First Dominican Constitution The Constitution of 1844

GOD, COUNTRY AND FREEDOM
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
IN THE NAME OF THE ONE AND TRIUNE GOD, AUTHOR
AND SUPREME LEGISLATOR OF THE UNIVERSE

The Deputies of the towns of the former Spanish part of the Island of Santo Domingo, assembled in Sovereign Constituent Congress, fulfilling the wishes of their constituents, who have sworn not to lay down their arms until they have consolidated their political independence, establish the bases fundamental principles of their government, and to secure the imprescriptible rights of security, property, liberty and equality, have ordered and decreed the following POLITICAL CONSTITUTION
FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

TITLE I
OF THE NATION

Article 1. – The Dominicans constitute themselves as a free, independent and sovereign nation, under an essentially civil, republican, popular, representative, elective and responsible government.

TITLE II

OF THE TERRITORY

Art. 2º. – The Spanish part of the Island of Santo Domingo and its adjacent islands form the territory of the Dominican Republic.
Art. 3º. – The limits of the Dominican Republic are the same as those that in 1793 divided it on the western side from the French part, and these limits are definitively fixed.
Art. 4º. – The territory of the Republic is divided into five Provinces which are: Compostela de Azua, Santo Domingo, Santa Cruz del Seibo, La Concepción de la Vega and Santiago de los Caballeros.
Art. 5º. – These Provinces are subdivided into Communes, whose number and distribution will be arranged by law.
Art. 6º. – The City of Santo Domingo is the Capital of the Republic and seat of the Government.

TITLE III
OF DOMINICANS AND THEIR RIGHTS
CHAPTER I
From the Dominicans

Art. 7º. – They are Dominican:
First: All individuals who, at the time of publication of this Constitution, enjoy this status.
Second: All those born in the territory of the Dominican Republic to Dominican parents, and having emigrated, return to establish their residence there.
Third: All Dominican Spaniards and their descendants who, having emigrated in 1844, have not taken up arms against the Dominican Republic, nor have they harassed it in any way, and who return to establish their residence there.
Fourth: All descendants of natives of the Spanish part born in foreign countries who come to establish their residence in the Republic.
Art. 8º. – They are able to be Dominicans:
First: All foreigners who acquire real estate in the Republic whose value amounts to six thousand pesos.
Second: All those who, working personally, form an agricultural establishment in the Republic as owners.
Art. 9. – Foreigners included in the preceding article shall not enjoy political rights until after a residence of six years in the territory.
This period is reduced to three years for foreigners:
First: That they marry a Dominican woman in the country.
Second: That they form in the Republic a completed agricultural establishment, whose capital is at least twelve thousand pesos.
Art. 10. – Foreigners who fall into one of these categories will go to the Executive Power, which is authorized to issue naturalization letters, after the formalities prescribed by law, it being understood that foreigners belonging to an enemy nation will not enjoy this privilege.
Article 11. – Every naturalized foreigner must retain the status by virtue of which they acquired naturalization for at least fifteen years. In case of voluntarily changing their status, they lose the rights they had acquired, are again considered a foreigner, and are subject to the same formalities to obtain naturalization again.
Art. 12. – Naturalized Haitian foreigners who resided in the territory of the Dominican Republic on February 27, 1844, and who in order not to follow the Dominican cause invoked their status as foreigners, will be considered as such and subject to one third more of the periods stipulated in article 9, without prejudice to the other formalities referred to in articles 8, 10 and 11.
Art. 13. – All foreigners not belonging to an enemy nation shall be admitted into the territory of the Republic, if they practice any useful art, science or industry, to the enjoyment of civil rights; from the moment they set foot on Dominican territory they are under the safeguard of national honor, and enjoy the protection granted to persons and property in accordance with the laws.
CHAPTER II
Public law of the Dominicans

Art. 14. – Dominicans are born and remain free and equal in law, and all are eligible for public employment, slavery being forever abolished.
Art. 15. – The law regulates the enjoyment, loss and suspension of political rights, as well as the exercise of civil rights.
Art. 16. – Individual liberty is guaranteed. No one may be prosecuted except in the cases provided for by law, and in the manner prescribed by it.
Art. 17. – Except in cases of flagrant offenses, no one may be imprisoned except by virtue of a reasoned order from the Judge, which must be notified at the time of the arrest, or at the latest within twenty-four hours.
Art. 18. – Those caught in flagrante delicto will be brought before the competent Judge, and if it is at night, this formality will be fulfilled at six o'clock in the morning of the following day, without being able to be presented before any other authority.
Art. 19. – No one may be imprisoned or sentenced except by the competent Judge or Court, by virtue of laws prior to the crime and in the manner prescribed by them.
Art. 20. – The penalty of confiscation of property shall never be imposed.
Art. 21. – No one may be deprived of their property except for a justified cause of public utility, after the corresponding compensation as judged by experts.
Art. 22. – The home of every individual is a sacred and inviolable sanctuary. No home visit may be carried out except in the cases provided for by law, and with the formalities that it prescribes.
Article 23. – All Dominicans may freely print and publish their ideas, without prior censorship, subject to the law. The determination of press offenses is the exclusive responsibility of juries.
Art. 24. – The same laws shall govern throughout the Republic, and in them only one jurisdiction shall be established for all Dominicans in common, civil and criminal trials.
Art. 25. – No power, corporation, or authority may ever grant a general pardon; but the Legislative Power may, in particular cases of commotion or others, grant amnesties or particular pardons with the exceptions that the interest of Society and private interests require according to the crimes or offenses.
Art. 26. – All citizens are obliged to defend the Fatherland with arms, when called by law, and to contribute in proportion to their assets to the expenses of the State.
Art. 27. – No one can be forced to do what the law does not command, nor prevented from doing what the law does not prohibit.
Art. 28. – The secrecy of letters is inviolable. The law will determine who the responsible agents are, and the cases of liability in this area.
Art. 29. – Public instruction will be created, common to all citizens, free in all branches of primary education, whose establishments will be distributed gradually in proportion combined with the division of the territory; the law will arrange the details, both of these branches as well as of the teaching of arts and sciences.
Art. 30. – Dominicans have the right to associate; this right cannot be subject to any preventive measure.
Art. 31. – Dominicans have the right to assemble peacefully and without weapons in private homes, in accordance with the laws that may regulate that right; but without being subject to any prior authorization.
Art. 32. – Patriotic societies established to promote and assist all branches of public utility shall notify the Executive Power of their establishment and name.
Art. 33. – To report public officials for actions related to their administration, no prior authorization is required.
Art. 34. – No law may have retroactive effect.
Art. 35. – No law may be made contrary to either the letter or the spirit of the Constitution; in case of doubt, the text of the Constitution must always prevail.
Art. 3. – All Dominicans have the right to petition, but this right can only be exercised by one or many individuals, and never in the name of a collective body.
Art. 37. – Petitions may be addressed either to the President of the Republic, to one of the Co-legislative Bodies, or to Congress.
Art. 38. – The Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Religion is the religion of the State; its Ministers, with regard to the exercise of the ecclesiastical ministry, depend only on the canonically instituted prelates.
TITLE IV
OF SOVEREIGNTY AND THE EXERCISE OF THE POWERS THAT EMANATE FROM IT
CHAPTER I
Of Sovereignty

