TITLE XV.-GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 133. Primary instruction shall be compulsory, and, when public, shall be free. There shall also be schools of arts and trades and institutions of secondary and professional instruction at the expense of the nation.

The law shall decentralize public instruction and assign to it special revenues.

ART. 134. There shall be in Panama no office whose powers and duties shall not be particularized by law or regulations, and no public officer shall receive two or more salaries from the national treasury except under the provisions that may be made by law in special cases.

ART. 135. Ministers of religious denominations shall not hold any office, employment or public trust in the Republic, whether personal, civil or military, except such positions as are connected with public charity or education.

ART. 136. The government of the United States of America shall have the power to intervene in any part of the Republic of Panama to reestablish public peace and constitutional order, in the event of their being disturbed, if the said nation, by public treaty, assumes the obligation of guaranteeing the independence and sovereignty of this Republic.

TITLE XVI.-AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ART. 137. This Constitution may be amended through a legislative measure enacted in legal form, transmitted by the government to the next ordinary National Assembly for its final consideration, discussed anew by the later and approved by two thirds of the members constituting the Assembly.

TITLE XVII. TRANSITORY PROVISIONS.

ART. 138. In order to secure for posterity a part of the pecuniary advantages derived from the negotiations for the construction of the interoceanic canal, the sum of six million dollars is hereby set aside for investment in securities bearing a fixed annual interest. The said investment shall be regulated by law.

ART. 139.1

ART. 140. The first President of the Republic shall be elected by the National Convention by an absolute majority of votes on the day

1 Repealed by the Legislative Act of 14 March 1917. This article read as follows: "The law shall impose the penalty of death only for murder when accompanied by circumstances of atrocious character; and this shall be done only as long as no good penal establishments or real penitentiaries exist in the Republic."

of the promulgation of this Constitution. He shall take possession of the post immediately and shall exercise his functions until 30 September 1908.

The Designates shall be elected on the same day as the President, and their term of office shall expire on 30 September 1906.

ART. 141. Any citizen who has taken an active part in securing the independence of the Republic may, even if not a Panaman by birth, be elected the first constitutional President of the Republic of Pan

ama.

ART. 142. As soon as this Constitution is sanctioned by the board of provisional government of the Republic, the Convention shall lose its character as such and assume all the functions attributed to the National Assembly, the prohibition contained in Article 64 not applying to the delegates to the Convention.

ART. 143. Before the date on which the first National Assembly is to meet, the Constitutional National Convention shall again exercise the legislative functions, whenever it may be called in extraordinary session by the executive power.

ART. 144. The first National Assembly shall meet on 1 September 1906.

ART. 145. All the acts of the board of provisional government from 3 November 1903 to 15 January of the present year are hereby expressly ratified.

ART. 146. Existing monopolies and other privileges shall continue until the expiration of the respective lawful contracts, unless it is found possible to reach some equitable agreements with the possessors thereof for their immediate termination.

ART. 147. All laws, decrees, regulations, orders and other provisions which may be in force at the time this Constitution is promulgated shall continue to be observed, in so far as they are not contrary to it or to the laws of the Republic of Panama.

ART. 148. This Constitution shall take effect, as far as the supreme branches of the government are concerned, from the day on which it is sanctioned; and as far as the Republic is concerned, fifteen days after its publication in the Gaceta Oficial.

LEGISLATIVE ACT OF 14 MARCH 1917 AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION.1

ARTICLE 1. There shall be no death penalty in Panama,

ART. 2. The National Assembly shall elect by the absolute majority of the votes of the total number of its members the Attorney-General of the nation and two substitutes who shall replace the former when

1 Translated by ANTONIO M. OPISSO from the official Spanish text.

permanently or temporarily absent. These officials shall be elected for a period of five years.

SECTION. In the event of absence for any reason of the sitting and substitute Attorney-Generals, the executive power may, during the recess of the National Assembly, fill such vacancy until the Assembly shall meet either in ordinary or extraordinary session and proceed to a new election.

ART. 3. Any person may engage in any honest trade or occupation for which he may be fitted. The law and the authorities shall regulate or inspect the professions and industries as to everything pertaining to the individual aptitude and morality and public safety and health.

ART. 4. At the end of Article 49 the following clause shall be added:

The election of the President and Vice-President of the Republic shall always be made by the direct vote of the citizens.

ART. 5. Governors of provinces and mayors of the districts shall be elected by popular direct vote and for a period of four years. The first election for these offices shall be made in 1920.

