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:onsii .uN

OF THE

UNITED STATES

OF

BRAZIL.

(Project signed June 22nd, 1890, for presentation to the
National Congress of November 15th, 1-890.)

TRANSLATION.

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE
i BY THE
SCHOOL OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Trinity College, North Carolina.
r
189i'

TRANSLATION.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

U1NITED STATES

OF

BRAZIL.

(Project signed June 22nd, 1890, for presentation to the
National Congress of November 15th, 1890.)

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE
BY THE
SCHOOL OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE,
Trinity College, North Carolina.
1891

Decree No. 510 of June 22nd, 1890,
Publishes the Constitution of the United States of Brazil.
The Provisional Government of the United States of Brazil, consti
tuted by the army and navy, in the name and with the assent of the
nation, Considering it of supreme urgency to accelerate the definite organi
zation of the republic, and to deliver self-government in the shortest
possible period to the nation, has resolved to formulate upon the amp
lest democratic and liberal bases, in accordance with the lessons of
experience, with our necessities and the principles which inspired the
revolution of November 15th, the actual origin of all our public right,
the Constitution of the United States of Brazil, which with the pres
ent act is published with the aim of submitting it to the representa
tives of the country at their approaching reunion, it. coming in force
at once as to the points below specified.
And, in consequence, it is decreed :
Article 1. — The first national congress of the representatives of the
Brazilian people is convoked for November 15th of the current year,
the elections therefor to be held on September 15th next coming.
Art. 2.— This congress will bring special powers from the electors to
pass judgment upon the constitution which is published with this
act, and which will be the first object of its deliberations.
Art. 3.— The constitution now published will be in force immedi
ately only in so far as regards the duality of the chambers of the con
gress, of their composition, election and the function which they are
called to exercise, of approving the said constitution, and thereafter to
proceed in accordance with its dispositions.
For which purpose
The Provisional Government assumes the engagement of comply
ing and having complied with upon these points the said constitution,
which is of the following tenor :

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL.

TITLE I.
OF THE FEDERAL ORGANIZATION.
Article 1. — The Brazilian nation, adopting as a form of
government the federative republic proclaimed by Decree No.
1, of November 15th, 1889, constitutes itself by a perpetual and
indissolvable union between the former provinces into the
United States of Brazil.
Art. 2. — Each of the former provinces will form a state,
and the former neutral municipality will constitute the federal
district, continuing to be the Capital oi the Union so long as
Congress shall not otherwise deliberate.
Paragraph- — If Congress shall resolve upon the removal of
the capital, the territory having been chosen for this purpose,
with the assent of the state or states from which it shall be
dismembered, the present Federal District will by this act
became a state.
Art. 3. — The states may be mutually incorporated, be sub
divided, or dismembered, to be annexed to others or to form
new states, in accordance with the consent of the respective
local legislatures for two consecutive years and the approval
of the National Congress.
Art. 4. — To each state partains the duty of providing, at its
own expense, the necessities for its government and admin
istration, the Union having power to subsidize them only in
exceptional cases of public calamity.
Art. 5. — The Federal Government can not intervene in the
internal affairs of the states, except
1st. — To repel foreign invasion, or from one state into
another ;
2nd. — To maintain the republican federative form of gov
ernment;

3rd.— To re-establish order and tranquillity in the states,
upon requisition of the local authorities ;
4th.— To insure the execution of laws of congress and com
pliance with federal sentences.
Art. 6.— It exclusively pertains to the Union to decree :
1st.— Taxes upon importations of foreign production;
2nd. — Entry, clearance and port dues of ships; the coast
wise commerce being free to domestic merchandise as well as
to foreign upon which import duties have been already paid ;
3rd. — Stamp taxes ;
4th. — Postal and telegraph contributions ;
5th. — The creation and maintenance of custom-houses ;
6th. — The establishment of banks of issue.
Paragraph. — The laws, acts and sentences of authorities of
the Union will be executed throughout the country by federal
officers. Art. 7. — It is prohibited to the Federal Government to
create distinctions and preferences in favor of the ports of one
state against those of the others by fiscal or commercial regu
lations. Art. 8. — It exclusively pertains to the states to decree
taxes :
1st. — Upon the exportation of merchandise, which shall not
he from other states ;
2nd. — Upon landed property ;
3rd. — Upon the transfer of property.
Section 1. — The produce of other states is exempt from
taxes in the state through which it passes for export.
§ 2. — From 1895 forward all duties on exportation will
cease. § 3. — It is licit for a state to tax the importation of foreign
merchandise only when it is destined for consumption in its
own territory, the product of the tax, however, reverting to
the Federal Treasury.
Art. 9. — It is prohibited to the states to tax in any man
ner, or to embarrass with whatsoever obstacle or charge,
reglementary or administrative, the acts, institutions or ser
vices established by the Government of the Union.
Art. 10. — It is prohibited to the states as well as the Union :
1st— To create taxes on the transit through the territory of
a state, or in the passage from one to another, upon the pro-