Art. 39. – Sovereignty resides in the universality of the citizens, and is exercised by three delegated powers, according to the rules established in the Constitution.
Art. 40. – The powers are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial.
Art. 41. – These powers are exercised separately, are essentially independent, responsible and temporary, and those in charge cannot delegate them, nor go beyond the limits set by the Constitution.
Art. 42. – The Legislative power is exercised by a Tribunate and a Conservative Council.
Art. 43. – These two bodies together form the National Congress in the cases provided for by the Constitution.
Art. 44. – The Executive power is delegated to a citizen who takes the title of President of the Dominican Republic; and cannot have any other title.
Art. 45. – Judicial power is delegated to Arbitrator Judges, Mayors of Communes, Chief Justices of Provinces, Consulate and Appeal Courts, War Councils and a single Supreme Court of Justice residing in the Capital, for the entire Republic.
CHAPTER II
OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER
§ I
Of the Tribunate and the exercise of its powers

Art. 46. – The Tribunate is composed of fifteen Deputies, appointed by indirect election at a rate of three for each Province, and according to the rules established below.
Art. 47. – Following the Tribunes, three alternates will be appointed by each Provincial Electoral College to replace them in cases of death, resignation or removal.
Art. 48. – To be elected Tribune, one needs:
First: To be in the enjoyment of civil and political rights:
Second: Be at least 25 years old.
Third: Own real estate.
Fourth: To have their current residence in the Dominican territory.
Naturalized foreigners may not be elected as Tribunes until ten years after their naturalization.
Art. 49. – The Tribunes are elected for six years.
Art. 50. – The renewal of the Tribunate is carried out every two years in thirds. Consequently, they are divided by lot into three series, each composed of five Tribunes, with one from each Province.
Art. 51. – For the first time, those of the first series will finish their functions after two years, those of the second, after four, and those of the third, after six.
Art. 52. – The Tribunes may be re-elected indefinitely.
Art. 53. – Each Tribune enjoys an allowance of two hundred pesos per month during the legislative session.
Art. 54. – The Tribunate meets by right on the first of February of each year.
Art. 55. – The session of the Tribunate is for three months, in case of need it may be extended for one more month, either by order of Congress, or at the request of the Executive Power.
Art. 56. – The Tribunate, like the Executive Power and the Conservative Council, has the initiative for all laws and exclusively for those relating to:
First: To taxes in general.
Second: To the annual contingent and organization of the army and navy, in peacetime.
Third: To the Civic Guard.
Fourth: To elections.
Fifth: To the responsibility of the Secretaries of State and other agents of the Executive Branch.
Any law on these matters will of course be agreed upon by the Tribunate.
Art. 57. – The Tribunate has the exclusive power to place its members in a state of accusation.
Art. 58. – In addition to the legislative functions, the following are specific powers of the Court:
First: To present to the Conservative Council the candidates for Judges of both the Supreme Court of Justice and the lower courts, chosen from the lists formed by the Electoral Colleges of the Provinces.
Second: To denounce before the Conservative Council the President of the Republic and the Secretaries of State for any violation of the Constitution or the laws of embezzlement or treason, either ex officio or as the body of the complaints of citizens legally supported.
§ II
The Conservative Council and its powers

Art. 59. – The members of the Conservative Council are elected by the same Electoral Colleges as the members of the Tribunate.
Art. 60. – The Conservative Council is composed of five members, one for each Province.
Art. 61. – The members of the Conservative Council are elected for six years, and are fully renewed.
Art. 62. – To be a member of the Conservative Council, one needs:
First: To be in the enjoyment of civil and political rights.
Second: Be at least thirty years old.
Third: Own real estate.
Fourth: Have your domicile in the 1st Province that chooses you.
Naturalized foreigners may not be members of this Corps until fifteen years after their naturalization.
Art. 63. – In case of death, resignation or removal of a member of the Conservative Council, the Tribunate proceeds to replace him by electing an individual who meets all the qualities required in the preceding article, but the newly elected one will only hold that office for the time remaining to complete the term of the member he replaces.
Art. 64. – The Conservative Council opens and closes its legislative sessions fifteen days at the latest after the Tribunate.
Art. 65. – Any legislative meeting of the Conservative Council outside the time prescribed in the preceding article is null and void.
Art. 66. – The members of the Conservative Council receive a monthly compensation of three hundred pesos during each session, both legislative and judicial.
Art. 67. – The powers of the Conservative Council are:
First: To sanction all laws in general with the following formula: In the name of the Dominican Republic, let Law No. be executed…
Second: To suspend the sanction of the laws agreed by the Tribunate and to make the observations that it deems appropriate in the terms that are established below.
Third: Propose to the Tribunate bills on those matters in which it does not have exclusive initiative.
Fourth: To place its members in a state of accusation.
Fifth: To issue an indictment against the President of the Republic and the Secretaries of State, based on the complaint filed by the Tribunal, should it find it well-founded. This indictment results in the suspension of the accused from the exercise of their duties.
Sixth: To judge the members of the Supreme Court of Justice, in the cases provided for by the Constitution.
Seventh: To elect the Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and other lower courts, from among the candidates proposed by the Tribunate.
Eighth: To decide on any issues that may arise between the Commons and the powers of the State.
§ III
Provisions common to the two co-legislative bodies