ART. 6. The National Assembly is hereby forbidden:

1. To charge to the public treasury any indemnity which has not been previously declared by the judicial power, or to approve any items for payment of pensions or retirements which have not been previously granted in accordance with the pre-existing general laws. 2. To decree the banishment or prosecution of persons or corporations.

3. To pass resolutions in praise of official acts.

ART. 7. The term of office of the President of the Republic shall be four years. Children of Panaman father or mother born abroad may be elected President or Vice-President of the Republic, provided they have chosen Panaman nationality and have resided in the country for over 20 years.

Panaman citizens born in Colombia who took part in the movement of separation of Panama and who were members of the provisional government of the Republic may also be elected President or Vice-President of the Republic.

ART. 8. Clause 17 of Article 73 of the Constitution shall be thus amended:

17. To appoint, according to the conditions required by the Constitution and the laws, the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice for a period of five years, renewing one every year, and the public prosecutors for a period of four years.

Transitory paragraph. The magistrates first appointed in accordance with the foregoing provision shall hold office for the following periods: The first shall hold office 1 year; the second, 2 years; the third, 3 years; the fourth, 4 years; and the fifth, 5 years of the ordinary constitutional period.

This provision shall go into force in 1920.

ART. 9. When a temporary or absolute vacancy of the office of the President of the Republic shall occur, the executive power shall be exercised by a magistrate who shall be known as the Vice-President of the Republic and who shall be elected on the same day and in the same manner and for the same period as the President.

SECT. 1. Only death, resignation or dismissal of the President shall cause absolute vacancy.

SECT. 2. When the Vice-President should substitute the President during the latter's temporary absence, he shall use the title of VicePresident of the Republic in charge of the executive power; when he should fill the office by reason of absolute vacancy, he shall assume the title of President of the Republic.

SECT. 3. Whenever in this Constitution 1 or in the laws reference is made to the Designates for the executive power, it shall be understood that the magistrate to whom said provisions are applicable is the Vice-President.

SECT. 4. Whenever an absolute vacancy of the office of President or Vice-President occurs, the secretary of State elected by a majority of votes at a cabinet meeting shall take charge provisionally while the Assembly convenes in extraordinary session for the sole purpose of appointing the President and the Vice-President of the Republic for the remainder of the running period.

ART. 10. A citizen who has been elected President of the Republic can not be reelected for the term immediately following. Neither can a citizen, who, having been called to fill the office of President by reason of absolute vacancy of the titular President, has held such office for any length of time, be elected President of the Republic for the term immediately following.

ART. 11. A citizen who has been called to fill the Presidency of the Republic by reason of accidental or temporary absence of the titular President and who should have exercised such office within the six months preceding the day of the election for the new President, can not be elected to that office for the term immediately following.

SECTION. The prohibitions established in regard to the election of President of the Republic shall be made extensive to those persons related to the ineligible citizen within the fourth degree of consanguinity and the second degree of affinity.

ART. 12. The following clause shall be added to Article 110 of the Constitution:

Municipal deputies shall be elected by the executive power out of lists of three presented by the respective municipal councils. When one of the list of three has been elected, the other two shall be held as substitutes in the order established by the executive power.

1 See Articles 79 and following.

ART. 13. Article 120 shall read as follows:

The executive power can not vote an extraordinary allowance, except in the following cases:

1. Whenever any public calamity occurs.

2. Whenever there is need to attend to some obligations which affect national honor or unavoidable expenses for international courtesy.

3. In case of disturbance of public order.

These allowances shall be granted by the Cabinet under the joint responsibility of the President and his secretaries of State, and the reasons for this action shall be recorded in each case and submitted to the National Assembly at its ordinary sessions.

ART. 14. The public military or police force is not a deliberative organization. Its members can not take part in electoral matters nor vote. They shall not assemble, unless by order of the proper authority, and shall not make petitions, except upon subjects relating to the good service and the morality of the army or of the police, and in accordance with the laws of their establishment.

ART. 15 (transitory). The deputies elected in 1918 shall remain in office for six years. The following elections shall take place in 1924, and shall continue thereafter to be held every four years, the same days as the elections for President.

ART. 16. Article 139 of the National Constitution is hereby abrogated; Articles 68, 79, 82, 83, 112, 120 and 125 and Clause 4 of Article 67 are subrogated, and Articles 70 and 91 thereof are modified.