ducts of other states of the Republic, or foreign countries, as
well as upon the vehicles, of land or water, by which they are
carried ;
2nd.— To establish, subsidize, or embarrass the exercise of
religious worship ;
3rd. — To enact retroactive laws.
Art. 11. — In the questions which pertain concurrently to
the Government of the Union and the government of the
states, the exercise of authority by the first will stay the action
of the second and annul thenceforward the laws and disposi
tions emanated therefrom.
Art. 12. — Beyond the sources of revenue specified in Arts.
6 and 8, it is licit to the Union, as well as to the states, cumu
latively or not, to create whatsoever others not in contraven
tion to the disposition of Arts. 7, 9 and 10, § 1.
Art. 13. — The right of the Union and of the states to leg
islate upon railways and internal navigation will be regulated
by a law of the National Congress.
Art. 14. — The land and naval forces are permanent na
tional institutions, destined to the defense of the country
abroad and the maintenance of the laws at home. Within
the limits of the law, the armed force is essentially obedient to
its superiors in class and is obliged to sustain the constitutional
institutions. Art. 15. — The legislative, executive and judiciary authori
ties, harmonious and independent, corelatively, are organs of
the national sovereignty.

SECTION I.
OF THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY.

CHAPTER I.
GENERAL DISPOSITIONS.

Art. 16. — The legislative authority is exercised by the
National Congress, with the sanction of the President of the
Republic. § 1. — The National Congress is composed of two branches:
the Chamber and the Senate.

§ 2. — The elections for Senators and Deputies to the Cham
ber will be held simultaneously throughuot the country.
§ 3. — No one may be, at the same time, Deputy and Senator.
Art. 17. — Congress will assemble at the Federal Capital
upon May 3rd of every year, independent of convocation, and
will remain in session for four months from the date of open
ing, it being permitted to prorogue or to call extraordinary
sessions. § 1. — Each legislature will be of three years' duration.
§ 2. — In the case of a vacancy occurring in Congress, the
authorities of the respective states will immediately proceed
to a new election.
Art. 18. — The Chamber and Senate will labor separately,
holding public sessions when the contrary may not be decided
by the majority of votes present, and will only deliberate
when there is present in each of the chambers an absolute
majority of its members.
§ 1. — The rules of the two chambers will establish means
for compelling absent members to appear.
§ 2. — Each of them will verify and recognize the powers of
its members.
Art. 19. — Each of the chambers will elect its officers, will
organize its own rules, prescribing disciplinary penalties,
including that of temporary suspension, for the respective
members, will nominate the employes of its secretariat and
will regulate its internal police service.
Art. 20. — The Deputies and Senators are inviolable for
their opinions, words and votes in the exercise of their mandate.
Art. 21. — The Deputies and Senators may not be arrested
nor prosecuted criminally, without previous permission from
their Chamber, except in flagrante delicto. And in this case,
the prosecution being carried to the point of indictment (pro-
nuncia exclusivd) the prosecuting authority will remit the
documents to the respective chamber for a decision as to the
relevancy of the accusation, should the accused not decide
upon immediate sentence.
Art. 22. — The members of the two chambers upon taking
their seats will enter into a formal engagement, in open ses
sion, to well fulfill their duties.
Art. 23.— During the sessions the Senators and Deputies
will be entitled to a pecuniary subvention, beyond mileage,
fixed by Congress at the termination of each legislatuejrfor
that to follow.
Art. 24.— Members of Congress may not receive from the

executive power remunerated employments or commissions,
except they shall be diplomatic missions, military commis
sions, or offices of legal appointment or promotion.
Paragraph- — During legislative functions those of all others
cease. Art. 25. — The conditions of eligibility to the National
Congress are :
1st. — To be in possession of electoral rights ;
2nd. — To be a Brazilian citizen for over seven years in the
case of the Chamber, and for more than nine years in the case
of the Senate.
Art. 26. — The following are ineligible to the National
Congress :
1st. — The members of religious orders (religiosos), regular
and secular, of whatsoever confession;
2nd. — Governors ;
3rd. — Chief of police ;
4th. — Commanders of garrisons, together with other mili
tary functionaries in command of land and naval forces equal
or superior to these ;
5th. — Commanders of police corps ;
6th. — Magistrates, unless they have been unemployed for
more than a year.
7th. — Administrative employes who may be dismissed in
dependent of process.

CHAPTER II.
OF THE CHAMBER.