Art. 68. – The members of the two Co-legislative Bodies represent the Nation, and not only the Province that elected them.
Art. 69. – The Capital is the seat of the Co-legislative Bodies; however, the Congress may in extraordinary circumstances designate another place for the legislative sessions.
Art. 70. – Except when they meet in Congress, each Body has its own particular premises; it verifies the powers of its members, and decides the difficulties that may arise.
Art. 71. – No one may be a member of both Co-Legislative Bodies at the same time.
Art. 72. – Each Body appoints the employees of its respective table, in the manner and for the time stipulated in its Internal Regulations.
Art. 73. – The sessions are public; however, at the request of three members in the Tribunate, and of one in the Conservative Council, each Body may deliberate in secret; but immediately the majority decides whether the session on the same matter should be repeated in public.
Art. 74. – Two-thirds of the members present of each Co-legislative Body constitute the majority for any agreement concerning the laws, without prejudice to what both Bodies determine in their internal Regulations regarding elections and other powers.
In case of a tie, the proposal in question is rejected.
Art. 75. – The Co-legislative Bodies cannot make any resolution without the absolute majority of their members being present.
Art. 76. – No bill may be adopted by the Co-legislative Bodies, except after three readings with an interval of two clear days between each one; and after each of its articles has been agreed upon in particular.
Art. 77. – Every bill adopted by one of the Co-legislative Bodies shall state that it has complied with the requirements referred to in the preceding article so that it may be admitted for discussion by the other Body.
Art. 78. – If the project is declared urgent by the majority of the Tribune, it may be dispensed with complying with the formalities required by article 76; but the Conservative Council may disapprove the urgency, and return it to them for discussion in the ordinary manner.
Art. 79. – The Legislative Bodies have the right to add to and divide the proposed articles.
Art. 80. – Every bill must undergo its first discussion in the Co-Legislative Body of its origin.
Article 81. – Every bill approved by the Tribunate shall be sent to the Conservative Council for its sanction. If the Council does not adopt it, it shall return it to the Tribunate with its objections or modifications, in view of which the Council shall discuss it again, and if it rejects the observations, it shall return the bill to the Conservative Council, and if the Council persists in the rejected objections, the discussion shall be submitted to Congress, which the President of the Conservative Council shall convene for this purpose within twenty-four hours. In case of a tie, the decision shall be in accordance with the provisions of Article 74.
The same formalities must be observed with respect to bills emanating from the Conservative Council.
Art. 82. – The Conservative Council exercises the right of objection within two days for bills agreed by urgency in the Tribunate, and within ten days, including Sundays, for other laws; however, if the legislative session is closed before the expiration of this latter term, the law is deemed to be in recess.
Art. 83. – Every law sanctioned by the Conservative Council will be sent to the Executive Power with an official letter for its promulgation within forty-eight hours.
Art. 84. – When the President of the Conservative Council receives the law again with the simple observations that the Executive Power is authorized to make, he will convene the Congress within twenty-four hours, and the Congress will decide definitively on said observations.
Art. 85. – Bills rejected by the Co-legislative Bodies, or by Congress, may not be reproduced in the same session, but one or some of their articles may be part of another bill that is submitted in the same session.
Art. 86. – Petitions addressed to the Co-Legislative Bodies must be filed in their respective offices.
Art. 87. – Each Co-legislative Body has the right to forward to the Secretaries of State the petitions addressed to it, and to request reports or clarifications on their content.
Art. 88. – The members of the Co-legislative Bodies are inviolable for their opinions and votes cast in the exercise of their duties.
Art. 89. – Members of the Co-legislative Bodies may not be arrested or prosecuted during sessions, without permission of their respective Body, unless caught in flagrante delicto; but in this case, and in the case of being prosecuted, or arrested when the legislative sessions are closed, the respective Body must be notified as soon as possible for its knowledge and resolution.
Art. 90. – Each Corps will determine by its particular Regulation the way of exercising its internal discipline.
§ IV
From the National Congress

Art. 91. – The National Congress meets whenever the nature of its powers so requires.
Art. 92. – The President of the Conservative Council is President of the Congress; the President of the Tribunate, Vice-President; and the Secretaries of both Bodies are Secretaries of the Congress.
Art. 93. – The President of the Conservative Council is responsible for convening the Congress; consequently, the Executive Power or the Tribunate must address themselves to him, so that he may convene it, indicating the place, day, time and reason for the meeting.
The summons may not be refused under any circumstances.
Art. 94. – The powers of Congress are:
First: To proclaim the President of the Republic, either as a consequence of the electoral count, or by virtue of the Congress in the cases in which this power is attributed to it by the Constitution, and to receive his oath before he takes office.
Second: To judge the President of the Republic by virtue of the indictment decree issued by the Conservative Council.
Third: To set each year the public expenditures of the various branches, in view of the budgets presented to it by the Executive Branch.
Fourth: To decree what is appropriate for the administration, development, conservation and alienation of national assets.
Fifth: To incur debts on national credit.
Sixth: To decree the establishment of a National Bank.
Seventh: To determine and standardize the value, weight, type and name of the currency, without it being able to bear the bust of any person.
Eighth: Establish and standardize weights and measures.
Ninth: To decree the creation and suppression of public jobs not established by the Constitution; and to set salaries, decrease them or increase them.
Tenth: To interpret the laws in case of doubt or obscurity.
Eleventh: To declare offensive war in view of the reasons presented to him by the Executive Power, and to require him to negotiate peace when necessary.
Twelfth: To give or deny consent to treaties of peace, alliance, friendship, neutrality, commerce and any others entered into by the Executive Power.
No treaty shall have effect except by virtue of the approval of Congress.
Thirteenth: To create and promote public education, the progress of science, arts and establishments of common utility.
Fourteenth: In the interest of humanity and when a grave reason so requires, commute the capital penalty by virtue of an appeal to his grace, which produces suspension of the execution.
Fifteenth: To grant the Executive Power, in time of war, all extraordinary powers it deems indispensable for public safety, detailing them as far as possible, and circumscribing the time in which it must use them.
Sixteenth: To settle the discord of the particular opinions of the Co-Legislative Bodies regarding the laws.
Seventeenth: To definitively resolve the differences between the various Provincial Councils, between these and the Municipalities, and between the Provincial Councils or Municipalities and the Government.
Eighteenth: To decree the extinction of perpetual censuses, entailments, and chaplaincies, so that all fiefdoms may disappear forever.
Nineteenth: To review the Constitution of the State, whenever the Tribune declares the need to do so, in the manner that will be stated in his Jury.
CHAPTER III ([*])
OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
§ I
From the President of the Republic

