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3. In Persons under indictment by criminal process, until they have been acquitted, or condemned to a punishment neither inflictive nor degrading.

4. In Debtors to the Publick Revenue, after the term for payment has expired.

XVIII. The business of the Parochial Assemblies is to vote for the Elector, or Electors, corresponding to the Canton.

XIX. The Province entitled to 1 Representative only, shall name 10 Electors, the nomination of whom is to be distributed among the Cantons therein contained, in proportion to the Population of each.

XX. The Province entitled to name 2, or more, Representatives, shall have as many Electors as will correspond to the Cantons composing the same, each Canton being bound to choose 1 Elector for every 4,000 Souls, and I more for a surplus of 3,000. Every Canton, although its Population may not amount to the aforesaid number, shall nevertheless have one Elector.

XXI. To be an Elector it is requisite:

1. To be a Parochial Voter, not disqualified.

2. To be able to read and write.

3. To be above 25 Years of age, and an Inhabitant of one of the Parishes of the Canton in which the Election is about to take place.

4. To be Owner of a landed property amounting to the clear value of 500 dollars, or in the enjoyment of a Situation yielding an annual income of 300 dollars, or in the possession of property producing an annual income of 300 dollars, to profess some science, or to hold a scientifick degree.

XXII. Each Parochial Voter shall vote for the Elector, or Electors, of the Canton, by publickly announcing the names of the Citizens, respectively, Inhabitants of the same Canton, whom he prefers, which shall be punctually entered, in his own presence, on the Registers kept exclusively for this purpose.

XXIII. All doubts or disputes which may arise on the qualifications or forms of the Parochial Votes, as well as all complaints which may occur on the subject of collusion or bribery, shall be decided by the Judges and assisting Witnesses, and their decision shall, for the time being, be carried into effect; the right of Appeal to the Municipality of the Canton being nevertheless reserved.

XXIV. The Elections shall be publick; and where they are in progress, no one shall be allowed to wear arms.

XXV. The Elections shall be open during the term of 8 days, at the expiration of which period, the Assembly shall be held as dissolved; and any further act beyond what is prescribed by the Constitution or the Law, is not only null, but also a crime against the publick peace.

XXVI. As soon as the act of the Elections is terminated, the Judge, or Judges, who may have presided at the Assembly, shall transmit to the Municipality a Return of those elected in the Parishes thereon dependent, folded up in a sealed cover.

XXVII. As soon as all the Returns of the Parochial Assemblies have been received, there shall be a Public Meeting of the Municipality of the Canton, presided over by one of the ordinary Justices of the Peace, or in their absence, by one of the Magistrates. In their presence, the sealed Returns of the Parochial Assemblies shall be opened, when Lists shall be made out of all the Votes, confronted with the same, and afterwards inscribed in a Register.

XXVIII. Those Citizens who may appear to have obtained the greatest number of Votes, shall be declared to have been constitutionally chosen Electors. When any doubt occurs owing to an equality of Votes, the question shall be decided by lot.

XXIX. The Municipality of the Canton shall transmit to that of the Capital of the Province, the result of the Returns it may have established, and shall also give early notice to the Persons appointed, in order that they may attend in the Capital of the Province on the day fixed by the Constitution.

SECTION II. Of the Electoral or Provincial Assemblies.

XXX. The Electoral Assembly is composed of the Electors named by the Cantons.

XXXI. On the 1st day of October, in every fourth Year, the Electoral Assembly shall meet in the Capital of the Province, and proceed to make all the Elections corresponding to the same, twothirds at least of the Electors being present. At this Meeting the Municipality of the Capital shall preside, till the Assembly has elected a President from among its own Members, who shall be the Person having the greatest number of Votes.

XXXII. Articles XXIV. and XXV. are common to the Electoral Assemblies.

XXXIII. The appointment of Elector shall continue for 4 Years. The vacancies shall be filled, when necessary, by those who follow next in respect of the number of Votes.

XXXIV. The functions of the Electoral Assemblies are, to vote : 1. For the President of the Republick.

2. For the Vice-President of the same.

3. For the Senators of Department.

4. For the Representative, or Representatives, deputed from the Province.

XXXV. The Votes of these 4 classes of Elections shall be entered in 4 different Registers, and the Electoral Assembly itself shall proceed to the verification of the last Return.

XXXVI. To be a Representative of a Province it is requisite to have obtained an absolute plurality; that is, one Vote over and above the half of all the Electors who have assisted at the Election.

XXXVII. The Representatives shall be nominated, one by one, in a permanent Sitting, and those shall be declared as elected who have obtained the majority as above stated. If no one should have obtained it, the 2 Persons who have attained the highest numbers shall proceed to a second scrutiny, and he shall be the Representative who receives the plurality of Votes. Cases of equality shall be decided by lot.

XXXVIII. The Elections of a Representative, or Representatives, being in this manner completed, the President of the Electoral Assembly shall, without any delay, notify the Persons nominated, in order that they may assist at the next Meeting, and the Registers shall be transmitted, in a sealed envelope, to the Chamber of Representatives.

XXXIX. Under similar formalities, and without proceeding to a scrutiny, the Registers of the Votes for President of the Republick, for Vice-President of the same, and for Senators, shall be transmitted to the Municipality of the Capital of the Department, in order that, when the sealed Returns of all the Provincial Assemblies have been received, the same may be duly forwarded to the Chamber of the Senate, so that the formalities prescribed in Section V. of Title IV. may be carried into effect.