Art. 27. — The Chamber is composed of the deputies from
the Federal District and those from the states, in the propor
tion, which may not be reduced, of one for 70,000 inhabitants,
and is elected by direct suffrage.
Paragraph. — For this purpose the Federal Government will
proceed within three years from the inauguration of the first
Congress, to a re-census of the population of the Republic,
which will be revised every ten years.
Art. 28. — To the Chamber pertains the initiation of all tax
laws, the fixing of land and naval forces, the discussion of
projects submitted by the executive power and the declaration
of the relevancy or irrelevancy of an accusation against the
President of the Republic under the terms of Art. 52.

CHAPTER III.
OF THE SENATE.
Art. 29. — The Senate is composed of citizens eligible under
the conditions of Art. 25, chosen by the state legislatures by a
plurality of votes to the number of three Senators from
each one.
Paragraph.- — The Senators from the Federal District will be
elected in the manner prescribed for the election of the Pres
ident of the Republic.
Art. 30. — The Senator's mandate will continue for nine
years, one-third of the Senate to be renewed every three years.
§ 1. — In the first year of the first legislature, immediately
after organization, the Senate will separate the first and second
thirds of its members, whose mandates will end at the termin
ation of the first and second triennial periods.
§ 2. — This separation will be effected by three lists, corres
ponding to the three thirds, grading the Senators of each state
and those of the Federal District in the order of the respective
votes cast, so that there will be distributed to the third of the
last three years those with the highest vote in the Federal
District and in each of the states, and, to the following two-
thirds to the other two names in relation to the suffrages ob
tained. § 3. — In case of a tie, the most aged will be considered suc
cessful, it being decided by lot in case of equality in age.
§ 4. — The mandate of the Senatur elected in substitution of
another, will continue for the unexpired period of the one
substituted. Art. 31. — The Vice-President of the Republic will be ipso
facto the President of the Senate where he will have only the
casting vote, and he will be substituted, in absences or impedi
ments, by the vice-president of this chamber.
Art. 32. — It pertains especially to the Senate to try the
President of the Republic, and other Federal functionaries
designated by the Constitution, in the manner and form by it
prescribed. § 1. — The Senate when deliberating as a tribunal of justice
will be presided over by the president of the supreme Federal
Tribunal. § 2. — It will not pronounce a condemnatory sentence, save
by two-thirds of the members present.
§ 3. — It may not impose other penalties beyond the loss of
office and incapability for the exercise of whatsoever other,
without prejudice to the action of ordinal justice against the
condemned party.

CHAPTER IV.
OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF CONGRESS.
Art. 33. — It pertains especially to the National Congress :
1st. — To estimate the revenue and fix the expenditure
annually ;
2nd. — To authorize the executive power to contract loans
and make other credit operations ;
3rd. — To legislate as to the public debt and establish means
for its payment ;
4th. — To regulate the collection and distribution of the
national revenues ;
5th. — To regulate international trade, as well as that be
tween the states and the Federal District, to create ports of
entry and to create and suppress entrepots;
6th. — To legislate as to navigation on rivers that wash more
than one state, or run through foreign territory ;
7th. — To decide the weight, value, inscription, standard and
denomination of coins ;
8th. — To create banks of issue, legislate upon them and tax
them ;
9th. — To fix the standard of weights and measures;
10th. — To definitely decide as to the limits of states between
themselves, those of the Federal District, and those of the
national territory with adjoining countries ;
11th. — To decree the impeachment of the President of the
Republic under the conditions of Art. 52 ;
12th. — To authorize the government to declare war and
make peace;
13th. — To definitely decide as to treaties and conventions
with foreign nations ;
14th. — To designate the Capital of the Union ;
15th. — To concede subsidies to the states under the hypoth
esis of Art. 4 ;
16th. — To legislate upon the service of post-offices and tele
graphs ;
17th. — To adopt a regimen securing the safety of the
frontiers ;
18th. — To annually fix the land and naval forces ;
19th. — To regulate the composition of the army ;
20th. — To concede or refuse passage to foreign troops

10
through the territory of the country for military operations ;
21st.— To call out and utilize the police_ force of the states
in the cases provided for by the Constitution ;
22nd. — To declare under martial law one or more localities
of the national territory, in the emergency of aggression by
foreign troops, or domestic commotion, and to approve or sus
pend such declaration by the executive power or its responsi
ble agents in the absence of Congress ;
23rd. — To regulate the conditions and process of election for
federal offices throughout the country ;
24th. — To codify the civil, criminal and commercial laws,
and those of procedure of the Republic ;
25th. — To fix the salaries of the Ministers of State ;
26th. — To create and suppress federal public offices, to de
termine their attributes and to stipulate their salaries;
27th. — To constitute tribunals subordinate to the Supreme
Federal Tribunal ;
28th. — To legislate against piracy and offenses against the
laws of nations ;
29th. — To concede amnesty ;
30th. — To commute and pardon penalties imposed upon
federal functionaries for crimes of responsibility ;
31st. — To legislate upon public lands and mines ;
32nd. — To enact special laws for the Federal District;
33rd. — To subject to special legislation the localities of the
territory of the Republic necessary for the establishment of
arsenals, or of other establishments and institutions of federal
utility ;
34th. — To legislate upon higher instruction in the Federal
District ;
35th. — To regulate the cases for interstate extradition ;
36th. — To be vigilant in the defence of the Constitution and
the laws and to provide for necessities of a federal character ;
37th. — To decree the laws and resolutions needful for the
exercise of the powers with which the Constitution invests the
government of the Union ;
38th. — To decree the organic laws for the complete execu
tion of the Constitution.
* Art. 34. — Congresss is also charged, but not exclusively :
1st. — To foster in the country the development of public
education, agriculture, industry and immigration ;