Article 95. – The President of the Republic is elected for a four-year term and takes office on the fifteenth of February in ordinary elections; and in extraordinary elections, thirty days at the most after his appointment. If these terms expire without the President-elect appearing to take the oath of office, or proposing a legitimate excuse accepted by Congress to postpone it, his silence will be considered as resignation, and a new election will be held.
The President appointed extraordinarily, remains in office until the fifteenth of February prior to the expiration of the fourth year of his Constitutional term.
Article 96. – The President of the Republic is elected in the following manner: each elector votes for two individuals, one of whom must be domiciled in the Province, and the other anywhere in the Republic. The official records of the election are sent closed and sealed to the President of Congress. When the President collects the ballots from all the Electoral Colleges, he opens them in a public session and verifies the votes. If any of the candidates obtains an absolute majority of votes, he is proclaimed President of the Republic. Whenever the required majority is lacking, Congress separates the three candidates who receive the most votes and proceeds to elect one from among them. If in this first count none obtains an absolute majority, a new vote is taken between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round, and in case of a tie, the election is decided by lot.
All these operations must be carried out in a single permanent session, under penalty of nullity.
Art. 97. – To be President of the Republic, it is necessary:
First: Be Dominican by origin.
Second: Be at least thirty-five years old.
Third: To possess all the other qualities required by Article 62, to be a member of the Conservative Council.
Art. -98. – No one may be re-elected President of the Republic except after an interval of four years.
Art. 99. – In case of death, resignation, removal or temporary incapacity of the President of the Republic, the Council of Secretaries of State shall provisionally exercise the Executive Power; and in the first three cases, it shall issue within forty-eight hours the decree convening the Congress and the Electoral Colleges, so that they may proceed to the election of a new President, in accordance with the Constitution.
Art. 100. – Both the Congregation and the Electoral Colleges must meet, at the latest, within thirty days of the date of the decree referred to in the preceding article.
Art. 101. – Before taking office, the President of the Republic shall take the following oath before Congress:
I swear by God and the Holy Gospels to uphold and enforce the Constitution and laws of the Dominican People, to respect their rights, and to maintain national independence.
Art. 102. – The powers of the President of the Republic are:
First: To seal the laws and the acts and decrees of the National Congress, and within the term of forty-eight hours, provided that he has no observations to make about them, to promulgate them with the following formula:
Let it be complied with, communicated and circulated throughout the territory of the Dominican Republic; being able to make all the regulations and decrees necessary for its compliance.
Second: To make any observations he deems appropriate regarding the laws passed by the Conservative Council, which he shall forward to its President with the return of the law, within forty-eight hours for laws passed under urgent circumstances, and within five days for all others, so that Congress may deliberate as prescribed in Article 84. If his observations are rejected by Congress, he must proceed with promulgation without being able to suspend execution. This power does not extend to laws whose initiative belongs exclusively to the Tribunate.
Third: To exercise, like the Tribunate and the Conservative Council, the initiative of laws, except those in which it is held exclusively by the Tribunate.
Fourth: To appoint and remove Secretaries of State.
Fifth: To appoint the employees of the General Administration and Foreign Relations, under the conditions prescribed by law.
Sixth: To appoint all public employees whose nomination is not otherwise determined by the Constitution or the law.
Seventh: To confer the ranks of the Army and Navy, and to entrust their commands.
Eighth: To suspend from their posts the employees whose appointment corresponds to him, and who commit crimes by reason of their office; but he shall notify the competent Court within forty-eight hours, attaching the file and documents that motivated his procedure, so that the trial may continue in accordance with the laws.
Ninth: To convene the Legislative Body in extraordinary session, for serious reasons which will be expressed in the decree of convocation.
Tenth: At the opening of each legislative session, to give a written account to the Co-legislative Bodies of his administration during the expired year, and to present the internal and external situation of the Republic in the various branches.
Eleventh: To submit to the consideration of the Co-legislative Bodies whatever it deems appropriate for the public good.
Twelfth: To make treaties of peace, alliance, friendship, neutrality and commerce, subject to the sanction of Congress.
Thirteenth: In cases of internal armed unrest that threatens the security of the Republic, and in cases of sudden external invasion, to use the powers conferred upon him by the National Congress in accordance with the provisions of the 15th paragraph of Article 94, and if the case arises in the interval between the promulgation of this Constitution and the first meeting of the Body, or when the latter is not in session or has not foreseen the circumstances, to take all those measures, not contrary to the Constitution, that the preservation of the public good requires, of which he will give a detailed account to the Congress as soon as it meets.
Fourteenth: To denounce the Tribunes and the members of the Conservative Council, before the appropriate bodies, for violation of the Constitution or the laws, and for treason against the Fatherland.
Art. 103. -All measures taken by the President of the Republic must first be deliberated in the Council of Secretaries of State.
Art. 104. – No act of the President of the Republic is enforceable, unless it is countersigned by one of the Secretaries of State, who by this fact alone is responsible for it.
Art. 105. – The President of the Republic is the guardian of all abuses of authority and excesses of power committed under his administration, and responsible for them, if he knowingly fails to prosecute, or cause to be prosecuted, their authors, in accordance with the Constitution or the laws.
Art. 106. – The President of the Republic, as head of the general administration, commands the land and sea forces; but he cannot place himself at their head without the express authorization of Congress.
Art. 107. – The President of the Republic has no powers other than those expressly conferred upon him by the Constitution and the particular laws, in accordance with the latter.
Art. 108. – The President of the Republic receives from the public Treasury, in twelfths, an annual salary of twelve thousand pesos.
§ II
From the Secretaries of State

