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ART. 28. When there are circumstances which constitute a civil domicile, as regards the same person in several localities, it is to be understood that such person has his domicile in all the localities concerned; but if things are concerned which imply special relation to one of the said localities, that locality alone shall, so far as such cases are concerned, be the civil domicile of the person.

ART. 29. A person is not presumed to have the intention of remaining, and does not, therefore, acquire civil domicile in a place from the mere fact of his having dwelt there for some time in his own house, or in that of another, if he has a domestic establishment elsewhere, or if it appears, from any other circumstance, that his residence is accidental, like that of a traveler, that of a person engaged in the performance of a temporary commission, or that of one doing business as a traveling vendor or commercial traveler.

ART. 30. No person shall prevent the inhabitants of any town from changing their residence.

ART. 31. The inhabitants of any place, be they native or foreign born, shall be liable to the charges and municipal taxes of their place of residence.

ART. 32. A transient person is one who is stopping temporarily in a place.

ART. 33. Transient persons shall not enjoy the rights or be subject to the charges to which residents are subject.

ART. 34. Foreigners who are not domiciled, and whose personal identity, together with the object of their being in the country, is not declared within three months, shall be considered as immigrants.

TITLE III.

SOLE CHAPTER.-Of registration and its effects.

ART. 35. The registration of foreigners consists of the inscription of their names and nationality in a book kept for that purpose at the ministry of foreign relations of the Republic.

ART. 36. A foreigner who desires to be registered, and who is at the capital of the Republic, must make application to the ministry of foreign relations or to the political chief of the proper department, furnishing evidence of his nationality, together with at least one of the documents hereinafter named:

I. A certificate from the diplomatic agent or from a consular officer accredited in the Republic, stating that the interested party is a native of the country represented by the aforesaid diplomatic agent or consular officer.

II. The passport with which the applicant has entered the Republic, authenticated in due form.

III. His certificate of naturalization, authenticated likewise; and only when sufficient evidence shall be presented of its destruction or loss, or to the effect that this document is not necessary according to the law of the country in which it should have been issued, shall other evidence of equal value be accepted to the effect that the interested party has legally obtained his alleged naturalization.

ART. 37. Nevertheless, in case of the party being placed on trial, the civil or executive authorities, or any person who is interested, may impugn those documents and prove their spuriousness, in case of necessity.

ART. 38. The evidence of the applicant's nationality, together with his personal description, having been sent to the ministry of foreign

relations by the proper officer, it shall there be registered, and a certificate to that effect shall be given to the foreigner on payment by him of one dollar, which shall be the sole registration fee.

ART. 39. Registration constitutes merely a legal presumption that the foreigner's nationality is that which he claims, and proof to the contrary may be presented.

ART. 40. Registration may be proved by the certificate thereof, signed and issued by the minister of foreign relations, who alone has authority to sign and issue such certificates.

ART. 41. No magistrate or public officer shall recognize a person as being of any particular foreign nationality, unless such person shall present his certificate of registration.

ART. 42. A foreigner shall have the following rights:

I. The right to appeal to the treaties and conventions existing between Guatemala and his own nation.

II. The right to apply to his country for diplomatic protection, in accordance with the provisions of this decree.

III. The benefit of reciprocity.

TITLE IV.

SOLE CHAPTER.-Political status of foreigners.

ART 43. Foreigners residing in Guatemala as domiciled persons or sojourners (transients) shall have their rights guaranteed:

To the security and protection of their persons, property, dwelling, and correspondence in the same manner as native citizens.

To express and publish their views, subject to the limitations fixed by law, both by word of mouth and in writing. They may, moreover, be managers, owners, or responsible representatives of newspapers or periodicals of any kind whatever. They shall, however, in all cases, conform to the laws of the country, just as native citizens are required to do, and shall not be at liberty to appeal to diplomatic protection on account of the responsibilities that they may incur.

To address written petitions to the public authorities, just as is done by native Guatemalans to the authorities and their agents.

To the exercise of their religious worship according to the constitution, and with the limitations of universal morality and those established by the police regulations.

To have justice administered to them by the courts and authorities in such cases and in such ways as are provided for by the laws which define the competency of the said courts and authorities.