11
2nd.— To create institutions of higher and secondary edu
cation in the states ;
3rd. — To promote primary and secondary education in the
Federal District.
Paragraph. — Whatsoever other expenses of a local character
in the Capital of the Republic, belong exclusively to the
municipal authority.

CHAPTER V.
OF LAM'S AND RESOLUTIONS.
Art. 35. All projects of laws may originate without dis
tinction, observing the exceptions of Art. 28, in either the
Senate or the Chamber, by the initiative of any of its mem
bers, or by proposal in a message from the executive power.
Art. 36. A project of law, passed by one of the chambers,
will be submitted to the other; and the latter, if it be ap
proved, will send it to the executive power which, acquiescing,
will approve and promulgate it.
§ 1. If, however, the President of the Republic shall con
sider it unconstitutional or contrary to the interests of the
nation, he must oppose it by his veto within ten working days
from that upon which he received the project, returning it
within the said time to the chamber wherein it originated, to
gether with the reasons for refusal.
§ 2. The silence of the executive power upon- the tenth
day signifies a sanction, except in case the said period expires
after the closing of Congress.
§ 3. The project being returned to the chamber wherein
it originated, it will there be submitted to a discussion and to
a nominal vote, it being considered approved should it obtain
two-thirds of the votes cast; and in this case it will be sent to
the other chamber, whence, should it obtain the same major
ity, it will be returned as a law to the executive power for the
formality of promulgation.
§ 4. Sanction and promulgation will be effected by these
forms :
1st. " The National Congress decrees and I sanction the
following law (or resolution)."
2nd. " The National Congress decrees and I promulgate
the following law (or resolution)."

12
Art. 37. The project of a law of one chamber amended in
the other, will return to the first, which, should the amend
ments be accepted, will forward it, modified in conformity
with them, to the executive power.
§ 1. In the contrary case, it w.ill return to the amending
chamber, where the alterations will only be considered ap
proved if they obtain two-thirds of the votes cast; and in this
hypothesis it will return to the originating. chamber, which
can only reject it by a two-thirds vote.
§ 2. The amendment rejected in this manner, the project
will be submitted without them for sanction.
Art. 38. Projects totally rejected or not sanctioned cannot
be again proposed during the same legislative session.

SECTION II.
OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER.

CHAPTER I.
OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.
Art. 39. The President of the United States of Brazil, as
elective and supreme chief of the nation, exercises the execu
tive power.
§ 1. The Vice-President, elected simultaneously with him,
substitutes the President in case of impediment and succeeds
him in case of vacancy.
§ 2. In the impediment or vacancy in the vice-presidency,
the vice-president of the Senate, the president of the Chamber
and the president of the Supreme Federal Tribunal will be in
succession called to the presidency.
§ 3. The essential conditions to election as President or
Vice-President of the Republic are:
1st. To be a native-born Brazilian;
2nd. To be in exercise of politica^rights ;
3rd. To be over 35 years of age.
Art. 40. The President will hold office for six years, and
cannot be re-elected for the next presidential term.
§ 1. The Vice-President who assumes the persidency for

13
the three last years of the presidential term, can not be elected
President for the next term.
_ § 2. The President will lay aside the exercise of his func
tions without fail upon the snme day upon which his presi
dential term expires, the President-elect to succeed him im
mediately. § .3. Should the latter be hindered, or fail to appear, the
substitution must be made under the terms of the preceding
article, § 1 and 2.
§ 4. The first presidential term will expire on November
15th, 1896.
Art. 41. Upon assuming office the President will pro
nounce in public session, before the Supreme Federal Tribu
nal, this affirmation :
"I promise to maintain and execute with perfect loyaltv the
Federal Constitution, to promote the welfare of the Republic,
to observe its laws, to sustain its union, integrity and inde
pendence." Art. 42. The President and Vice-President can not leave
the national territory without the permission of Congress, un
der penalty of losing the office.
Art. 43. The President and Vice-President will receive
salaries fixed by Congress in the preceding presidential term.

