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The year shall be fixed by a decree of the President of the Republic published at least three months before the meeting of the primary assemblies.

The session of the legislative body then elected shall convene on the constitutional date immediately following the first election.

ART. D. A Council of State, created in accordance with the same principles as those of the decree of 5 April 1916 and composed of 21 members distributed among the different departments, shall exercise the legislative power until the legislative body is constituted, on which date the Council of State shall cease to exist.

ART. E. The irremovability of judges shall be suspended for a period of six months beginning from the date of the promulgation of the present Constitution.

HONDURAS.

The first separate Constitution of the Republic of Honduras dates from 11 December 1825. After the dissolution of the Central American Federation, Honduras remodeled its Constitution on 11 January 1839. This Constitution has been modified on several occasions: 4 February 1848, 29 September 1865, 23 December 1873, 1 November 18801 and 14 October 1894. But the wars and dictatorships which succeeded each other almost without interruption for fifty years have caused the suspension or non-observance of these texts, the majority of which have remained dead letters. The Constitution in force today is still that of 1894. Replaced by a new Constitution on 2 September 1904, it was restored shortly after with a single modification (abolishment of the institution of the jury).*

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CONSTITUTION OF 14 OCTOBER 1894.5

[PREAMBLE.]

We, the representatives of the people of Honduras, having assembled to formulate the fundamental law of the nation, declare and sanction the following Political Constitution.

TITLE I. THE NATION.

ARTICLE 1. Honduras is a State disjoined from the Republic of Central America. In consequence, it recognizes as a most pressing necessity its reunion with the other States of the dissolved Republic. To this effect the legislative power is authorized to definitively ratify the treaties which aim to accomplish this reunion with one or more of the States of the old Federation.

ART. 2. Honduras is a free, sovereign and independent nation. ART. 3. The national sovereignty resides essentially in the universality of Hondurans.

1 English translation in the British and Foreign State Papers, 71: pp. 906-921.

2 Spanish text and English translation in parallel columns in J. I. RODRIGUEZ, American Constitutions (Washington, 1906), vol. 1, pp. 360-389. English translation also in the British and Foreign State Papers, 100: pp. 1072-1089.

* See Mensaje del Presidente (Tegucigalpa, 1909), p. 10.

This introductory paragraph is based upon F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. II, pp. 563-564. Translated by ANTONIO M. OPISSO from the official Spanish text.

ART. 4. All public power emanates from the people. The functionaries of the State have no further authority than that expressly given to them by law. All acts executed by them outside of the law are null.

ART. 5. The limits of Honduras and its territorial divisions shall be determined by law.

TITLE II.-HONDURANS.

ART. 6. Hondurans are either natives or naturalized.

ART. 7. The following are natives:

1. Those who are born in Honduras of Honduran parents.

2. Children born in Honduras of foreigners domiciled there and children of a Honduran father or mother born abroad who should choose Honduran nationality.

The provisions of the last paragraph may be modified by treaty, provided there is reciprocity.

ART. 8. Children of the other Republics of Central America who declare before the highest political departmental authorities their desire to become Hondurans are considered as natives.

ART. 9. The following are naturalized:

1. Spanish-Americans who have resided one year in the country and who declare, before the proper authority, their desire to be naturalized therein.

2. Other foreigners who have resided two years in the country and who declare, before the aforesaid authority, their desire to be naturalized therein.

3. Those who obtain naturalization papers from the authority designated by the law.

TITLE III.-FOREIGNERS.

ART. 10. The Republic of Honduras is a sacred asylum for all who may take refuge in its territory.

ART. 11. Foreigners, from the moment of their arrival in the territory of the Republic, are obliged to respect the authorities and to observe the laws.

ART. 12. Foreigners enjoy in Honduras all the civil rights of Hondurans.

ART. 13. They may acquire every kind of property in the country; but with regard to their property, they shall be subject to all the ordinary taxes and to those extraordinary taxes of a general character to which Hondurans are liable.

