ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

CONSTITUTION of the United States of Columbia.-Rio Negro, May 8, 1863.

(Translation.)

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION, in the name and by the authority of the people and of the United States of Colombia which it represents, has decreed the following

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION.

CHAP. I.-The Nation.

ART. I. The Sovereign States of Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panama, Santander, and Tolima, created respectively by the Acts of the 27th of February, 1855, 11th of June, 1856, 13th of May, 1857, 15th of June of the same year, 12th of April, 1861, and 3rd of September of the same year, consulting their exterior security and mutual aid, do unite and confederate in perpetuity, and form a free, sovereign, and independent nation, by the name of "United States of Colombia."

II. The said States undertake mutually to aid and defend each other against all violence affecting the sovereignty of the Union or of the States.

III. The limits of the territory of the United States of Colombia are the same as those which in 1810 separated the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada from that of the Captain-Generalships of Venezuela and Guatemala and from that of the Portuguese possessions of Brazil; on the south they are, provisionally, those designated in the Treaty concluded with the Government of Equator on the 9th of July, 1856,* and such others as now separate it from the said Republic and from that of Peru.

IV. Those Sovereign States into which one or more of the existing ones may be divided, agreeably to the following Article, shall also form part of the same nationality, as well as those which, being entirely independent, agree to unite themselves to the Union. by Treaties duly entered into.

V. The federal law may decree the creation of new States by dismembering the population and the territory of existing ones, when such may be solicited by the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States from whose territory the new State is to be formed, upon condition that each of the newly created States shall contain, at least, 100,000 inhabitants, and that after the segregation the original States still contain not less than 150,000 inhabitants each.

§. The limits of the States recognized in Article I cannot be changed or altered except with the consent and agreement of the States interested therein, and with the approbation of the General Government.

* Vol. XLVII. Page 1270.

CHAP. II.-Bases of the Union.

Sect. 1.-Rights and Duties of the States.

VI. The States agree to establish in their Constitutions and civil legislation, the principle of the inability of any religious community, corporation, society, or body, to acquire landed property, and also to ordain as a general rule that landed property cannot be acquired under any other character than as alienable and divisible according to the exclusive will of the proprietor, and as transmissible to the heirs in conformity with the common law.

VII. The said States likewise agree to prohibit for ever all settlements, endowments, trusts or feods, and all kinds of similar establishments, having for their object the withdrawal of any landed property from free circulation.

§. They likewise agree and declare that henceforward no perpetual annuity can be established otherwise than on the public treasury, and by no means on landed property.

VIII. Out of consideration for the national integrity, of the expeditious progress of the Union, and the pacific relations between the States, they hereby engage:

1st. To organize themselves in accordance with the principles of popular, elective, representative, alternative, and responsible government.

2nd. Not to cede to a foreign Power any part of their territory. 3rd. Not to obstruct, by means of taxes, or in any other manner, the navigation of the rivers or other navigable waters which have not required artificial canalization.

4th. Not to impose taxes upon such products as are liable to national duties, previously to their being offered for consumption, even when such may have been declared free from importation duties; nor upon productions destined for exportation, the freedom of which shall be maintained by the General Government.

5th. Not to impose contributions upon productions passing through the State, and not destined for consumption within the same.

6th. Not to impose any obligation upon the national employés, excepting in their capacity of members of the State, and only when such obligation shall not be incompatible with the national public service.

7th. Not to impose taxes upon the productions or property of the Columbian Union.

8th. To defer and submit to the decision of the General Government in all controversies which may arise between two or more States, when a peaceable solution cannot be arrived at; and in no case nor from any cause shall any State declare or make war upon any other State; and

CONSTITUTION of the United States of Columbia.-Rio Negro, May 8, 1863.

(Translation.)

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION, in the name and by the authority of the people and of the United States of Colombia which it représents, has decreed the following

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION.

CHAP. I.-The Nation.

ART. I. The Sovereign States of Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panama, Santander, and Tolima, created respectively by the Acts of the 27th of February, 1855, 11th of June, 1856, 13th of May, 1857, 15th of June of the same year, 12th of April, 1861, and 3rd of September of the same year, consulting their exterior security and mutual aid, do unite and confederate in perpetuity, and form a free, sovereign, and independent nation, by the name of "United States of Colombia."

II. The said States undertake mutually to aid and defend each other against all violence affecting the sovereignty of the Union or of the States.