CHAPTER II.
OF THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.
Art. 44. The President and Vice President will be chosen
by the people, through indirect election, for which purpose
each state, as well as the Federal District, will constitute a
district with special electors double in number that of the re
spective representation in Congress.
§ 1. Beyond those specified in Art. 26, citizens who may
occupy salaried offices, of legislative, judicial, administrative
or military character, under the government of the Union, or
those of the states, cannot be special electors.
§ 2. This election will be held on the 1st day of March of
the last year of the presidential term.
Art. 45. On the 1st day of May following, the election of
President and Vice-President will be held throughout the Re
public.

14
§ 1. The electors of each state, as well as those of the
Federal District, will form a college, to meet together at the
place which, with due notice, may be appointed by the re
spective government.
§ 2. Each elector will vote, in two urns, by two different
ballots, the one for President, the other for Vice-President, for
two citizens, one of whom at least to be a native of another
state. § 3. Of the votes cast there will be organized two distinct
acts, from each of which will be drawn up three authentic
•copies, designating the names of the candidates and the re
spective number of votes.
§ 4. Of these six authenticated acts, the tenor of which
shall be immediately made public through the press, there
will be sent two (one of each act) to the governor of the state
for the respective archives and for the same purpose in the
Federal District to the president of the municipality, two to
the president of the Senate of the Union, and the two remain
ing to the national archives, all closed and sealed.
§ 5. The two Chambers being met in general assembly,
under the presidency of the president of the Senate, he will
open in their presence the two acts, proclaiming President
and Vice-President of the United States of Brazil the two citi
zens who, one in each act, shall reunite the absolute majority
of the counted votes.
§ 6. Should no one obtain this majority, Congress will
elect the President and Vice-President, by absolute majority,
by nominal ballot, from among the three receiving the great
est number of votes in each one of the acts.
§ 7. In this election each state, as well as the Federal Dis
trict, will have one vote ; and this will pertain to that of the
three candidates who, in the respective representation in Con
gress, shall receive a relative majority of votes.
§ 8. For this purpose the representatives of each state, as
well as those of the Federal District, will vote by distinctive
groups. Art. 46. The general assembly for the verification of the
election of President and Vice-President of the Republic will
not be considered constituted unless there be present at least
two-thirds of the members.
§ 1. The formality determined for this purpose by the
two preceding articles will commence and terminate at the
same session.
§ 2. The roll of the members of Congress being called,

15

those present will not be permitted to withdraw from the
house ; for which purpose measures of material precaution
will be taken.
§ 3. No member present can abstain from voting.

CHAPTER III.
OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER.
Art. 47. It pertains exclusively to the President of the
Republic :
1st. To sanction, promulgate and make public the laws
and resolutions of Congress ; to issue decrees, instructions und
regulations for their faithful execution ;
2nd. To nominate and dismiss at pleasure the Ministers of
State ;
3rd. To exercise the supreme command of the land and
naval forces of the United States of Brazil, as well as those of
the local police, when called to arms in defense, external or
internal, of the Union;
4th. To direct and distribute, under the laws of Congress,
' according to the needs of the national government, the land
and naval forces ;
5th. To appoint to civil and military offices of a federal
character, with the exception of the restrictions expressed in
the Constitution ;
6th. To pardon and commute penalties for crimes subject
to federal jurisdiction, except in the cases referred to in Art.
33, No. 30, and Art. 51, § 2 ;
7th. To declare war and make peace under the conditions
of Art. 33, No. 12 ;
8th. To declare war immediately in cases of invasion or of
foreign aggression;
9th. To report annually upon the condition of the country
to the National Congress, recommending to it measures and
urgent reforms, in a message which he will send to the Secre
tary of the Senate upon the opening day of the legislative
session ;
10th. To convoke Congress for extraordinary and to pro
rogue its ordinary sessions ;

16

11th . To nominate federal magistrates ;
12th. To nominate the members of the Supreme Federal
Tribunal and diplomatic ministers, with the approval of the
Senate; it being permitted, in the absence of Congress, to ap
point them temporarily until the decision of the Senate is
pronounced ;
13th. To nominate all other members of the diplomatic
corps and the consular agents ;
14th. To maintain relations with foreign states ;
15th. To declare, by himself or his responsible agents,
martial law in any locality of the national territory, in cases
of foreign aggression or grave internal commotion (Arts. 77
and 33, No. 22) ;
16th. To open international negotiations, to celebrate agree
ments, conventions and treaties, always ad referendum to
Congress, and to approve those celebrated by the states in
conformity with Art. 64, submitting them, when necessary, to
the authority of Congress.

CHAPTER IV.
OF THE MINISTERS OF STATE.
Art. 48. The President of the Republic is assisted by the
Ministers of State, agents of his confidence, who will refer their
acts to him, and preside each at one of the departments into
which the federal administration shall be divided.
Art. 49. The Ministers of State can not accumulate other
employment or public function, nor be elected President or
Vice-President of the Union.
Art. 50. The Ministers of State can not appear at the ses
sions of Congress, and will communicate with it solely in
writing, or personally in conferences with the' committees of
the chambers. The annual reports of the ministers will be
addressed to the President of the Republic and by him com
municated to Congress.
Art. 51. The Ministers of State are responsible to Con
gress, or to the tribunals, for advice given the President of the
Republic, except when such advice involves complicity with
him in impeachable offences defined by the penal laws.
§ 1. They will respond, however, as to their acts for crimes
qualified by criminal law.

