The president and the members of the Court of Cassation shall enter upon their functions as soon as the King shall have appointed them.

The president and the members of the Court of Appeal are chosen and appointed conformably to Article 154 of the present Constitution.

The presidents and the judges of the tribunals of first instance are chosen and appointed in the manner provided by Article 154 of the present Constitution.

IV. The law on the budget of the State of 4 April 1903 shall remain in force.

ART. 202.1 From the day of the promulgation of the present Constitution, the Constitution of 6 April 1901 [old style] shall be abrogated, as well as all laws and ordinances, in so far as they are contrary to the present Constitution.

The Council of Ministers is required to promulgate immediately the present Constitution in the Official Journal.

1 As amended, 5/18 June 1903.

SIAM.

Siam is an absolute monarchy, in which the King exercises the executive power, supported and advised by a Cabinet (Senabodi) consisting of the heads of the various departments: Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice, Finance, Public Instruction, Public Works, War, etc. Many of the portfolios are held by the King's half-brothers and uncles. There is no written Constitution. The Law of 8 May 1874, constituting a Council of State, has now been superseded by the Royal Decree of 10 January 1895, creating a Legislative Council, which is composed of the Ministers of State (ex-officio members) and others, not less than twelve in number, appointed by the King. In the preamble of the Royal Decree it is stated that the object of this body is to revise, amend and complete the legislation of the kingdom. It is to meet at least once a week, and it may appoint committees of three or four members, with the addition of competent outsiders who must not outnumber the members. An important article gives the Legislative Council power to promulgate laws without the royal assent in the event of any temporary disability of the King. At other times. the royal signature is indispensable. This Council has shown considerable legislative activity. Through the Declaration, signed at London, 15 January 1896,1 the integrity of Siam was assured by France and Great Britain.2

1 English and French texts in parallel columns in the British and Foreign State Papers, 88: pp. 13-16; the English text also appears in Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1896 (Washington, 1897), pp. 139-140.

2 These paragraphs are based upon The Statesman's Year Book (1918) and PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), p. 934.

587

TURKEY.

Until 1908 the government of the Sultan (padishah) was an absolute monarchy in the full sense of the term, there being no counterbalance to its authority. However, the reforms attempted since 1839 in the political and administrative field, often under the pressure of the European Powers, may be considered as a sort of step toward the political transformation of 1908.

The Hatt-i-sherif of 3 November 1839 (26 Shaaban 1255), the first program of these reforms, provided expressly that the national institutions should guarantee henceforth to all Ottoman subjects, without distinction of race or cult, "a perfect security as to their life, honor and fortune." The reforms especially announced were financial and military, but from 1839 to 1856 few of these reforms were brought about.

A second act, the Hatt-i-humayoun of 18 February 1856 (10 Jomada I 1272), emanating from the initiative of the Sultan, but inspired likewise by the Powers, developed the program of 1839, promising equality of all before the law, respect of property, freedom of worship, equality of taxation, publicity of trials, equality of witnesses, abolition of confiscation and torture, etc. But the majority of these reforms were yet to remain dead letters.

Dating from 1859 the European Powers began to interfere seriously in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire. Russian and English projects for reform resulted in the promulgation of a real Constitution on 23 December 1876 (7 Dulkaada 1293) and the first Ottoman Parliament opened on 19 March 1877. But the war with Russia broke out the following month and subsequently the Parliament was prorogued indefinitely. The Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878, which removed important provinces from Turkey, imposed different engagements upon it, bearing notably upon freedom of conscience and of worship, admissibility to public employment, freedom of non-Mussulman communities (Article 62), and "improvements and reforms required by local needs in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians" (Article 61). The Turkish Constitution of 1876, after having remained a dead letter for 30 years, was put back into

1 The Hatt-i-humayoun and the Hatt-i-sherif were rescripts emanating directly from the Sultan and preceded by the formula, "Let it be done conformably to the contents," written in the Sultan's hand.

force by a Hatt-i-humayoun of 2 August 1908, under the influence of the Young Turk party, and within a year afterwards was revised, 19 articles being modified.1

CONSTITUTION OF 23 DECEMBER 1876, AS AMENDED IN 1909.2 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

ARTICLE 1. The Ottoman Empire comprises the existing territories and divisions and the privileged provinces. It forms an indivisible whole, and can never allow any part to be detached for any reason whatever.

ART. 2. Constantinople shall be the capital of the Ottoman Empire. That city shall possess no privilege or immunity not enjoyed by other Ottoman towns.

ART. 3. The imperial Ottoman sovereignty, which carries with it the Supreme Caliphate of Islam, falls to the eldest prince of the House of Osman, according to the rule established ab antiquo. On his accession the Sultan shall swear before Parliament, or, if Parliament is not sitting, at its first meeting, to respect the provisions of the Sheri and the Constitution, and to be loyal to the country and the nation.5

ART. 4. As Caliph, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan is the protector of the Mussulman faith; and he is the ruler and padishah of all Ottoman subjects.

ART. 5. The person of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan is sacred and irresponsible.

ART. 6. Liberty of the members of the dynasty of Osman, their property, both real and personal, and the civil list granted them for life by the law ad hoc are under the guarantee of all.

ART. 7. Among the sacred prerogatives of the Sultan are the following: The mention of his name in prayers; the minting of money; the granting of high public offices and titles, according to the law ad hoc; the conferring of orders; the selection and appoint

1 These introductory paragraphs are based upon F. R. DARESTE ET P. DARESTE, Les Constitutions modernes (3d edition, Paris, 1910), vol. II, pp. 319–321.

2 Translation based upon that in the British and Foreign State Papers, 102: pp. 819833. French translation in DARESTE, op. cit., pp. 323-343. English translation of the original Constitution appears in the British and Foreign State Paper, 67: pp. 683–698. German translation in PAUL POSENER, Die Staatsverfassungen des Erdballs (Charlottenburg, 1909), pp. 892-904. The above is a translation of the Constitution as it stood on 1 May 1912, according to the "Official Almanac" (Sal Name) and the "Official Gazette (Takvim-i-Vekai).

3 As amended in 1909.

4 The ecclesiastical or canon law.

5 The sentence concerning the oath was added in 1909.