CHAPTER VIII.-Of the Legislative Power.

XLIII. The legislative power is exercised by the representatives of the nation assembled in Congress composed of two Chambers, one of Senators and the other of Deputies.

XLIV. The representatives of the people are elected, direct by the citizens in the exercise of their rights and in the form prescribed by the law.

XLV. For every 25,000 inhabitants, or for a fraction which exceeds 15,000, and for every province although it has less than 15,000 inhabitants there shall be one representative and one substitute elected.

XLVI. The requisites for a representative are: to be a Peruvian by birth, citizen in exercise (of rights) to be 28 years of age, to have resided 5 years in the Republic, and to have an income of 500 dollars, or to be the professor of some science.

XLVII. Those incapable of being representatives are:

1. The functionaries of the executive power, unless they have been out of office for 2 months before the elections;

2. The archbishops and bishops;

3. The ecclesiastics who perform the duties of a cure of souls; 4. The voting members (vocales) of the Cortes in the departments where they exercise jurisdiction;

5. The judges in their judicial districts;

6. The military commanders and the chiefs with military force in the provinces where they are cantoned.

XLVIII. The Congress shall ordinarily assemble every year on the 28th of July, and extraordinarily when convoked by the executive power. The duration of the ordinary sessions shall not exceed 100 absolute days; that of the extraordinary one may be less, the object for which it was convoked being accomplished.

XLIX. The opening of the Congress cannot take place unless two-thirds of the total number of representatives are present.

L. The representatives are inviolable in the exercise of their functions.

LI. The representatives can neither be arrested nor accused during the sessions without the previous authorization of the Congress. It is only in the case of flagrante delicto that they can be arrested, and being so, they must be placed immediately at the disposal of the Congress.

LII. The situation of representative prevents the party filling it from accepting, while it lasts, any employment, office or benefice the nomination or presentation of which exclusively depends upon the Chief of the Executive Power.

LIII. The Congress shall be annually renewed by one-third part of its number. The representatives may be re-elected and it is

only in this case that they can give up the duty entrusted to them.

LIV. The Congress shall examine into the violations of the Constitution, in preference to all other objects, and it shall provide what is necessary for rendering effective the responsibility of the violators thereof.

LV. The powers of the Congress are:

1. To give, interpret, modify and abrogate the laws:

2. To open and close its sessions at the time appointed by law;

3. To fix the place of its sittings, and determine if there should or should not be an armed force, in what number, and at what distance;

4. To impose taxes for defraying the public expenses, to remit those already established, to sanction the estimates, and receive accounts annually from the Executive Power;

5. To open loans on the security of the national credit and provide funds for covering them;

6. To recognise the national debt, and determine the means for consolidating and extinguishing it;

7. To create or abolish public employments, and assign them the proper salary;

8. To fix the weight, alloy and denomination of the coin, as well as weights and measures;

9. To proclaim the election of the President by the nation, or, when he has not been elected according to law, to cause a new election;

10. To accept or not, the resignation of the party charged with the executive power;

11. To clear up the doubts which may occur as to the incapacity of the President, deferred to in No. 2 of Art. 83 and to declare if a new election should or should not be had;

12. To approve or disapprove the proposed appointments made by the executive, of military and naval officers, from a major and a captain of a corvette, to a general and admiral inclusive; without exceeding in any case, the number fixed by the law;

13. To give or refuse its consent for the introduction of foreign troops into the territory of the Republic, and for the riding of naval squadrons in its ports;

14. To decree war, with the previous concurrence of the Executive Power, and, when necessary, to require the latter to enter into negotiations for peace;

15. To approve or disapprove the Treaties of peace, concordats, and other conventions resulting from relations with foreign countries;

16. To propose the necessary arrangements for the exercise of the right of ecclesiastical patronage;

17. To rehabilitate those who have forfeited citizenship;

18. To grant amnesties and pardons ;

19. To see that the departmental juntas fulfil their duties; to correct their abuses, and settle the doubts and questions which may arise therein;

20. To declare when the Republic is in danger, and to dictate, within the limits of the Constitution, the proper measures for saving it;

21. To declare, in each ordinary legislature, when convenient, the number of land and sea forces which the State has to maintain;

22. To establish the territorial demarcation;

23. To grant honourable rewards to the towns, corporations, or persons that have performed eminent public services.

CHAPTER IX.-Legislative Chambers.

LVI. Upon the Congress being installed, there shall be taken, by lot, one-half the number of the representatives, in order to form the Chamber of Senators, those who remain shall form the Chamber of Deputies.

LVII. In each Chamber, Bills (proyectos de ley) shall be introduced, discussed and voted upon, in conformity with the internal regulations of each Chamber.