17

§ 2. In impeachable crimes they will be prosecuted and
judged by the Supreme Federal Tribunal, and in those of
complicity wish the President of the Republic by the au
thorities competent to judge the latter.

CHAPTER V.
OF THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT.
Art. 52. The president of the United States of Brazil will
be submitted to process and judgment, after the Chamber shall
declare the indictment valid, before the Supreme Federal Tri
bunal in common crimes, and in those of impeachment before
the Senate.
Art. 53. For the President of the Republic impeachable
crimes are those which attack:
1st. The political existence of the Union;
2nd. The Constitution and the form of the Federal gov
ernment ;
3rd. The free exercise of political powers ;
4th. The enjoyment and legal exercise of political or indi
vidual rights ;
5th. The internal safety of the country ;
6th. The integrity of the administration ;
7th. The guardianship and constitutional employment of
the public moneys ;
§ 1. These offenses will be defined in a special law.
§ 2. A second law will regulate the indictment, process
and judgment.
§ 3. Both of these laws shall be enacted in the first session
of the first Congress.

18
SECTION III.
OF THE JUDICIAL POWER.
Art. 54. The judicial power of the Union will have as
organs a Supreme Federal Tribunal, seated at the Capital of
the Republic, and as many federal judges and tribunals dis
tributed throughout the country as Congress shall create.
Art. 55. The Supreme Federal Tribunal will be composed
of fifteen judges, appointed under the conditions of Art. 47, No.
ll,from among the thirty seniorfederaljudges and from citizens
of notable wisdom and reputation, eligible to the Senate.
Art. 56. The federal judges are life incumbents, the posi
tion being forfeited only through judicial sentence.
§ 1. Their salaries will be determined by a law of Con
gress, which can not reduce them.
§ 2. The Senate will judge the members of the Supreme
Federal Tribunal, and the latter the lower federal judges.
Art. 57. The federal tribunals will elect their presidents
from their own membership and will organize their respective
clerks' offices.
§ 1. In these the appointment and dismissal of the respec
tive employes, as well as the filling of executive offices in
their respective judiciary circumscriptions, pertain to the pre-
sidents of the said tribunals.
§ 2. The President of the Republic will designate from
among the members of the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the
Attorney-General of the Republic, whose powers will be
defined by law.
Art. 58. To the1 Supreme Federal Tribunal pertains:
I. To prosecute and judge originally and exclusively :
a J The President of the Republic in common crimes, and
the Ministers of State under the conditions of Art. 51.
, b] Diplomatic ministers in common crimes and in those
of impeachment ;
c] Suits between the Union and the states, or between
these one with the other;
d ] Litigations and reclamations between foreign nations
and the Union, or the states ;
e] Conflicts of federal judges or tribunals among them
selves, or between these and those of the states.
II. To try, on appeal, cases decided by federal tribunal,
and judges, as well as those treated of in the present article
§ 1, and Art 60.
III. To revise decided processes, under the terms of Art.. 78

19
§ 1. From sentences of the superior courts of the states
there will be appeal to the Supreme Federal Tribunal :
a] When there is in dispute the validity or application of
federal treaties and laws, and the decision of the state tribunal
shall be contrary thereto;
6] When the validity of laws or acts of state governments
is contested under the Constitution or under federal laws, and
the decision of the state tribunal shall consider valid the con
tested acts, or laws.
§ 2. In c;ises where state laws are to be applied, the fed
eral court will observe the jurisprudence of local tribunals:
and, vice versa, stite courts will observe the practice of federal
tribunals when called upon to interpret laws of the Union.
Art. 59. To the federal judges and tribunals it pertains to
decide :
a] Cases wherein either of the parties bises the plea, or
the defense, upon a disposition of the federal Constitution;
6] Litigations between one st:ite and the citizens of others,
or between citizens of diverse states, under diverse laws ;
c] Lawsuits between foreign states and Brazilian citizens ;
d] Suits brought by foreigners and based, whether on con
tracts with the government of the Union, or upon conventions
or treaties by the Union with other nations ;
e] Questions of maritime and navigation law, both as to
the high seas and to the rivers and lakes of the country :
/] Questions of international civil and criminal law ;
g] Poltical crimes.
§ 1. It is forbidden to Congress to commit whatsoever
federal jurisdiction to the state tribunals.
§ 2. Sentences and orders of federal magistrates will be
executed by judicial officers of the Union, to whom, upon
their requisition, the local police is obliged to render assistance.
Art. 60. Decisions of state judges or tribunals, in cases
to them pertaining, will be decisive in processes and suits, ex
cept as to
1st. Habeas corpus, or
2nd. Estates of foreigners, when not specifically provided
for by convention or treaty.
To such cases there will be an optional appeal to the Su
preme Federal Tribunal.
Art. 61. State courts may not intervene in questions sub
mitted to the federal tribunals, nor annul, amend or suspend
their sentences or orders.