III. The limits of the territory of the United States of Colombia are the same as those which in 1810 separated the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada from that of the Captain-Generalships of Venezuela and Guatemala and from that of the Portuguese possessions of Brazil; on the south they are, provisionally, those designated in the Treaty concluded with the Government of Equator on the 9th of July, 1856, and such others as now separate it from the said Republic and from that of Peru.

IV. Those Sovereign States into which one or more of the existing ones may be divided, agreeably to the following Article, shall also form part of the same nationality, as well as those which, being entirely independent, agree to unite themselves to the Union by Treaties duly entered into.

V. The federal law may decree the creation of new States by dismembering the population and the territory of existing ones, when such may be solicited by the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States from whose territory the new w State is to be formed, upon condition that each of the newly created States shall contain, at least, 100,000 inhabitants, and that after the segregation the original States still contain not less than 150,000 inhabitants each.

§. The limits of the States recognized in Article I canne' changed or altered except with the consent and nereemo States interested therein, and with the

[graphic]

Government.

COLUMBIA.

CHAP. II.-Bases of the Union.

Sect. 1.-Rights and Duties of the States.

287

VI. The States agree to establish in their Constitutions and civil legislation, the principle of the inability of any religious community, corporation, society, or body, to acquire landed property, and also to ordain as a general rule that landed property cannot be acquired under any other character than as alienable and visible according to the exclusive will of the proprietor, and as transmissibit to the heirs in conformity with the common law.

VII. The said States likewise agree to probit for ever al settlements, endowments, trusts or feods, and all kinds of sumr establishments, having for their object the withdrawal of any mande. property from free circulation.

§. They likewise agree and declare that henceforward a perpetual annuity can be established otherwise that of the pa treasury, and by no means on landed property.

VIII. Out of consideration for the national integrity, fa expeditious progress of the Union, and the pacific reiations betwee the States, they hereby engage:

1st. To organize themselves in accordance with it was of popular, elective, representative, alternative an: restaure government.

2nd. Not to cede to a foreign Power any part 3rd. Not to obstruct, by means of taxes or the navigation of the rivers or other navigate not required artificial canalization.

[ocr errors]

4th. Not to impose taxes upon sui national duties, previously to their leg fe even when such may have been te duties; nor upon productions des of which shall be maintained by the General ( 5th. Not to impose centrition po through the State, and not destined for cou 6th. Not to impose any obligation p

excepting in their capacity of me such obligation shall not be in service.

[blocks in formation]

ny ould

s from

to work operty in e authors he States

f commu

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

except by the competent authority, and for the purpose and in the form prescribed by law.

14th. Liberty of meeting unarmed.

15th. Liberty of possessing arms and ammunition, and of trading in those articles in time of peace; and

16th. The free profession in public or private of any religion, provided that nothing is done incompatible with the national sovereignty or for the purpose of disturbing the public peace.

Sect. 3.-Delegation of Functions.

XVI. All matters of government, the exercise of which is not expressly, especially, and clearly delegated by the States to the General Government, are of the exclusive dominion of the States themselves.

XVII. The United States of Columbia agree to establish a General Government which shall be popular, elective, representative, alternative, and responsible, and to whose authority they subject themselves in the matters which are now to be stated:

1st. Foreign affairs, external defence, and the right of declaring and directing war and making peace.

2nd. The organization and maintenance of the public force in the service of the General Government.

3rd. The establishment, organization, and administration of the public credit and the national revenue.

} 4th. The determination of the strength of the armed force in peace and in war, and of the public expenses chargeable upon the Treasury of the Union.

5th. The regulation and administration of the foreign and coasting trade, of the fortresses, maritime and river ports, and the dry ports on the frontiers; arsenals, docks, and other public establishments and property belonging to the Union.

6th. The regulation of such inter-oceanic communications as exist or may be opened in the territory of the Union, and the navigation of the rivers which water the territory of more than one State or flow on to that of a neighbouring nation.

7th. The formation of the general census.

8th. The settlement of boundaries and the general territorial demarcation with neighbouring nations.

9th. The determination of the national flag and arms. 10th. Whatever relates to the naturalization of foreigners. 11th. The right to decide upon all questions and differences arising between the States, upon hearing the parties interested.

12th. The coining of money, and determination of its standard, weight, pattern, form, and denomination.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »