TITLE V.-THE ARMED FORCE.

ART. 118. Every Roumanian is a part of one of the elements of the armed force, conformably to the special laws.2

ART. 119. Soldiers can be deprived of their grades, honors and pensions only by virtue of a judicial sentence and in the cases determined by the laws.

ART. 120. The contingent of the army is voted annually.

The laws which fixes this contingent has force only for one year. ART. 121. The national guard is and remains abolished.

ART. 122. No foreign troops can be admitted to the service of the State, occupy or traverse the territory of Roumania, except by virtue of a law.

TITLE VI.-GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 123. The colors of Roumania remain, as in the past, blue, yellow and red.

ART. 124. The city of Bucharest is the capital of Roumania and the seat of the government.

ART. 125. No oath can be imposed except by virtue of the law which shall also at the same time determine the formula thereof.

ART. 126. No law or regulation of general, district or communal administration can have obligatory force until after having been published in the form determined by the law.

ART. 127. The Constitution can not be suspended in whole or in part.

TITLE VII. THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. 128. The legislative power has the right to declare that there is occasion for the revision of such provision of the Constitution as it designates.

After this declaration, read three times fortnightly in public meeting and approved by the two houses, the latter are dissolved ipso facto and they shall be convoked anew within the period prescribed by Article 95.

The new houses determine, in common accord with the King, upon the points submitted to revision.

In this case, the houses can not deliberate, if at least two thirds of the members who compose each of them are not present, and no change shall be adopted, if at least two thirds of the votes do not agree.

1 As amended 8/20 June 1884.

2 See below the note under Article 131, No. 9.

TITLE VIII.-TRANSITORY AND SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS.

ART. 129. From the day when the Constitution shall be executory, all laws, decrees, regulations and other acts which are contrary are abrogated.

ART. 130. The Council of State, with the attributions of administrative contest, can not be reestablished.

The Court of Cassation shall pronounce, as heretofore, on the conflict of attributions.

A permanent commission shall be established which shall have no other attributions than to study and elaborate projects of law and the rules of public administration.

Under-secretaries of State shall be appointed. They shall have power to take part in the debates of the legislative bodies under the responsibility of the ministers.

ART. 131. The following objects shall be provided for, in the shortest possible period, by separate laws:

1. Administrative decentralization.

2. The responsibility of the ministers and other agents of the executive power.2

3. Measures proper to prevent the abuses of cumulation."

4. The modification of the pension law.

5. The conditions of admission and advancement in the administrative offices.

6. The development of the ways of communication.

7. The exploitation of mines and forests.

8. The rivers and streams navigable or available for rafts.

9. The organization of the army, the laws of advancement and retirement and the different positions of the officers.

10. Military justice.5

All existing codes and laws shall be revised to be placed in agreement with the Constitution."

ART. 133. The lands of those formerly liable to statute-labor (clacaşi), of their descendants newly married (insurațsi) and the inhabitants who have bought or shall buy in small lots from the

1 As amended 8/20 June 1884.

* See the note under Article 101 (above, p. 532).

3 Law of 30 June/12 July 1890 prohibiting the cumulation of public offices.

* Law of 8/20 July 1882 on the recruiting of the army, amended in 1883, 1887, 1891, 1898, 1900 and 1903. Law of 25 February/10 March 1900 on the administration of the army. Law of 22 May/3 June 1898 on the organization of the navy, amended in 1906.

Code of Military Justice of 27 April/9 May 1873.

*Civil Code of 1864. Code of Civil Procedure of 1865, revised in 1900. Penal Code of 1874. Code of Penal Procedure of 1864. Code of Commerce of 1887, amended in 1895 and 1900.

property of the State are and shall be inalienable during 32 years, dating from the promulgation of this law.

The power of alienating the land of their habitation shall however be granted by special laws to the inhabitants included within the radius of an urban commune.

Inalienability is applied equally to the lands sold by the State in small lots on the territory of Roumania beyond the Danube. The exchanges of land for other lands do not enter into the prohibition of the present law.

The exchanges referred to here can be made only against lands of the same extent and value.1

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE.2 The provisions of the present Constitution shall be applied by special laws in the part of Roumania which is beyond the Danube.

1 Law of 15/27 August 1864 regulating rural property.
2 Added

20 June 1884. See DARESTE, op. cit., p. 255, note 2.

RUSSIA.

The fundamental principle of government of Russia was pure autocracy until 1906. The political institutions had no root in what might be called the national rights of Russia, but were the results simply of administrative measures modified by the Czar at his pleasure. The first ukase announcing general reforms appeared on 12/25 December 1904. These reforms were to apply to certain definite points, such as religious liberty, liberty of the press, civil liberty, etc. Numerous ukases were promulgated in 1905 for putting into execution a part of these reforms. On 6/19 August 1905 the Czar issued regulations for the election of a national representative body upon a restricted suffrage. This concession did not satisfy the liberal elements, and on 17/30 October an Imperial Manifesto promised:

1. To grant to the population the immutable guaranties of civil liberty, upon the basis of real inviolability of person, of liberty of conscience, of speech, of assembly and of association.