Art. 109. – There will be four Ministers Secretaries of State and of the Cabinet who are:
First: The one concerning Justice and Public Instruction.
Second: The Interior and Police.
Third: The one for Finance and Commerce.
Fourth: The War and Navy.
As for Foreign Relations, the President of the Republic will entrust them, for now, to one of the four, as he deems appropriate.
Art. 110. – To be Secretary of State, it is necessary to be at least thirty years old.
Art. 111. – No relative or close associate of the President of the Republic, up to and including the degree of first cousin, may be Secretary of State.
Art. 112. – The Secretaries of State constitute themselves as a Council under the presidency of the President of the Republic.
Art. 113. – The Secretaries of State correspond directly with the authorities that are subordinate to them.
Art. 114. – Secretaries of State have access to the Co-legislative Bodies and to Congress, where they must be heard when required.
Art. 115. – Secretaries of State must appear before the Co-legislative Bodies whenever they are summoned to their chambers, and answer the questions made to them about all the acts of their administration.
Art. 116. – The Secretaries of State are responsible, both for the acts of the President of the Republic that they countersign, and for those of their respective offices, and for the non-execution of the laws.
Art. 117. – In no case may a verbal or written order from the President of the Republic relieve the Secretaries of State of responsibility.
Art. 118. – The form of denunciation, accusation and trial of the Secretaries of State, is the same as established by articles 58, 2nd member, and 67, 5th member, relating to the President of the Republic; with the difference that they are judged by the Supreme Court of Justice, as prescribed by article 134 in its 5th member.
Art. 119. – Each Secretary of State enjoys an annual salary of three thousand six hundred pesos, which he receives in twelfths.
CHAPTER IV ([*])
OF THE JUDICIARY
§ I
From the Administration of Justice

Art. 120. – The power to apply the laws in civil and criminal cases belongs exclusively to the Courts, except as the law may establish with respect to some political rights.
Art. 121. – No Dominican may be tried in civil or criminal cases by any Commission, but by the competent Court previously determined by law, without in any case being able to shorten or alter the forms of the trials.
Art. 122. – The Courts and Tribunals may not exercise other functions than those of judging and enforcing judgments.
Art. 123. – Court sessions are public, unless publicity is detrimental to public order or morals, in which case the Court, by a judgment, orders the proceedings to be closed to the public.
This measure cannot in any case be applied to political or press offenses, whose trials must always be public.
Art. 124. – All Courts and Tribunals are obliged to make mention in their judgments of the law applied, and of the reasons on which they base it.
Art. 125. – No Court may apply an unconstitutional law, nor the decrees and regulations of general administration, except insofar as they are in accordance with the laws.
Art. 126. – The deliberations of the Courts are held behind closed doors; the voting judges must be absolutely alone and incommunicado during the deliberation.
Art. 127. – Every sentence must be given and executed, In the name of the Dominican Republic, and terminated by the execution order, under penalty of nullity.
The same formula is required in the executive acts of Public Notaries.
Article 128. – Judges may not be suspended from their duties except upon a legally brought and admitted accusation, nor removed from their posts except by virtue of a sentence rendered in accordance with the law and which has acquired the force of res judicata; their terms shall last five years. The law shall also determine the form of trials brought against judges for crimes committed outside the exercise of their duties.
Art. 129. – In no trial may there be more than three instances.
Art. 130. – The law determines the judicial organization, staffing and policing of the various lower courts and tribunals.
§ II
From the Supreme Court of Justice

Art. 131. – The first judicial magistracy of the State resides in the Supreme Court of Justice, which shall be composed of my President, three members elected by the Conservative Council, from among the candidates presented by the Tribunate, in a number triple that of the Magistrates who must be appointed or replaced; and of an agent of the Public Ministry appointed by the Executive Power.
Art. 132. – To be a member of the Supreme Court of Justice, it is necessary to meet the same qualifications as to be a member of the Conservative Council.
Art. 133. – The Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice serve for five years; but they may be re-elected indefinitely.
Art. 134. – The powers of the Supreme Court of Justice are:
First: To hear appeals for annulment against final judgments issued in the last instance by the Courts of Appeal.
Second: To resolve the conflict of jurisdiction between the Courts of Appeal, and between these and the other courts.
Third: To hear the doubts of the other Courts about the interpretation of the laws, and if he considers them well-founded, to consult the Congress about them for the appropriate declaration, to which he will also inform everything convenient for the improvement of the administration of Justice, whose communications he will make through the Secretary of the Office of Justice.
Fourth: With the sole interest of standardizing jurisprudence, and without its decision benefiting or harming the litigating parties, to reform the judgments given by all the Courts and Tribunals, already passed into the authority of res judicata, that contain some false or erroneous principle, or suffer from some essential defect.
Fifth: To know and judge the cases that arise:
1st. Against the Secretaries of State.
2nd. Against the members of the Conservative Council.
3rd. Against the Tribunes, after a decree of accusation from the Conservative Council in the first two cases, and from the Tribunate in the last.
Sixth: To hear contentious cases of Plenipotentiaries or foreign Ministers accredited to the Government of the Republic, in the cases permitted by the law of nations, and in accordance with the treaties that have been entered into with the Nations to which they belong.
Seventh: To be aware of the cases of liability that are formed against the diplomatic agents of the Republic, for the poor performance of their functions.
Eighth: To hear disputes arising from contracts and negotiations entered into by the Executive Branch itself, or through agents.
Nono: To hear appeals against the Courts of Appeal for abuse of authority, excess of power, omission, denial or culpable delay in the administration of Justice; as well as cases of liability arising against the Magistrates of the same Courts; and to exercise the other powers assigned to it by law.
Art. 135. – The members of the Supreme Court of Justice are responsible, and subject to trial before the Conservative Council:
First: For the crime of treason against the Fatherland.
Second: For bribery.
Third: For poor performance in the exercise of his duties.
§ III
From the Courts of Appeal and other Courts