20
TITLE II.
OF THE STATES.
Art. 62. Each state will be governed by the constitution
and the laws by it adopted, provided that the organization
must be under the republican form of government, must not
be opposed to the constitutional principles of the Union, must
respect the rights secured by this Constitution, and must ob
serve the following rules :
1st. The executive, legislative and judicial authorities will
be separated and independent ;
2nd. The governors and members of the local legislature
will be elective ;
3rd. The judiciary will not be elective ;
4th. Judges may be dismissed from office only by sentence ;
5th. Education will be secular and free in all grades, and
gratuitous in the primary grade.
Art. 63. A law of the National Congress will divide
among the states a certain quantity of public lands, surveyed
at their expense, outside the zone of the frontiers of the Re
public, with the condition of settling and colonizing them
within a determined period, with reversion to the Union of
the ceded land where this provision is not complied with.
Paragraph. The states may transfer these lands by any
legal title, onerous or gratuitous, to individuals or associations,
which may propose to settle and colonize them.
Art. 64. It is permitted to the states :
1st. To celebrate among themselves agreements and con
ventions of a non-political character (Art. 47, No. 16).
2nd. In general, all and every power, or right, which to
them shall not be forbidden by clause expressed in the Con
stitution, or implicity contained within the political organiza
tion by it established.
Art. 65. It is forbidden to the states :
1st. To refuse recognition to public documents, of legis
lative, administrative or judicial nature, of the Union or of
any of the states;
2nd. To reject the money, or bank issues, in circulation by
act of the federal government ;
3rd. To make or declare war one on the other, or to em
ploy reprisals;
4th. To withhold the extradition of criminals demand
ed by courts of other states, or of the Federal District, accor-

21
ding to the laws of Congress, by which this matter is gover
ned (Art. 33, No. 35). fe
Art. 66. Excepting the restrictions specified in the Con
stitution and the rights of the respective municipality, the
Federal District is directly governed by the federal authorities
and exclusively subject to the tribunals of the Union.
Paragraph. The Federal District will be organized by law
of Congress.

TITLE III.
OF THE MUNICIPALITY.
Art. 67- The states will be organized by their own laws, un
der a municipal regimen, upon the following bases:
1st. Autonomy for the municipality, in every respect, so
far as regards their peculiar interests;
2nd. Election of the local administration.
Paragraph. A law of Congress will organize the munici
pality in the Federal District.
Art. 68. In municipal elections, resident foreigners will
be electors and eligible to office in accordance with the con
ditions of a law to be prescribed by each state.

TITLE IV.
OF BRAZILIAN CITIZENS.

SECTION I.
OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE BRAZILIAN CITIZEN.
Art. 69. The following are Brazilian citizens :
1st. Those born in Brazil, even of a foreign father, he not
being a resident in the service of his country ;
2nd. Sons of a Brazilian father and the illegitimate sons
of a Brazilian mother, born in a foreign country, who shall
become domiciled within the Republic ;

22
3rd. Sons of a Brazilian father, who shall be in another
country in the service of the Republic, notwithstanding they
do not become domiciled ;
4th. Foreigners who were present in Brazil on November
15th, 1889, and shall not declare, within six months after the
Constitution shall become effective, their determination to pre
serve their original nationality ;
5th. Foreigners holding real estate in Brazil and married
with Brazilian women, or having Brazilian sons, except they
declare before the proper authority their intention to retain
their nationality ;
6th. Foreigners naturalized in whatsoever other manner.
Paragraph. — Naturalization laws exclusively pertain to the
federal legislative power.
Art. 70. — Citizens of 21 years of age are electors, who are
registered in the terms of the laws.
§ 1. The following can not be registered as electors for
federal, or for state elections:
1st. Paupers ;
2nd. Illiterate persons;
3rd. Enlisted men, excepting the students of the military
schools of higher instruction;
4th. Members (religiosos) of monastical orders, companies,
congregations or communities, of whatsoever denomination,
subject to vows of obedience, rule or statute, which involves
the renunciation of individual liberty.
§ 2. Elections for federal offices will be regulated by law
of Congress.
§ 3. Citizens not registered are ineligible.
Art. 71. The rights of Brazilian citizenship may only he
suspended or lost in the cases herein set forth.
§ 1. These rights are suspended :
a] By physical or moral incapacity ;
b~] By criminal conviction, as long as this may remain in
effect. § 2. They are lost:
a] By naturalization in a foreign country ;
?>] By the acceptance of foreign employment, pension,
decoration, or title, without permission from the federal exec
utive power ;
c] By judicial banishment.
§ 3. A federal law will provide the conditions for reacquir
ing the rights of a Brazilian citizen.

