hellenians.

5. The sovereign power resides in the nation; all power emanates from it, and only exists for it.

6. Hellenians are-1. All the native Greeks who believe in Jesus Christ. 2. Those who, oppressed by the Ottoman yoke, and, believing in Jesus Christ, are come, or shall come, to Greece, to take up arms, or dwell there. 3. Those who are born abroad, of a Greek father, or those native and others, and their descendants, naturalized before the publication of the present constitution, and born abroad, who shall come to Greece and

take the oaths. 4. Foreigners who come to Greece and are there naturalized.

7. All Hellenians are equal in the eye of the law.

8. Every Hellenian shall be eligible, according to his personal talents, to public employments, both political and military.

habit Greece for a time, or for 9. Foreigners who come to in

ever, are equal to the Hellenians before the civil law.

10. The taxes shall be levied from the inhabitants of the state, with justice, and in proportion to the fortunes of individuals; but no tax can be levied without a law

being promulgated, and no law for levying taxes can be published for more than one year.

11. The law guaranties the personal liberty of every individual; no person can be arrested or imprisoned, but according to law.

The life, the honour, and the property of all those who are within the bounds of the state, are under the protection of the laws.

13. No order to seek for, or arrest persons, or property, can be given, unless it be founded on sufficient proof, and unless the place of search be pointed out, as well as the persons and things which are to be arrested.

14. In all judicial proceedings, every one has a right to demand the cause and the nature of the accusation made against him; to reply to his accusers, and their witnesses, and to bring forward wit. nesses in his defence; to have counsel, and to require a speedy decision from the court.

15. No person shall be esteemed guilty till he is condemned.

16. No person is to be tried twice for the same offence, nor condemned and deprived of his property without a previous trial. A definitive judgment cannot be appealed from.

17. The government may require private property to be given up for the public good, when sufficiently demonstrated, but previous indemnity must be granted.

18. Torture and confiscation are abolished.

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1. Not to attack the Christian religion.

2. Not to violate decency. 3. To avoid insults and personal calumny.

27. The Greek government bestows no title of nobility, and no Hellenian can, without the consent of his own government, receive a 19. The law cannot be made service, gift, recompense, employ. retroactive.

20. The Hellenians have a right to form establishments of every description, for science, for philanthropy, for industry and arts, and to select professors for their instruction.

21. In Greece it is not permit ted to buy and sell a man; every slave of every nation and of every religion, as soon as he places his foot on the Greek soil, his master can no longer pursue him.

22. No person can decline sub. mitting to his competent judge, nor be prevented from having recourse to him.

23. No person can be detained in prison more than 24 hours without the cause of his arrest being made known to him; nor more than three days without the proceedings against him beginning.

24. The clergy, according to the rules of the Greek church, can take no part in any public em. ployment: the presbyters (minor priests) alone have the righ of election.

25. Every one may write to the senate, and state his opinion on any public object.

26. The Hellenians have the right to write and publish, freely, by the press, or otherwise, their

ment, or title of any description whatever, from any monarch, prince, or foreign state.

28. The epithets of illustrious, excellency, &c. shall not be given to any Hellenian within the limits of the state; only the governor shall bear the name of excellency, which shall cease with his functions.

29. No native, nor person naturalized and inhabiting Greece, and enjoying the rights of a citizen, can have recourse to foreign protection; in case he does, he ceases to be a citzen of Greece.

CHAP. 4.-Of Naturalization.

30. The government shall natu. ralize foreigners, who bring certificates from Greek functionaries, attesting: 1. That they have pass. ed three whole years in the country; 2. That during this time they have not been visited by any infamous punishment; 3. That they have acquired within the state landed property of the value of at least 100 dollars.

31. Great actions and notorious services, during the need of the country, are sufficient claims to naturalization.

32. The government may also naturalize those foreigners who

founded in Greece'remarkable establishments, tending to the progress of the sciences, of arts, of com. merce, and of industry. It may also abridge the time necessary for naturalization.

33. Those foreigners who have served, or who shall serve in a milita. ry capacity in Greece two years, and who have the necessary certificates of service, are by that made Hel. lenic citizens.

34. A man when naturalized immediately enjoys all the rights of a citizen, but the right of representation shall be regulated by the law of elections which the senate will publish.

35. Every person naturalized shall take the Greek oath. CHAP. 5.-Of the Organization of the Government.

36. The sovereign power of the nation is divided into three powers -the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

37. The legislative power makes

laws.

38. The executive power sanc. tions them, agreeably to article 74 and carries them into execution.

39. The judicial power applies them.

40. The legislative power belongs in particular to the body of representatives of the people, who will take the name of senate, (boule.)

41. The executive power belongs to one alone, who will take the name of governor, and who has under his orders different secretaries.

42. The judicial power belongs to the tribunals.

CHAP. Of the Senate. 43. The senate is composed of

the representatives of the provin ces of Greece.

44. Each of the representatives, upon taking his seat in the senate, shall take the oath required by law.

45. The representatives shall be elected by the people, according to the law of election.

46. The senate, as a body, is declared inviolable.

47. The senate shall have a president, a vice-president, 1st and 2d secretaries, with the necessary vice-secretaries.

48. The president and the vicepresident shall be elected by the senate, a plurality of votes governing. The president may be elect. ed from persons not belonging to the Senate, but the vice-president must be taken from among their own body.

