ART. 111. The Diet Committee consists of the president and of 2 other members of the Diet, one from the highlands and one from the lowlands. In case the president is prevented, the vice-president takes his place, and in case the 2 Committee members are prevented, they are represented by substitutes.1

ART. 112. The members of the Committee and their substitutes are elected by all the deputies from their own number.1

ART. 113. The Commiteee has the right and the duty:

a. To see that the Constitution is preserved, that the decisions of the Diet are executed and that the Diet is again called in due time after it has been dissolved or adjourned.

b. To examine the public treasury reports and to submit directions thereon to the Diet subject to the decision of the latter.

c. To sign bonds and mortgages which are to be drawn up to the treasury, with reference to a previous decision of the Diet.

d. To take charge of special commissions entrusted to it by the Diet, with reference to preparations for future transactions of the Diet.

e. To report to the Prince in cases of urgency and to submit remonstrances, protests and complaints in case constitutional rights are jeopardized and violated.

f. In accordance with the exigencies of the case, to propose the convening of an extraordinary Diet, which proposal will not be refused if the exigency is proved.2

ART. 114. The Committee can not enter into any permanent obligation for the country and is responsible to the Diet for its conduct. of business.

ART. 115. The Committee must meet annually in August at the seat of the government in order to attend to its business.

ART. 116. The Committee must be present in toto to make its decisions valid.

ART. 117. The duties of the Committee cease with the opening of the next Diet and are continued after an adjournment of the latter or after the close of an extraordinary session.

ART. 118. During their sessions the members of the Committee draw the same per diem allowance as is determined for the deputies to the Diet.

CHAPTER IX.-GUARANTEE OF THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. 119. After its proclamation the present Constitution becomes binding as constitutional law for all subjects of the country.

1 Amended by the Law of 19 February 1878.

* Supplemented by the Law of 29 December 1895 concerning additional provisions on the prerogatives of the Diet Committee: "As long as the Diet is not assembled, petitions may, in urgent and important cases and on condition that the legal prerogatives of the princely authorities are not violated, be submitted to the Diet Committee. The right of initiative belonging to the Diet Committee is not affected by the aforementioned provisions."

ART. 120. All laws, decrees and ordinances which are at variance with the content of this Constitution are hereby repealed.

ART. 121. Without the consent of the government and the Diet no changes may be made in this Constitution.

Proposals for amendments or interpretations of this Constitution, which may be made by the government as well as by the Diet, require on the part of the latter a unanimous vote of the members present in the Diet or a majority vote of three fourths of the members in two consecutive ordinary sessions of the Diet. Proposals made by the government are to be acted upon in the same way.

ART. 122. If there should be doubt as to the interpretation of separate provisions of the Constitution which can not be removed by an agreement between the government and the Diet, the decision shall be left to the Arbitral Court of the Confederation.

ART. 123. Every successor to the throne will, before he receives hereditary homage, pronounce in a written document, in which ref erence is made to his princely honors and dignity, that he will rule the Principality of Liechtenstein in accordance with the Constitution and the laws, that he will maintain its integrity and observe the princely rights inseparably and unchangeably.

ART. 124. All State officers and appointed officials, as well as all local presidents, shall now and hereafter swear the following oath upon entering office:

I swear fidelity to the Prince, obedience to the laws and observance of the Constitution.

All of them, without exception, are responsible for the exact observance of the Constitution in their sphere of activity.1

1 Here follow the attestation and signature of John II.

LUXEMBURG.

By Article 67 of the Act of the Congress of Vienna of 9 June 1815,1 the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg was assigned to the crown of the Netherlands. After the Treaty of London of 19 April 1839, the King of Holland took the title of King Grand-Duke and gave Luxemburg a separate Constitution on 12 October 1841. The draft of a new Constitution in 127 articles was adopted on 23 June 1848 and sanctioned on 9 July following. But a reaction was not long in setting in. In 1856 William III proposed a revision of the Constitution to the Chamber, but the latter refused to approve the King's project. Whereupon he issued a decree pronouncing its dissolution and promulgating at the same time the revised Constitution (27 November 1856). The German Confederation gave its approval to this coup d'état (29 January 1857). Following the dissolution of the German Confederation (1866), the Treaty of London of 11 May 1867 established the neutrality of the Grand Duchy, which remained outside of the new North German Confederation. A new Constitution was promulgated on 17 October 1868 and this is the one in force today. The death of the King Grand-Duke William III on 23 November 1890 resulted in the separation of the crowns of Luxemburg and the Netherlands on account of the difference in the laws of succession," and the crown of Luxemburg passed to Adolphus, Duke of Nassau. The Nassau Family Pact bears the date of 30 June 1783. A Family Statute (Familienstatut), the official text of which is in German, was promulgated on 16 April 1907, and a law of 10 July 1907 gave it the force of a law."

1 French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 2: p. 37.

2 French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 27: pp. 990-1003. and 37: pp. 1320-1330.

3 French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 44: pp. 869-875. French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 46: pp. 1249-1262.