ART. 44. Inasmuch as these privileges are attributes of (Guatemalan) nationality, no foreigner shall be a voter or be eligible to any public office whose incumbent is chosen by the popular vote; exercise judicial functions or those auxiliary thereto; hold any canonically conferred ecclesiastical office without having been specially authorized to do so by the Guatemalan Government, it being understood that when a foreigner makes such an application, and it is granted by the Government, such foreigner renounces the protection of his country, so far as the discharge of the duties of his office are concerned.

ART. 45. They shall not be at liberty to practice professions for which a professional title is required, without first having gone through the course of study required by the law concerning public instruction or by the treaties; the Government may, however, freely authorize foreigners to fill positions as professors in universities and as teachers in high FR 94--21

schools, as well as to practice professions not yet established in the Republic, when the propriety of so doing is manifest owing to the excellent records and high attainments of such foreigners.

ART. 46. In order to determine the obligations of foreigners with respect to military service, the following is to be borne in mind: That all persons are to be held to the strict performance of such service who, having a right on attaining their majority, to make choice of a foreign nationality, shall fail to exhibit to the civil or military authorities of the Republic documents showing that they have fulfilled said obligation in the country of their choice (option) or that they have been exempted therefrom on account of some cause that, according to Guatemalan law, is sufficient.

TITLE V.

CHAPTER I.-Of the civil status of foreigners.

ART. 47. Foreigners shall enjoy in Guatemala all the civil rights that the laws grant to Guatemalans.

Corporations, establishments, and associations recognized by law. shall be considered as legal persons for the exercise of said rights.

ART. 48. The laws of Guatemala are binding upon all who are in Guatemalan territory, without distinction of nationality. The status and capacity of persons, together with their family relations, shall be regulated by the laws of the nation to which they belong.

ART. 49. In no case shall the laws, contracts, or sentences of a foreign country, or arrangements and private agreements annul the prohibitory laws of the Republic which relate to persons, property, or contracts, or those which in anywise relate to public order and good morals.

ART. 50. Foreign persons shall enjoy all family rights; they may, consequently, constitute a family and contract marriage in Guatemala with other foreigners or with natives.

CHAPTER II.-Of marriages.

ART. 51. A marriage contracted between two foreigners, outside of Guatemalan territory, that is valid according to the laws of the country in which it was contracted, shall be fully valid in Guatemala.

ART. 52. Marriages are valid when contracted between foreigners or between a foreigner and a Guatemalan, both of whom reside in the country, according to the laws of their respective nations. Consequently, such marriages shall have the civil effects that are recognized by this law in respect to marriages contracted by natives of the same country, according to the civil code.

ART. 53. A marriage contracted in a foreign country between Guatemalans, or between a Guatemalan and a foreign woman, or between a foreigner and a Guatemalan woman, shall likewise have the proper civil effects in the national territory, if it is shown that it was solemnized in the form and in compliance with the requirements established by law in the locality in which it took place, and that the Guatemalan has not violated the provisions of the civil code relative to the capacity to contract marriage and to the consent of the ascendants or of the person from whom it is proper to obtain it.

ART. 54. In urgent cases, in which it is impossible to apply to the authorities of the Republic, consent may be given by the minister or consul residing in the place where the marriage is to take place, or by

the nearest one, if there is none in the said place, the minister always to be preferred to the consul.

ART. 55. In case of danger of speedy death in a place where there is no minister or consul, the marriage shall be valid provided it be satisfactorily shown that such danger existed, and that there was no minister or consul in the place.

ART. 56. For the contracting of marriage the law of the nation of the foreigners who are about to contract it shall determine the age at which this can be done by the persons who are to give their consent, and shall define the impediments that may bar it.

ART. 57. In all cases the prohibitory provisions shall be observed which, according to Guatemalan law, are a bar to the solemnization of the marriage, for reasons of morality or public order, on account of relationship, or the legal dissolution of previous bonds.

ART. 58. The disqualifications recognized in some countries on account of political proscription or trial for and conviction of crime shall not be considered as impediments to marriage.