TITLE IV.

OF THE Legislative Power.

SECTION I. Of the Division, Limits, and Functions of this Power.

XL. The Congress of Colombia shall be divided into two Chambers; that of the Senate, and that of the Representatives.

XLI. In either of the two, Laws may originate, and each, respectively, may propose to the other amendments, alterations, or additions, for the purpose of being examined, or may refuse consent to a Law proposed, by an absolute negative.

XLII. Laws respecting Contributions and Taxes are excepted, which can originate only in the Chamber of Representatives; but the ordinary right of adding to, amending, or rejecting them is nevertheless reserved to the Senate.

XLIII. The Projects or Proposals of Laws which may have been instituted conformably to the rules of debate, shall undergo 3 discussions in distinct Sittings, with the interval of 1 day, at least, between each, without which requisite they shall not be decided upon.

XLIV. In case the Proposal shall be urgent, this latter formality may be dispensed with, provided a discussion and a declaration to this

effect have previously taken place in the Chamber in which the same originated. This declaration and the motives on which it is founded, shall be transferred to the other Chamber, together with the Project of the Law, in order to be examined. Should the latter be of opinion that the urgency is not established, the Project shall be returned for fresh deliberation, under the legal formalities.

XLV. No Project, or Proposal of Law, rejected by one Chamber, shall be again brought forward till the Session of the following Year; but this shall not prevent some of the Articles thereof from forming part of other Propositions which have not been rejected.

XLVI. No Project, or Proposal of Law, constitutionally brought forward, discussed, and carried in both Chambers, shall be held as a Law of the Republick, until it has been signed by the Executive Power. Should the latter not deem the Law expedient, it shall return the Project to the Chamber in which it originated, accompanied with its objections, whether they arise out of any defect in the formalities, or in the substantial parts thereof, within the term of 10 days from the time the same was received.

XLVII. The objections raised by the Executive Power shall be entered on the Journals of the Sittings of the Chamber in which the Law originated. Should the latter not be satisfied, they shall discuss the subject afresh, and in case it should be a second time approved of by a majority of two-thirds of the Members present, it shall be forwarded, together with the objections, to the other Chamber. The Project shall have the force of Law and must be signed by the Executive Power, provided always that, in the latter Chamber, it has also been approved of by two-thirds of the Members present.

XLVIII. If, after the expiration of the 10 days, pointed out in Article XLVI., the Project has not been returned with its objections, it shall have the force of Law and be promulgated as such, unless, in the meanwhile, the Congress should have closed its Sittings, or be in recess, in which case the objections shall be presented to them at their first ensuing Sitting.

XLIX. The sanction of the Executive Power is also necessary in order to give effect to all other Resolutions, Decrees, Statutes, and Legislative Acts of the two Chambers, except such as relate to the suspension or adjournment of their Sittings; Summonses for Meeting; Decrees in which they ask for Reports or give Commissions, in matters appertaining to their own duty; Elections relating to themselves; Decisions respecting the qualifications of Members; Orders issued for the filling up of Vacancies that may occur in the Chambers; Rule: for their Debates and internal Regulations; the punishment of their own Members, as well as of those who may be wanting in the respec due to them; together with all other Acts in which the concurrence o both is not deemed necessary.

L. Propositions which have been passed as urgent in the two Chambers, shall be sanctioned or returned by the Executive Power, within 2 days, without any reference being made to the urgency.

LI. In transmitting the Resolutions of one Chamber to the other, as well as to the Executive Power, express mention shall be made of the days on which the subject was discussed, the date of the respective Resolutions, including that of the urgency when it occurs, together with an exposition of the reasons and motives which have given rise to the Whenever any one of these requisites is omitted, the Act shall be returned, within the space of 2 days, to the Chamber in which such omission has happened, or to that in which the Act originated, if it has occurred in both.

same.

LII. Whenever a Law is to be sent to the Executive Power for its sanction, the same shall be drawn up in Duplicate in the corresponding form, and read in the two Chambers. Both Originals shall be signed by their respective Presidents and Secretaries, and afterwards presented to the President of the Republick by a Deputation.

LIII. The Law being sanctioned or objected to by the President of the Republick, conformably to Article XLVI, one of the two Originals, together with the Decree thereto appertaining, shall be returned to the Chambers by the Secretary of the Department to which it relates, in order that in both due minutes of it may be taken. This Original shall be preserved in the Archives of the Chamber in which the Law originated.

LIV. In the promulgation of Laws the following form shall be invariably made use of: "The Senate and Chamber of Representatives of the Republick of Colombia, in Congress assembled, &c. do Decree, &c.

SECTION II. Of the special Attributes of the Congress.

LV. The attributes exclusively belonging to Congress are:

1. To fix, every Year, the amount of the publick Expenditure, on such Estimates as shall be presented to them by the Executive Power. 2. To decree whatever may be expedient for the administration, preservation, and alienation of the National Property.

3. To establish all kinds of Taxes, Duties, and Contributions; to watch over their expenditure and receive the Accounts thereof from the Executive Power, as well as from the other publick Functionaries of the Republick.

4. To contract Debts on the credit of Colombia.

5. To establish a National Bank.

6. To determine and render uniform the value, weight, impress and name of the Coin.

7. To fix and render uniform the Weights and Measures.

8. To create Courts of Justice and the inferior Tribunals of the Republick.

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