49. The two first secretaries shall be elected from without the body, by a plurality of votes of the members.

50 The president shall preside in the daily sittings; he shall fix the day and hour of opening; he shall prorogue the senate, and in cases of necessity, shall convoke them in extraordinary sessions.

51. Upon the request of twenty senators present, the president shall open the session.

52. When the president is ab. sent, the vice-president shall perform his duties, and in case of the absence of both, the eldest representative shall fill provisionally the place of president.

53. In case of either of them dying or becoming infirm, the other shall fill his place, according to article 48.

54. The term of office of the president and vice-president shall be one year.

55. Two thirds of the whole

number of the senators shall compose a quorum.

56. No member shall leave the senate without the written and formal permission of the senate.

57. The senators are elected for three years, and the body shall be renewed by annual elections of one third each year. The 1st and 2d years the vacancies shall be determined by lot.

to account for what they may say in the senate.

68. The sittings of the senate shall be public, shall be public, except when there is a necessity of declaring them secret, which shall be done by a majority of the members.

69. The members of the senate shall form themselves into perma. nent committees for the public service, and their duties shall be pre

58. No member shall be elected scribed by the senate. twice in succession.

59. The senate shall commence its sessions the 1st of October of each year.

60. The sessions shall continue from 4 to 5 months.

61. A plurality of voices shall govern, and in case of an equality of votes, the president shall decide.

62. When the president is not a representative, he has no vote, except in case of a division; but when he is a representative, he shall vote in that character, and in case of a division shall also have a casting vote.

63. No representative shall be permitted to hold any other public office, nor to take any part directly or indirectly in the receipt of the public revenue, under pain of losing his seat.

64. The senators shall receive from the public treasury their full pay when they attend the sittings of the senate, and half pay when absent.

65. No senator shall be arrested during the session, nor for 4 months before, nor 4 months after the session; but they may during the vacation be subjected to a judgment.

66. If they shall be condemned to a capital punishment, the judg. ment shall be executory.

67. Senators shall not be called

70. Any senator may, through the president, propose in writing the projet of a law to the senate.

71. The decrees and other official documents from the senate shall be signed by the president, countersigned by the first secretary, and sealed with the seal of the senate.

72. The first secretary shall record the decrees and acts of the senate, and correctly keep its archives and the minutes of its sittings.

73. When the first secretary is absent, the second secretary shall perform his duties.

74. Every decree shall be presented to the president; if he approve it, he shall sanction it within 15 days thereafter, and promulgate it as a law; but if he do not approve it, he shall return it within 15 days to the senate, with his amendments and remarks, which shall be recorded by the senate, and referred to a competent committee to deliberate upon them, and to report them for revision. If the senate does not approve of the amendments, the decree shall be again sent to the president, who shall return it to the senate within 15 days, provided he still objects to it, with the reasons of his ob jections; and if the senate by a plu

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75. If towards the end of the session, a decree in discussion between the president and the senate is not completed, the senate, at the next session, shall take into account the steps taken at the preceding session.

76. If a projet of a law, proposed by the president to the senate, is considered by that body, and sent to him three times without being accepted, he shall lose the right.

77. Upon the opening of the session, an estimate of the public expenses, submitted by the government, having been discussed, appropriations for the necessary expenses of the government shall be made by the senate.

78. A statement in detail of the expenses and revenues of the preceding year, and of the public debt, shall be made annually to the senate, which the secretary of finance shall record and cause to be pub. lished.

79. It shall take care of the sinking fund and of the regular payment of the interest of the public debt.

80. It shall regulate, by law, the direct and indirect taxes, and the other contributions which are to be levied throughout the state by vir tue of article 10.

81. It shall pass a law to make a loan upon the guaranty of the na. tion, or upon a mortgage of the national property.

82. It shall authorize the alienation of the public property. This shall be sold as soon as possible in all the provinces, and notice shall

be regularly given of the sales, by the executive power in each pro vince.

83. It shall guard the public treasury, and as often as is necessary shall demand the accounts of the secretary of finance, always granting sufficient time to register them.

84. Any representative may require from the secretaries the ne. cessary information upon matters before the senate.

85. The senate shall regulate the currency, and fix the weight, the quality, the form and name of the coins.

86. It shall watch over and foster public education, the freedom of the press, agriculture, commerce, the sciences, and arts, and industry. It shall secure by law to inventors, and authors, the exclusive right for a limited period to the profits of their productions.

87. It shall make laws relative to captures.

88. It shall make laws against piracy.

89. It shall regulate the mode of recruiting the army by enrol

ment.

90. It shall provide for constructing and purchasing national vessels. 91. It shall take charge of the national property.

92. It shall provide for the farming of the national domains, and the indirect taxes.

93. It shall establish one kind of weights and measures throughout the state.

94. It shall fix the compensation of the president, secretaries and judges.

95. It shall declare the bounda ries of the provinces, and the kind of administration best adapted to the interests of the inhabitans.

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