ART. 77. Congress shall annually allocate certain of its sessions to the exclusive deliberation of local interests and representations made to the legislative power by administrative bodies in those matters in which the State should intervene.

ART. 78. A special law shall determine the cases and the conditions in which the State shall grant pensions to the families of soldiers who have died in the service of the Republic or to soldiers incapacitated by reason of the same service.

ART. 79. Certificates granted for civil deeds and military acts can be accompanied by medals.

ART. 80. The laws and decrees, with the force of law hitherto existing, continue in force until revoked or revised by the legislative power and remain valid in so far as they are not explicitly contrary to the system of government adopted by the Constitution and to the principles consigned therein.

ART. 81. As soon as this Constitution is approved, it shall be decreed and promulgated by the bureau of the National Constituent Assembly and signed by its members.

TITLE VII. THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. 82. The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic shall be revised every 10 years beginning with the promulgation of the present one, and for this purpose constituent powers shall be held by the Congress whose mandate embraces the period of revision.

§ 1. Revision can be anticipated by 5 years, if approved by two thirds of the Congress of the two houses in joint session.

§ 2. Bills for the revision of the Constitution which do not define precisely the alterations projected can not be admitted to discussion, nor can those the purport of which is to abolish the republican form of government.

TRANSITORY PROVISIONS.

ART. 83. The first President of the Portuguese Republic shall be elected in special session fixed for the third day after that on which the Constitution has been approved by the National Constituent Assembly, and after his salary has been determined.

The election shall be by secret ballot and by an absolute majority of the members of the National Constituent Assembly, with powers certified up till the eve.

If, after the second ballot has taken place, it is ascertained that there has not been an absolute majority, the third ballot shall be by a majority as between the two candidates who obtain most votes in the second.

The first presidential mandate shall terminate on 5 October 1915.

§. For this election the disability referred to in Article 50 shall not obtain.

ART. 84. The election of the Senate shall take place in the session immediately following that in which the election of the President was held.

§ 1. The first senators shall be elected from among the deputies of the National Constituent Assembly over 30 years of age. They shall number 71, and the remaining members of the National Constituent Assembly shall form the first Chamber of Deputies.

§ 2. The choice of the senators shall be made in four elections, the first three by lists of 21 names and the last by a list of 8. In the first three lists there shall be representatives of all the districts, provided the deputies of these districts fulfill the conditions of this article.

§ 3. The mandate of the members of the two houses thus formed terminates, when, after the end of the legislative session of 1914, there has been constituted a new Congress in the terms laid down by the Constitution.

ART. 85. The first Congress of the Republic shall elaborate the following laws:

a. Law respecting crimes for breaches of duty.

b. The administrative code.

c. The organic laws of overseas provinces.

d. The law on judicial organization.

e. The law upon the simultaneous enjoyment of more than one public office.

f. The law regulating political incompatibilities.

g. The electoral law.

§. At the same time and at alternate sessions, the general estimates of the State and other necessary measures shall be discussed. ART. 86. The vacancies which occur in the first Chamber of Deputies shall only be filled if its number be reduced to less than 135 members.

ART. 87. When Congress is closed, the government can take the measures it judges necessary and urgent for the overseas provinces. §. As soon as Congress opens, the government shall give an account of the measures taken.1

1 Here follow the signatures of the president, first secretary and second secretary of the National Constituent Assembly.

ROUMANIA.

For centuries the principalities of the Danube, Moldavia and Wallachia, had a hard struggle to preserve their independence against powerful neighbors. The Crimean War gave the principalities an opportunity to bring their claims before the European Powers. The Treaty of Paris of 30 March 1856 (Articles 15-27) suppressed the protectorate, which Russia had exercised for about 27 years, and instituted (Article 23) a commission to study on the ground the question of reforms. This commission, composed of delegates of the Powers, sat at Bucharest in March 1857. Two consultative assemblies, convoked for the purpose of making known the wishes of each principality, agreed on 19 and 21 October 1857 to proclaim the necessity: 1. of an autonomous government; 2. of the union of the two countries; 3. of the election of a foreign prince; 4. of the organization of a representative government. This declaration is known as the "Declaration of the Four Points." The Conference of Paris did not respect all of these wishes, when it adopted the Organic Convention or Act of 7/19 August 1858, which in 50 articles organized the principalities as two distinct States, each having its own prince. The first real step toward actual union was taken in 1859, when Alexander was elected prince of both countries, but real union did not take place until several years later. In 1866 a revolution brought Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the throne and he immediately called a Constituent Assembly. The Constitution now in force was voted by this Constituent Assembly, elected by universal suffrage, on 30 June/12 July 1866. The Constitution has been amended twice; once, on 13/25 October 1879, as a result of the TurcoRussian War of 1877, and a second time, on 8/20 June 1884. At the same time as the second revision of the Constitution a new Electoral Law was passed which is still in force, although it has undergone important modifications.1

CONSTITUTION OF 30 JUNE/12 JULY 1866, AS AMENDED 13/25 OCTOBER 1879 AND 8/20 JUNE 1884.2

TITLE I. THE TERRITORY OF ROUMANIA,

ARTICLE 1.3 The Kingdom of Roumania with its districts on the right bank of the Danube constitutes a single indivisible State.

1 This introductory paragraph is based upon F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. II, pp. 229-231.

Translated by OTIS G. STANTON from the French translation in DARESTE, op. cit., pp. 231-255. French translation also in the British and Foreign State Papers, 57: pp. 263-278; 71: pp. 1176-1177; and 75: pp. 1105-1106. German translation in PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassurgen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 784-800.

As amended 8/20 June 1884.

1

ART. 2. The territory of Roumania is inalienable.

The limits of the State can be changed or rectified only by virtue of a law.

ART. 3. The territory of Roumania can not be colonized by populations of a foreign race.

ART 4. The territory is divided into districts; the districts into arrondissements; the arrondissements into communes.

These divisions and subdivisions can be modified or rectified only by virtue of a law.

TITLE II. THE RIGHTS OF ROUMANIANS.

ART. 5. Roumanians enjoy liberty of conscience, liberty of instruction, liberty of the press and liberty of assembly.

ART. 6. The present Constitution and other laws relative to political rights determine what, independently of the Roumanian character, are the conditions necessary for the exercise of these rights.

ART. 7. The distinction of religious beliefs and of confessions shall not, in Roumania, constitute an obstacle to the acquisition of civil and political rights and to their exercise.

§ 1. The alien may, without distinction of religion, and whether or not he is subject to a foreign protection, obtain naturalization under the following conditions:

a. He shall address to the government his petition for naturalization, by which he shall make known the capital he possesses, the profession or industry he is engaged in, and his desire to establish his domicile in Roumania.

b. Following this request he shall live in the country during ten years and prove by his actions that he is useful to the country.

§ 2. The following may be excused from residence:

a. Those who shall have introduced industries or useful inventions into the country, or who shall possess distinguished talents; those who shall have founded large establishments of commerce or of industry.

b. Those who, born and reared in Roumania, of parents established there, have never enjoyed, neither the ones nor the others, a foreign protection.

c. Those who have served under the flag during the War of Independence. These may be naturalized collectively, on the proposal of the government, by a single law and without other formality.

§ 3. Naturalization can be accorded only by a law and individually. § 4. A special law shall determine the mode according to which aliens may establish their domicile in Roumania.

1 As amended 13/25 October 1879.

2 Old Article 7 permitted naturalization only to foreigners "of Christian rites," and therefore excluded Jews.