Art. 136. – To facilitate the prompt administration of Justice, the territory will be divided into Judicial Districts, and there will be in each of them a Court of Appeal, whose distribution, seat, powers and emoluments will be designated by law.
Art. 137. – The judges of the Courts of Appeal shall be elected by the Conservative Council in the same manner established in article 131 for those of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Art. 138. – To be a Judge of an Appeals Court, the same requirements are needed as to be a Tribune.
Art. 139. – The law will organize the Consulate Courts, War Councils and other lower courts; and will designate their powers, and the manner of performing them.
TITLE V
OF THE POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES
§ I
From the High Political Chief

Art. 140. – The internal government of the Provinces resides in a Superior Political Chief, appointed by the Executive Power.
Art. 141. – To be a Superior Political Chief, it is necessary to possess the same qualities as to be a Tribune.
Art. 142. – In all matters pertaining to the order and security of the Province, and its political and economic government, public officials of any class residing within the Province are subordinate to the Superior Political Chief.
Art. 143. – The Senior Political Chiefs remain in office for four years, but may be re-elected.
Art. 144. – Military personnel called to the position of Chief Political Officer may, for the duration of the current war, simultaneously exercise the civil and military functions conferred upon them by the Executive Power.
Art. 145. – The Chief Political Officers are responsible for presiding over the respective Provincial Councils, and for convening them extraordinarily when necessary, in accordance with the Constitution or the law, which will regulate their other powers and everything related to their exercise.
Art. 146. – The Senior Political Chiefs will receive from the Public Treasury an annual salary of one thousand eight hundred pesos, which they will receive in twelfths.
§ II
From the Provincial Councils

Art. 147. – In each provincial capital there will be a Provincial Council to promote its prosperity, composed of four Deputies, presided over by the Chief Political Officer, and in his absence by the first appointed member.
Art. 148. – The Provincial Council is renewed in its entirety every two years, but its members may be re-elected.
Art. 149. – The election of these individuals will be made by the Electoral Colleges, the day after the elections of the members of the Legislative Body are concluded, in the same order in which they are appointed.
Art. 150. – To be a Provincial Deputy, the following is required:
First: To be in the enjoyment of civil and political rights.
Second: Be at least twenty-five years old.
Third: To be a real estate owner in the Province that elects him, or head of a science, arts or industry establishment.
Fourth: To have your domicile in the Province that chooses you, with a residence of at least three years.
Art. 151. – The position of Provincial Deputy is compatible with all civil or administrative public offices.
Art. 152. – Each Provincial Council appoints a Secretary funded with public funds from the Province.
Art. 153. – The Provincial Councils will hold a session every six months, which will last at least fifteen days.
Art. 154. – The powers of the Provincial Councils are:
First: To inform the Executive Branch or the Tribune, with the necessary data, of the abuses and misconduct of the Chief Political Officer and other employees of the Province, and to oversee the collection, management and investment of public funds; pointing out abuses and embezzlement to whomever is legally entitled.
Second: To present to the Tribunate annually a general list of suitable individuals in their respective Provinces for judicial positions.
Third: To request the Executive Branch to remove the Senior Political Leaders when they fail in their duties and their continuation is detrimental to the good of the Province.
Fourth: To ask the Ecclesiastical Prelate for the removal of Parish Priests who observe a reprehensible and harmful conduct to the good of their parishioners.
Fifth: To receive from Corporations and citizens, the petitions, representations and reports that are addressed to them, in order to make use of them, if they are within their competence, or to give them the appropriate course.
Sixth: To carry out, both directly and through the Town Councils, the distribution of the contributions decreed by the Tribunate.
Seventh: To form the regulations that are necessary for the arrangement and improvement of the urban and rural police; and to ensure their execution, in accordance with the law.
Eighth: To promote and decree the opening and cleaning of roads.
Ninth: To promote, by all means within its reach, the development of agriculture and public education.
Tenth: To form, by itself and through the Municipalities, the census of the population and statistics of the Province.
Eleventh: To request from Congress or the Executive Branch, according to the nature of the matters, whatever they deem appropriate for the improvement of the Province, and which is not within the powers of the Provincial Councils, and to exercise all other powers assigned to them by law.
Article 155. – The ordinances or resolutions of the Provincial Councils shall be submitted for implementation to the Chief Political Officer, who shall have the right to object to them within a period of five days. The objections shall be considered by the Provincial Council, and if it insists on its decision, it shall be fully implemented.
Art. I56. – Once the sessions have concluded, the Provincial Councils will send a copy of their resolutions to the Tribunate, which will disapprove those that are contrary to the Constitution or the laws.
Article 157. – Provincial Councils may never usurp the voice of the People to exercise powers other than those established by the Constitution or the law. Any contrary procedure is an affront to public order and security.
Art. 158. – The office of Provincial Deputy is a municipal and honorary duty, from which no citizen may excuse themselves. Deputies are responsible for any excesses they commit in the exercise of their powers.
§ III
From the Town Halls

Art. 159. – There shall be a Town Council in each Commune where one existed in the year 1821, and the law may establish them in other Communes as deemed appropriate; its members shall be elected by the respective Primary Assemblies, and shall be presided over by the Mayor or Mayors whom they themselves elect from among their members. Its powers and organization shall be determined by law.
TITLE VI
PRIMARY ASSEMBLIES AND ELECTORAL COLLEGES
§ I
From the Primary Assemblies