LVIII. Each Chamber has the right of appointing its Secretary, naming its employés, drawing up its estimates and regulating its management and police.

LIX. The Legislative Chambers shall unite in Conference:

1: For exercising the powers 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, and 20. 2. For discussing and voting in common, upon the matter respecting which there has been a disagreement, should this step be required by either of the Chambers.

LX. The Presidency of the Congress shall alternate between the Presidents of both Chambers, according as is determined by their internal regulations.

LXI. It belongs to the Chamber of Deputies to impeach before the Senate the President of the Republic, during the period of his administration, for direct violations of the Constitution; and the members of both Chambers, the Ministers of State, and the voting members of the Supreme Court, for similar infractions, and for every crime committed in the exercise of their functions, and for which afflictive corporal punishment has been assigned.

LXII. It belongs to the Chamber of the Senate to declare if there be or not sufficient grounds for the accusations preferred by

the other Chamber, the accused being, in the first case, suspended from exercising his employment, and subject to be tried according to law.

CHAPTER X.-Of the Formation and Promulgation of the Laws. LXIII. The initiatives of law are: 1. The Bills of the Representatives. 2. Those of the Executive Power.

3. Those of the Supreme Court of Justice.

LXIV. A Bill which has been approved of in either of the Chambers shall be passed to the other one, for being there discussed, and put to the vote. The additions made to it by the revising Chamber shall be subjected to the same process as the Bill itself.

LXV. Upon the approval of a law by the Congress it shall be sent to the Executive, in order to its being carried into execution; and should the Executive have observations to make upon it, such observations must be communicated to the Congress within the space of 10 clear days.

LXVI. If the law, together with the observations of the Executive, having been reconsidered in both Chambers, should be approved by them notwithstanding such observations, it shall be sanctioned and ordered to be carried into execution, but should it not be so approved, it cannot be again brought in until the next session of the Legislature.

LXVII. Should the Executive not order the Bill to be carried into execution, nor make any observations within the appointed time, the law shall be considered as sanctioned, and shall be promul gated by the Executive, and failing him, by the President of the Congress.

LXVIII. The sittings of the Congress, as well as those of the Chambers, shall be public. They can only be secret in the cases and under the conditions fixed by the rules of the Chambers.

LXIX. The voting upon any question directly affecting the national revenues shall be by name.

LXX. For the interpreting, modifying, or abrogating laws, the same requirements are necessary as for their creation.

LXXI. In drawing up the laws, Congress shall use the following formula: "The Congress of the Peruvian Republic has enacted the following law [here the text], let the same be communicated to the Executive Power, in order that the necessary means for its fulfil

ment be taken."

LXXII. The Executive shall promulgate the law under this formula: "The President of the Republic-Inasmuch-The Congress has enacted the following law [here the text]. Therefore I

order that it be printed, published, and circulated, and that it be duly fulfilled and executed."

CHAPTER XI.-Executive Power.

LXXIII. The head of the Executive Power is a citizen under the denomination of President of the Republic.

LXXIV. The requisite qualifications for a President are: to be a Peruvian by birth, and 30 years of age, and to have resided 10 years in the Republic.

LXXV. The President shall be elected by the people in the way prescribed by the law.

LXXVI. The Congress shall cause the opening of the electoral proceedings, shall verify the qualifications and examine the scrutiny.

LXXVII. He who shall have obtained an absolute majority of suffrages shall be President. Should he not have an absolute majority, then the Congress shill elect between the two who have obtained the greater number of votes; and if two or more have an equal number of votes, the Congress shall make its choice from among all of them.

LXXVIII. If a tie should be the result of the voting made by the Congress in the above cases the election shall be decided by lot. LXXIX. The election of President must, in these cases, be concluded within one sole session.

LXXX. The President shall remain in office four years, and cannot be re-elected President, nor elected Vice-President, until after the expiration of an equal period of time.

LXXXI. During the period of the President of the Republic, bis responsibility can only be rendered effective in the cases in which, conformably to this Constitution, the Presidentship is actually vacant. In the other cases the President's period of office being ended, the responsibility spoken of in Articles XI and XII shall be enforced.

LXXXII. The salary of the President cannot be increased during his term of office.

LXXXIII. The Presidency of the Republic becomes actually

vacant:

1. By death;

2. By concluding any compact adverse to the national independence or integrity;

3. By conspiring against the form of Government;

4. By preventing the assembling of the Congress, suspending its sessions, or dissolving it.

The office becomes legally vacant:

1. By acceptance of the President's resignation;

2. By moral or physical incapacity;