2. To permit the participation in the Duma of the Empire, as far as possible within the brief period of time remaining before the convocation of the Duma and without interrupting the progress of the elections to that assembly, of those classes of the population who are now completely deprived of electoral rights, leaving the further development of the principle of universal suffrage to the newly established legislative procedure.

3. To establish, as an immutable rule, that no law shall become effective without the approval of the Imperial Duma, and that the representatives of the people be guaranteed the possibility of exercising an effective supervision as to the legality of the acts of the imperial authorities.1

The liberal election law of 11/24 December 19052 and the Fundamental Laws of 23 April/6 May 1906 were steps toward the execution of these promises.3

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF 23 APRIL/6 MAY 1906.1

ARTICLE 1. The Russian Empire is one and indivisible.

ART. 2. The Grand Duchy of Finland, forming an indivisible part of the Russian Empire, shall be governed in its internal affairs

This text is a free translation of the French text published in the Journal de St. Petersbourg of 4 November 1905.

2 See note under Article 59 (below, p. 544).

3 These introductory paragraphs are based upon W. F. DODD, Modern Constitutions (Chicago, 1909), vol. II, p. 181, and F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. 11, pp. 148–151.

* These laws constitute Part I of the Code (Svod) of laws of the Russian Empire. Translation based upon that in DODD, op. cit., pp. 182-195. French translation in DARESTE, op. cit., pp. 151-163. German translation in PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 801-816.

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by special regulations established on the basis of a special legislature.1

ART. 3. The Russian language is the official language of the Empire and its use is obligatory in the army, the navy and all governmental and public institutions. The use of local languages and dialects in governmental and public institutions shall be regulated by special laws.

CHAPTER I.-THE NATURE OF THE SUPREME AUTOCRATIC POWER.

ART. 4. The Emperor of all the Russias wields the supreme autocratic power. To obey his authority, not only through fear, but for the sake of conscience, is ordered by God himself.

ART. 5. The person of the Emperor is sacred and inviolable.

ART. 6. The same supreme autocratic power shall belong likewise to the Empress when the succession to the throne falls to a person of the female sex according to the established order; but her consort shall not be considered as Emperor; he shall enjoy the honors and privileges enjoyed by the consorts of Emperors, but without the title. ART. 7. The Emperor is vested with the legislative power jointly with the Imperial Council and the Imperial Duma.

ART. 8. The initiative in all legislative measures belongs to the Emperor. Only through his initiative may fundamental laws be submitted to the Imperial Council and the Imperial Duma for discussion.

ART. 9. The Emperor sanctions the laws and without his approval no law shall be put into execution.

1 When Finland was annexed to Russia in 1809, the Emperor Alexander I guaranteed the religion and the fundamental laws of the country. The fundamental laws thus guaranteed were the Swedish laws of 1772 and 1789, under which there existed a general Swedish Diet of four estates. A local Finnish Diet, containing representatives of the four estates, was at once convened, and accepted the Russian Emperor as Grand Duke of Finland. For about 90 years Finland retained its local institutions almost unimpaired, although the Diet was infrequently in session. According to a law approved by the Russian Emperor in 1869, no fundamental law could be enacted or altered without the consent of the estates.

For some time before 1899 there had been a strong feeling among Russian officials that Finnish institutions should be assimilated to those of the rest of the Empire. When difficulty was apprehended in obtaining the passage of laws reorganizing the Finnish army and incorporating it with that of the Empire, the Emperor on 16 February 1899 issued a manifesto by which he withdrew from the Finnish Diet all power to legislate upon matters of " general interest and importance for the Empire."

This step and others during the several succeeding years, tending to destroy the independence of the Grand Duchy, were vigorously opposed by the Finnish people. In consequence of a general strike in October 1905, the Russian government was forced to yield. An Imperial Manifesto of 4 November 1905 annulled the obnoxious laws and convened the Finnish Diet. On 10 May 1906 a bill for the reform of representation in the Finnish Diet was approved by the Emperor and adopted by the Diet. By this law the Diet was organized into a single chamber of 200 delegates, of whom 60 formed a grand committee, somewhat similar to the Norwegian Lagthing. Members of the Diet are elected by direct universal suffrage, the right to vote being given to men and women who have attained the age of 24 years. The Diet holds annual sessions and its members are elected for three years upon a system of proportional representation.

2 But not the exclusive power of initiation with respect to ordinary legislation; see Article 65 of this law (below, p. 545).