ART. 59. When the contracting parties are foreigners and have not resided in Guatemala for two years they shall be required to show, by a certificate of the competent officer, according to the laws of their country, duly authenticated, and with all the requisites which, according to Guatemalan law, are necessary to make it authentic and valid, that notice of the marriage which they propose to contract has been published, with all the necessary formalities, in the country in which they had their domicile or residence during the year previous to their coming to Guatemala. They shall in all cases show, by means of an authentic document, that they are at liberty to contract marriage.

ART. 60. A foreigner who has been legally divorced in his own country may lawfully contract a new civil marriage in Guatemala, according to decree No. 484.

ART. 61. A marriage contracted outside of Guatemala by foreigners according to the laws of their nation shall have, in Guatemala, all the effects of a lawful marriage.

ART. 62. A marriage contracted in a foreign country by a Guatemalan and a foreign woman, or vice versa, shall be valid in Guatemala, provided that in its solemnization the laws were observed that are established in the country in which it took place for regulating the external forms of the contract, and provided that the contracting parties had a right to contract marriage according to the laws of Guatemala.

ART. 63. A marriage solemnized in a foreign country may be proved by any means of proof, if, in the country in which it was solemnized, the registration of marriages is not required by law.

ART. 64. The marriages of foreigners must be recorded in the civil register of the proper municipality when the contracting parties or their descendants remove to Guatemala.

ART. 65. Sentences shall likewise be recorded whereby marriages are declared to be null and void, or married persons are declared to be divorced.

ART. 66. The laws of the country of the married persons shall determine their respective capacity for such civil acts as are consequent upon marriage.

ART. 67. It shall be understood that the matrimonial régime, in default of an explicit agreement, is that which is recognized by the nation to which the contracting parties belong.

ART. 68. If marriage has been contracted between a Guatemalan and a foreign woman, or between a Guatemalan woman and a foreigner, and

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no stipulation has been made by them with regard to their property, it shall be understood when the husband is a Guatemalan that he marries under the régime of common property, and when the wife is a Guatemalan woman that she marries under the régime of the common law in the country of her husband; and as regards the property, the fundamental law shall govern.

ART. 69. The legitimacy of the children of foreigners shall be determined by the laws of their country, which shall also regulate the rights of parental authority.

ART. 70. Foreigners in the full enjoyment of their civil rights may recognize their natural children, be guardians and proguardians, if they reside in Guatemala, of their relatives within the fourth civil degree, and adopt and be adopted by other foreigners or by native Guatemalans; but whenever these acts affect a Guatemalan they shall be governed by Guatemalan law as regards all their effects.

TITLE VI.

SOLE CHAPTER.—Concerning diplomatic intervention.

ART. 71. The intervention of a foreign Government in behalf of its citizens, either directly or through its diplomatic or consular agents, is admissible and proper only in case of denial of justice or of willful delay in its administration after all the usual means established by law have been exhausted.

ART. 72. There is denial of justice when a judicial magistrate refuses to make a formal declaration in regard to the principal matter or any of the incidents of a case which he is trying or which is submitted to him for examination, or when any law has clearly and undoubtedly been violated, and all legal means of redress having been exhausted, it has not been possible to secure a reversal of the decision or reparation of the damage done, it being understood that the mere fact that a decision is not favorable to a claimant does not constitute a denial of justice.

ART. 73. Delay in the administration of justice is not willful when the judge bases it upon some reason of law or upon some impediment which it is impossible for him to overcome.

ART. 74. When a complaint is laid before the Government for denial of justice or on the ground of its administration being willfully delayed, it must be conclusively shown that those offenses have actually been committed in notorious violation of the laws of the country, and that adequate and sufficient petitions and arguments have been presented and that suitable means have been used for the purpose of securing a judicial correction of those offenses or lawful redress for the injury which has thereby been caused, and that such efforts have not effected a discontinuance of the denial of justice, or of the willful delay in its administration, and have not secured reparation for the injuries resulting therefrom.

ART. 75. A foreigner bringing a civil action against the Republic for injuries done him, for condemnation of property, or for the acts of public officers, shall, before appealing to the Government, lay his case before the proper court, that it may be tried and decided in the manner provided by law.

ART. 76. In order to answer the complaint-and they shall act as parties to the suit in all its stages-the assistant district attorney in this city shall be summoned, or the collectors of internal revenue in those departments where there is no special representatives of the

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