servitude, highway robbery, piracy, and grave offenses of a military character.* ART. 24. No criminal case shall have more than three trials. No one shall be tried twice for the same offense, whether by the judgment he be acquitted or condemned. The practice of suspending trial is abolished." ART. 25. Sealed correspondence sent through the mails shall be free from any examination. The violation of this guaranty is an offense which the law shall punish severely. ART. 26. In time of peace no soldier may require quarters, supplies, or other real or personal services, without the consent of the owner. In time of war he may do so, but only in the manner prescribed by law. ART. 27. Private property shall not be taken without the consent of the owner, except for a public purpose, and upon previous indemnification. The law shall determine the authority which may make the condemnation and the conditions upon which it may be carried out. Religious corporations and institutions, whatever may be their character, denomination, duration, or object, and civil corporations when they are under the patronage, direction, or administration of religious organizations or of ministers of any religious denomination, shall have no legal capacity to acquire or administer any real property other than the buildings destined immediately and directly to the service and object of such corporations and institutions; nor shall they acquire or administer funds secured upon real estate. Corporations and civil institutions which are not included within the above restrictions, may acquire and administer, besides the buildings referred to, immovable property and As amended, May 14, 1901. "I. e., trial before the court of first instance, and two trials on appeal. 6 "Absolver de la instancia," to suspend proceedings, usually because of insufficient evidence, it being possible to have a new trial upon the same charge; practically the same as the nolle prosequi of English law. funds secured upon immovable property, which they may require for their support and purposes, under subjection to the requirements and limitations of a federal law which shall be passed by the Congress of the Union." ART. 28. There shall be no monopolies, nor exclusive privileges of any kind nor prohibitions under the guise of protection to industry. The only exceptions to this shall be those relative to the coining of money, to the mails, and to the privileges which, for a limited time, the law may grant to inventors or to the perfecters of some improvement. ART. 29. In cases of invasion, grave disturbance of the public peace, or in any other cases which may place society in great danger or distress, only the President of the Republic, with the concurrence of the Council of Ministers and with the approbation of the Congress of the Union, and in the recess thereof, of the Permanent Committee, may suspend the guaranties established by this constitution, with the exception of those which protect the life of man; but such suspension shall be made for a limited time, by means of general orders, and shall not be limited to a particular individual. If the suspension should take place during the session of Congress, that body shall grant the authorizations which it deems necessary in order that the executive may properly meet the situation. If the suspension should take place during the recess, the Permanent Committee shall convene the Congress without delay, in order that it may grant such authorizations. SECTION II. MEXICANS ART. 30. Mexicans are: I. All those born, within or without the territory of the Republic, of Mexican parents. 'As altered by amendment of May 14, 1901. This amendment restricted the powers of religious corporations, and extended the powers of civil corporations; it repeals, by implication, Art. 3 of the additions to the constitution, of September 25, 1873. See additions to the constitution, of September 25, 1873, for relations of church and state. II. Foreigners who are naturalized in conformity with the laws of the Federation. III. Foreigners who acquire real estate in the Republic, or have Mexican children, if they do not declare their intention to retain their nationality. ART. 31. It shall be the duty of every Mexican: I. To defend the independence, the territory, the honor, the rights, and interests of his country. [II. To perform his services in the army or national guard, in conformity with the respective organic laws.3] III. To contribute in the proportional and equitable manner provided by law, toward public expenses as well of the Federation, as of the state, and of the municipality in which he resides. ART. 32. Mexicans shall be preferred to foreigners, under equal circumstances, for all employments, offices, or commissions within the appointment of the authorities, in which the condition of citizenship may not be indispensable. Laws shall be enacted to improve the condition of industrious Mexicans, by rewarding those who distinguish themselves in any science or art, by encouraging labor, and by founding industrial colleges and manual training schools. SECTION III. FOREIGNERS ART. 33. Foreigners are those who do not possess the qualifications specified in Art. 30. They shall have the right to the guaranties established by Title I, Sec. I, of the present constitution, except that in all cases the government shall have the power to expel pernicious foreigners. They shall be under obligation to contribute toward the public expenses in the manner which the laws may provide, and to obey and respect the institutions, laws, and authorities of the country, subjecting themselves to the decisions and sentences of the courts, without power to seek other protection than that which the laws grant to Mexicans. Amendment of June 1, 1898. ART. 34. Citizens of the Republic are all those who, in addition to the quality of Mexicans, have the following qualifications: I. Have completed the age of eighteen years if they are married, or of twenty-one if unmarried. II. Have an honest means of livelihood. ART. 35. The prerogatives of the citizen are: I. To vote at popular elections. II. To be eligible for any office filled by popular election, and to serve in any other office or employment, provided he have the qualifications fixed by law. III. To associate with others to discuss the political affairs of the country. IV. To enlist in the army or in the national guard for the defense of the Republic or its institutions [under the conditions which the laws shall prescribe].9 V. To exercise in all cases the right of petition. ART. 36. It shall be the duty of every citizen of the Republic: I. To enroll himself in the register of the inhabitants of the municipality in which he lives, stating the property which he owns, or the industry, profession, or labor by which he subsists. II. To enlist in the national guard. III. To vote at popular elections, in the district to which he belongs. IV. To discharge the duties of the federal offices to which he may be elected, which in no case shall be gratuitous. ART. 37. The character of citizen is lost: I. By naturalization in a foreign country. II. By serving officially the government of another country or by accepting its decorations, titles, or employments without previous permission from the federal Congress; excepting As amended June 10, 1898. literary, scientific, and humanitarian titles, which may be freely accepted. ART. 38. The law shall prescribe the cases and the manner in which the rights of citizenship shall be lost or suspended, and the manner in which they may be regained. TITLE II SECTION I. NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AND THE FORM ART. 39. The national sovereignty is vested essentially and originally in the people. All public power emanates from the people, and is instituted for their benefit. The people have at all times the inalienable right to alter or modify the form of their government. ART. 40. It is the will of the Mexican people to constitute themselves into a federal, democratic, representative republic, composed of states, free and sovereign in all that concerns their internal government, but united into a federation established according to the principles of this fundamental law. ART. 41. The people exercise their sovereignty through the federal powers in the matters belonging to the Union, and through those of the states in the matters relating to the internal affairs of the latter, within the limits respectively established by this federal constitution, and by the separate constitutions of the states, which latter shall in no case contravene the stipulations of the federal compact. SECTION II. INTEGRAL PARTS OF THE FEDERATION AND ART. 42. The national territory comprises the integral parts of the Federation and the adjacent islands in both oceans. ART. 43. The integral parts of the Federation are: the states of Aguascalientes, Campeche, Coahuila, Colima, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, |