William's daughter succeeded to the throne of Holland, but the Salic Law governed succession in Luxemburg. This law, however, is subordinate to the Nassau Family Pact, which provides for the succession in the case of complete extinction of males. Hence Marie Adelaide succeeded her father, William, the son and successor of Adolphus.

• This introductory paragraph is based on F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. 1, pp. 150-151. 391

CHAPTER I.-THE TERRITORY AND THE GRAND DUKE.2

ARTICLE 1. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg forms an independent, indivisible and inalienable and perpetually neutral State.3

ART. 2. The limits and chief-towns of the judicial or administrative arrondissements, of the cantons and of the communes may be changed only by virtue of a law.

ART. 3. The crown of the Grand Duchy is hereditary in the family of Nassau, conformably to the Pact of 30 June 1783, to Article 71 of the Treaty of Vienna of 9 June 1815 and to Article 1 of the Treaty of London of 11 May 1867.5

ART. 4. The person of the Grand Duke is sacred and inviolable.

ART. 5. The Grand Duke of Luxemburg reaches his majority at the age of 18 years. When he assumes the reins of government, he takes, as soon as possible, in the presence of the Chamber of Deputies or of a deputation appointed by it, the following oath:

I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, to maintain the national independence and the integrity of the territory, as well as public and individual liberty, as also the rights of all and of each of my subjects, and to employ for the preservation and the increase of the general and individual prosperity, as a good sovereign ought, all the means which the laws place at my disposal. So help me God!

ART. 6. If, at the death of the Grand-Duke, his successor is a minor, the regency is exercised conformably to the Family Pact.

ART. 7. If the Grand Duke finds it impossible to reign, he is provided with a regency as in the case of minority.

In case of vacancy of the throne, the Chamber provides provisionally for the regency.

A new Chamber, convoked in double number within the period of 30 days, provides definitively for the vacancy.

1 Translated by OTIS G. STANTON from the French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 58: pp. 249-261. French text also in DARESTE, op. cit., pp. 151-168, and PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 674-684. 2 To make the text agree with actual conditions, the words " King Grand-Duke in the original text are everywhere replaced by "Grand Duke."

found

Treaty of London of 11 May 1867, approved by the Law of 21 June 1867. Article 71 of the Treaty of Vienna of 9 June 1815 (French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 2: p. 39) reads as follows: "The right and order of succession established between the two branches of the House of Nassau by the Act of 1783 [German text in MARTENS, Recueil de Traités, 1st edition, vol. II, pp. 405-422], called the Nassauischer Erbverein, is maintained and transferred from the four principalities of Orange-Nassau to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg."

Article 1 of the Treaty of London of 11 May 1867 (French text in the British and Foreign State Papers, 57: p. 34) reads in part as follows: "His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, maintains the bonds which attach the said Duchy to the House of Orange-Nassau, by virtue of the treaties which have placed this State under the sovereignty of His Majesty the King Grand-Duke, his descendants

and successors."

ART. 8. At his entrance upon his functions, the Regent takes the following oath:

I swear fidelity to the Grand Duke; I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the country. So help me God!

CHAPTER II.-THE LUXEMBURGERS AND THEIR RIGHTS.

ART. 9. The quality of Luxemburger is acquired, preserved and lost according to the rules determined by the civil law.

The present Constitution and the other laws relative to political rights determine what are, beyond this quality, the conditions necessary for the exercise of these rights.

ART. 10. Naturalization is granted by the legislative power.

Naturalization assimilates the foreigner to the Luxemburger, for the exercise of political rights.

Naturalization granted to the father is available to his minor child, if the latter declares, within two years of his majority, intention to claim this privilege.1

ART. 11. There is in the State no distinction of orders.

The Luxemburgers are equal before the law; they alone are admissible to civil and military employments, save exceptions which may be established by a law for particular cases.

ART. 12. Individual liberty is guaranteed.

No one shall be prosecuted except in the cases provided by the law and in the form which it prescribes.

Outside of the case of flagrante delicto, no one shall be arrested except by virtue of a judge's warrant with the reasons stated therein, which must be served at the moment of the arrest or, at the latest, within 24 hours.

ART. 13. No one shall be deprived, against his will, of the judge whom the law assigns to him.

ART. 14. No penalty shall be established or applied except by virtue of the law.

ART. 15. The domicile is inviolable. No domiciliary visit shall take place except in the cases provided for by the law and in the form which it prescribes.

ART. 16. No one shall be deprived of his property, except by reason of public utility, in the cases and in the manner established by the law and in consideration of a just and prior indemnity."

ART. 17. The penalty of confiscation of property shall not be established.

ART. 18. The penalty of death in political matters, civil death and branding are abolished.

1 Two laws (12 November 1848 and 27 January 1878) govern naturalization matters. * Laws of 17 December 1859 and 4 March 1896 on expropriation by reason of public utility.

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