Art. 160. – To be a voter in the Primary Assemblies, it is necessary:
First: To be a citizen in full enjoyment of civil and political rights.
Second: To be a property owner, or a public employee, or an officer of the army or navy, or licensed for the exercise of some industry or profession, or a professor of some liberal science or art, or a tenant for at least six years of a rural establishment engaged in cultivation.
Art. 161. – The Primary Assemblies meet by right in each Common, on the first Monday of November of each year in which they must exercise the powers that the Constitution or the law designates to them, and in the manner that they establish.
Art. 162. – The Mayor, in the Communes whose City Council has only one, or the first of them in those that have two or more, will publish on the first of October of each year in which the Primary Assemblies are to meet, a preventive notice reminding the voters of the period of their meeting, and that same official, or whoever replaces him, will preside over the Assembly until the election of the citizen who is to preside over it definitively.
Art. 163. – The powers of the Primary Assemblies are:
First: Choose the number of electors that each Commune must send to the Provincial Electoral College.
Second: Elect the councilors who should form the respective Town Councils.
§ II
From the Electoral Colleges

Art. 164. – The Electoral Colleges are composed of the electors appointed by the Primary Assemblies of the Communes.
Art. 165. – Until the law arranges the composition of the Electoral Colleges in another way, they shall be formed according to the following table:
Compostela de Azua will appoint 8 electors.
Each of its Commons 4
Santo Domingo, 10
Each of its Commons 2
Seibo, 8
Each of its Commons 4
La Vega, 8
Each of its Commons 4
Santiago, 8
The Municipality of Puerto Plata, 6
Each of the other Commons. 2
Art. 166. – The Electoral Colleges, by right, meet in the capital of the Province on the first Monday of December of the years in which they must exercise their ordinary powers; and at the latest, one month after the date of the Decree of convocation, in the extraordinary meetings authorized by the Constitution or the law.
Art. 167. – The powers of the Electoral Colleges are:
First: Elect the members of the Tribunal and their substitutes.
Second: To elect the members of the Conservative Council.
Third: To elect the President of the Republic according to the rules established in article 96.
Fourth: Elect the members of the respective Provincial Councils.
Fifth: To replace all officials whose nomination belongs to them, in the cases and according to the rules established by the Constitution or the law.
Sixth: To form separately the lists of individuals in their respective Provinces who meet the required qualities to be both Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice and Judge of the lower courts.
Art. 168. – Electoral Colleges may not correspond with each other, nor exercise any power, without the absolute majority of the electors being present.
§ III
Common provisions for Primary Assemblies and Electoral Colleges

Art. 169. – All elections are made by an absolute majority of votes, and by secret ballot.
Art. 170. – Except in extraordinary cases where one or more of the officials whose election is the responsibility of the Assemblies or the Electoral Colleges must be replaced, their ordinary meetings must be held in the year prior to the year in which the constitutional periods of the respective offices expire.
Art. 171. – Neither the Primary Assemblies nor the Electoral Colleges may engage in any activity other than exercising the powers assigned to them by the Constitution or the law. They must be dissolved as soon as their operations are completed, the duration of which will be determined by law.
TITLE VII
OF THE PUBLIC TREASURY

Art. 172. – No tax may be established under any pretext, except by law.
Art. 173. – No provincial or communal tax may be imposed except with the express consent of the respective Provincial Councils or Municipalities.
Art. 174. – Contributions to the public treasury are established annually. The laws that impose them are only in force for one year, unless they are renewed or extended.
Art. 175. – No privilege may be established in matters of taxation.
Art. 176. – Tax exceptions or reductions must be made by law.
Art. 177. – Only the law can grant pensions or gratuities from the public treasury.
Art. 178. – The budget of each Secretary of State must be divided into Chapters, and loans cannot be made from one Chapter to another, nor can the funds be diverted from their special purpose, except by virtue of a law.
Art. 179. – Every year the National Congress verifies the general accounts of the year or of previous years, each Ministerial Office separately, and decrees the general State Budget, indicating the income, and the allocation to each State Secretariat, of the funds assigned for the expenses of the coming year.
Art. 180. – Apart from the funds decreed for the Budget, no sum may be extracted from the public Treasury, without the prior consent of Congress, except in the extraordinary cases provided for by the 15th member of article 94.
Art. 181. – Every year in the month of January, the General Accounts of the previous year must be printed and published, under the responsibility of the Secretary of the Treasury.
Art. 182. – The law will organize an Administrative Council, composed of public officials, to verify the General Accounts annually, and to make a report of them to Congress, with the observations it deems appropriate; whose commission will be purely free of charge.
TITLE VIII
OF THE ARMED FORCES

Art. 183. – The armed forces are the defender of the State, both against external aggressions and internal disturbances, and the guardian of public freedoms.
Art. 184. – The armed force is essentially obedient and passive; no body of it may deliberate.
Art. 185. – The armed forces are divided into the Army, Navy, and Civic Guard.
Art. 186. – The law establishes the method of enlistment, the rules on promotion, and the rights and obligations of the armed forces.
Art. 187. – The Executive Power will appoint commanders of arms in those places where it deems it convenient.
Art. 188.- The creation of the Grand Inspectors of Agriculture and Police, and of the Urban and Rural Police Corps, will be the special subject of a law, which will detail all their duties.
Art. 189. – Privileged bodies cannot be created.
Art. 190. – The Civic Guard of each Province is under the immediate orders of the Superior Political Chief, whose responsibilities will be carried out by the Mayors in the Communes where he does not reside. The law will regulate its organization.
Art. 191. – The Civic Guard may not be mobilized except in the cases provided for by law.
Art. 192. – In the Civic Guard, all ranks are elective and temporary.
Article 193. – Military personnel shall be tried by Courts-Martial for the crimes they commit in the cases provided for in the Military Penal Code, and according to the rules established therein. In all other cases, or when they have as co-defendants one or more individuals from the civilian class, they shall be tried by the ordinary courts.
TITLE IX
GENERAL DISPOSITION