ART. 14. They shall not present claims or demand any indemnity from the State except in such cases and in such form as Hondurans may do so.

ART. 15. Foreigners shall not have recourse to diplomatic intervention except in cases of denial of justice. For this purpose a judicial decision unfavorable to the claimant is not understood to be a denial of justice. If, in contravention of this provision, they do not terminate their claims in an amicable manner and cause injury to the country, they shall forfeit the right to live therein.

ART. 16. Extradition shall be granted only by virtue of a law or of treaties, for serious common crimes; never for political crimes, even if, in consequence of the latter, a common crime should ensue.

ART. 17. The laws shall establish the form and the cases in which a foreigner may be denied entry into the territory of the nation, or his expulsion ordered, because of his being considered pernicious. ART. 18. Laws and treaties shall define the use of these guarantees, without the power to diminish or alter them.

ART. 19. The provisions of this title do not modify the treaties now existing between Honduras and other nations.

TITLE IV.-CITIZENS.

ART. 20. All Hondurans over 21 years of age, and those over 18 who are married or know how to read and write, are citizens.

ART. 21. The following are the rights of the citizen: To vote, to apply for public offices and to possess and carry arms, all in accordance with the law.

ART. 21. The rights of citizenship are suspended:

1. By an order for imprisonment or a declaration that there are grounds for indictment.

2. By vagrancy legally established.

3. By disorder of the metal faculties judicially established. 4. By a sentence depriving the subject of political rights, during the service of such sentence.

5. By having been declared a fraudulent debtor, until judicial rehabilitation is obtained.

6. By a sentence which imposes a penalty higher than a correctional penalty.

7. By accepting employment from foreign States without permission of the proper authorities. The Republics of Central America are not considered foreign States.

ART. 23. Active suffrage can not be renounced and is obligatory to all citizens.

ART. 24. Suffrage shall be direct and secret. Elections shall be carried out in the form prescribed by law, and the law shall give a corresponding representation to minorities.

ART. 25. Only citizens over 21 years of age, who are in the exercise of their rights, can qualify for election.

TITLE V.-RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES.

ART. 26. The Constitution guarantees to all the inhabitants of Honduras, whether nationals or foreigners, the inviolability of human life, individual security, liberty, equality and property rights.

INVIOLABILITY OF HUMAN LIFE.

ART. 27. Capital punishment is absolutely abolished in Honduras.

INDIVIDUAL SECURITY.

ART. 28. The Constitution recognizes the guarantee of habeas corpus. Consequently every person illegally detained, or any other person in his name, has the right to have recourse to the court, verbally or in writing, demanding the production of the person.

ART. 29. Every person has the right to ask for protection against any attempt or arbitrary proceedings of which he may be a victim, and to make effective the exercise of all the guarantees which this. Constitution establishes, when he has been wrongfully restrained in the enjoyment thereof, by law or by the acts of any public authority, agent or functionary.

ART. 30. A warrant of arrest which does not emanate from the competent authority, or which has been issued without the legal formalities, is illegal.

ART. 31. Detention for the purpose of inquiry shall not exceed six days.

ART. 32. The solitary confinement of the person detained shall not exceed 24 hours.

ART. 33. No order for imprisonment may be made without full proof before the arrest that a crime has been committed which is punishable with a penalty higher than a correctional penalty and without at least reasonable presumption as to who the author is.

ART. 34. Imprisonment or arrest is permitted, through sentence or judicial order, in such cases and for such periods as are provided by the law. The judicial order shall not be for a period exceeding 30 days.

ART. 35. An offender in flagrante delicto may be apprehended by any person for the purpose of handing him over immediately to the authority having the right to arrest.

ART. 36. No one may be imprisoned or detained except in such places as the law determines.

ART. 37. Even with a warrant for imprisonment, no one can be taken to prison, or detained therein, if he furnishes sufficient bail, when a greater penalty than three years is not applicable for the offense.

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