Art. 194. – The National merchant flag is composed of the colors blue and pink, placed in corner quarters; and divided in the center by a white cross half the width of one of the other colors, touching the four ends.
The war flag will also bear the arms of the Republic in the center.
Art. 195. – The arms of the Dominican Republic are: a Cross, at whose foot is the open Book of the Gospels, and both stand out from a trophy of arms, in which is seen the emblem of liberty, linked with a ribbon on which is the following motto: God, Fatherland and Liberty. Dominican Republic.
Art. 196. – Four national holidays will be celebrated annually throughout the territory of the Republic with the greatest pomp, which are:
First: The Separation, the last Sunday of February.
Second: The victory of Azua, on March 19.
Third: The victory of Santiago, the last Sunday of March.
Fourth: The anniversary of the publication of this Constitution.
In the event that any of these holidays falls on a day on which, according to the Roman Rite, it is forbidden to celebrate any holiday other than the religious one, the National holiday will be moved to the next working Sunday.
Art. 197. – Every oath must be required by virtue of the Constitution or the law, in the cases and manner that they determine; and every employee must take it before taking up their duties.
Art. 198. – Public offices can never be the property of those who exercise them nor the patrimony of any family.
Art. 199. – No law, decree, or regulation of Administration or Police shall be mandatory except after being published in the manner established by law.
Article 200. – No city or part of the territory may be declared under a state of siege, except in the case of: first, a foreign invasion that has occurred or is imminent; and second, internal unrest. In the first case, the declaration falls to the President of the Republic, and in the second, to the Congress; but if the Congress is not in session, the President of the Republic makes the declaration and immediately convenes the Congress to decide on it.
The Capital can never be declared under a state of siege, except by law.
Art. 201. – Under no circumstances may the execution of the Constitution be suspended, either in part or in whole.
Its execution is entrusted to the zeal of the Powers it establishes, and to the courage and heritage of the Dominicans.
TITLE X
ON THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION

Art. 202. – The Congress may, by virtue of the proposal made by the Tribunate, and admitted by two-thirds of the former, decree the revision of the Constitution, designating and publishing the articles and provisions that must be revised.
Art. 203. – In the ordinary or extraordinary session subsequent to the one in which the decree of revision was given, the Congress proceeds to it, with at least two thirds of its members being present.
Art. 204. – The Congress, in the review decree, will designate the place and time it deems convenient for its meeting.
TITLE XI
TRANSITORY DISPOSITIONS

Art. 205. – The President of the Republic shall be elected by the Sovereign Constituent Congress, which shall administer his oath and install him in office.
Art. 206. – The citizen elected by the Sovereign Constituent Congress to the Presidency of the Dominican Republic shall retain his office for two consecutive constitutional periods; consequently, his term shall end on the fifteenth of February 1852, in accordance with the provisions of the last member of article 95.
Article 207. – The Legislative Body shall be elected and shall convene as soon as possible; consequently, the Primary Assemblies and Electoral Colleges shall be convened immediately for the election of the members of the two Co-Legislative Bodies and other officials they are required to appoint according to the Constitution; to this effect, the President of the Republic shall issue a decree for their convocation, setting the shortest possible time for the meeting of the Legislative Body. The Electoral Colleges convened by virtue of this decree shall only exercise their powers until the law on elections establishes the organization deemed most appropriate.
Art. 208. – The President of the Republic is authorized, in agreement with the Diocesan Bishop, to petition the Holy See on behalf of the Dominican Republic for the grace of presentation for all miters and ecclesiastical benefices within its territory; and furthermore, to enter into negotiations with the Holy See in order to effect a Concordat. Until then, purely ecclesiastical matters shall be decided in accordance with the Sacred Canons.
Article 209. – All current laws, not contrary to this Constitution, shall remain in force until repealed by new ones. Likewise, judges, courts, public offices, and other offices shall continue provisionally until the new organization, always observing the separation of powers.
Art. 210. – During the current war and until peace is signed, the President of the Republic may freely organize the army and navy, mobilize the national guards, and take all measures he deems appropriate for the defense and security of the Nation; consequently, he may give all orders, provisions and decrees that are convenient, without being subject to any responsibility.
ADDITIONAL TITLE

Art. 211. – The Co-legislative Bodies shall agree on the following laws in their first legislative session:
First: About elections.
Second: On 1st Public Finance.
Third: On the responsibility of the Ministers, and other agents of the Executive Branch.
Fourth: On the judicial organization.
Fifth: On the administration of Municipalities, Provinces and Communes.
Sixth: On freedom of the press.
Seventh: On Public Instruction.
Eighth: On the Military Penal Code.
Nona: About the organization of the Civic Guard.
Tenth: On the total extinction of taxes, chaplaincies, entailments and other perpetual censuses, under whatever name they may be instituted.
San Cristóbal, November 6, 1844, Year 1. of the Nation.— The President, MM Valencia, Representative for Santo Domingo.— The Vice-President, Antonio Gutiérrez, Representative for Sarnaná.— A. Ruiz, Representative for Hato Mayor.— Andrés Rosón, Representative for Baní.— Antonio Gimenes, Representative for Bánica.— Bernardo Aybar, Representative for Neiba.— Buenaventura Báez, Representative for Azua.— Casimiro Cordero, Representative for La Vega.— Domingo Antonio Solano, Representative for Santiago.— Domingo de la Rocha, Representative for Santo Domingo.— Facundo Santana, Representative for Los Llanos.— Fernando Salcedo, Representative for Moca.— José Tejera, Representative for Puerto Plata.— José Mateo Perdomo, Representative for Hincha.— José María Medrano, Representative for Macorís.— José Valverde, Representative for Cotuí.— Juan P. Andújar, Representative for Cahobas.— Juan Reynoso, Deputy for La Vega.— Juan de Acosta, Deputy for El Seibo.— Juan Rijo, Deputy for Higüey.— Juan Lopes, Deputy for San José de las Matas.— Jesús Ayala, Deputy for San Cristóbal.— Juan A. de los Santos, Deputy for San Juan.— JN Tejera, Deputy for San Rafael.— Julián de Aponte, Deputy for El Seibo.— Manuel González Bernal, Deputy for Monte Plata and Boyá.— Manuel Abreu, Deputy for Monte Cristi.— Manuel Díaz, Deputy for Dajabón.— MR Castellano, Deputy for Santiago.— Santiago Suero, Deputy for Las Matas.— Vicente Mancebo, Deputy for Azua.— Dr. Caminero, Deputy for Santo Domingo, Secretary.— Juan Luis F. Bidó, Deputy for Santiago, Secretary.

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