23
SECTION II.
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.
Art. 72. The Constitution assures to Brazilians and for
eigners resident in the country, inovilability of rights relative
to liberty, to individual safety and to property under the fol
lowing terms :
§ 1. No one can be obliged to do or to leave undone any
thing whatsoever except by virtue of the law.
§ 2. All are equal before the law. The Republic does not
admit privileges of birth, disregards rights of nobility, does
not create titles of rank, nor decorations.
§ 3. All individuals and religious denominations may
publicly and freely exercise their worship, associating them
selves for this purpose, and acquiring property within the
limits prescribed by the law of mortmain.
§ 4. The Republic only recognizes civil marriage, which
will always precede the religious ceremonies of whatever faith.
§ 5 Cemeteries will be secular in character and adminis
tered by municipal authority.
§ 6. Instruction furnished by public institutions will be
secular. § 7. No denomination or church will enjoy official sub
sidy, nor will hold relations of dependence or alliance with
the government of the Union, or that of the states.
§ 8. The company of Jesuits is excluded from the coun
try, and the founding of new convents or monastic orders is
prohibited. § 9. To all it is licit to associate and reunite together
freely and without arms ; the police can not interfere except
to maintain public order.
§ 10. It is permitted to everyone, whomsoever it may be,
to represent by means of petition to the public authorities, to
denounce abuses of the authorities, and to procure the im
peachment of the culprits.
§ 11. In time of peace anyone may enter and leave the
territory of the Republic, with his fortune and property, when
and how he may choose, independently of passport.
§ 12. The house is an inviolable asylum to the individual,
no one may enter therein at night without the consent of the
dweller, except to succor victims of crimes or disasters, nor
during'the day except in the cases and in the manner by law
prescribed. § 13. The manifestation of opinions is free, on any subject,

24
by the press or from the tribune, without embarrassment from
censure, each one responding for abuses committed in the
cases and manner which the law shall prescribe.
§ 14. Flagrante delicto excepted, an arrest cannot be exe
cuted without a written order from the proper authority.
§ 15. No one may be detained in prison without specified
charges, save under the exceptions by law established, nor im
prisoned, nor detained therein, should he furnish satisfactory
bail in the legal cases therefor.
§ 16. No one may be condemned, except by the proper
authority, under an anterior law and the conditions by it pre
scribed. § 17. To the accused there will be secured by the law the
fullest defense, with all resources and means essential thereto,
beginning with the allegation of the crime (notade culpa), de
livered in 24 hours to the prisoner and signed by the author
ity, with the names of the plaintiff and the witnesses.
§ 18. The right of property is maintained in all its pleni
tude, excepting disappropriation for necessity or public utility
with previous indemnification.
§ 19. The seal of correspondence is inviolable.
§ 20. No penalty shall extt-nd beyond the person of the
delinquent. § 21. The punishment of the' galleys is abolished.
§ 22. The death penalty for political crimes is also abol
ished. § 23. Habeas corpus will be granted whenever the individ
ual may suffer violance or compulsion, through illegality or
abuse of authority, or shall feel himself threatened by the
evident imminence of this danger.
§ 24. With the exception of matters which, from their
nature, pertain to special courts, there will be no privileged
jurisdiction. Art. 73. Public employment, civil and military, is open
to all Brazilians, the conditions of special capacity prescribed
by law being observed.
Art. 74. The officers of the army and navy will only lose
their commissions by sentence passed in judgment to which
this result is attached.
Art. 75. The specification of the rights and guarantees
expressed in the Constitution does not exclude other guaran
tees and rights, not specified, but which result from the form
of government by it established and tbe principles consigned
therein.

25
TITLE V.
GENERAL D1S POSITIONS.

t,C,

Art. 76. The citizen invested with functions in any one
of 4hfl»tbre^. powers, earn not exercise those of another.
¦(-' Aht."77: ;Any"'pa'ft:'ofJthe1territory of the Union maybe
declared under martial law, suspending therein the constitu-
IjipnaJ sguaxa<n tees.- for- ii specified-tirhe, whenever the security of
the Republic demands, this,' in cases of foreign aggression, or
dpmestic^commo^ion^A.rt 3,3, N<y.22).
§ 1. Congress not being in session and the danger immi
nent jtO: the. country,.. the federal executive power will exercise
this attribute (Art 47, Novl5> >¦ -
§ 2. During the period of martial law, this (recourse) will,
hDwever,,be re&MctecLto-.iTieasureS-of repression against per
sons : ay..|.i •- ) !- ¦ ... - .j - <
1st. To detention in localities not destined to common
crimjnalg; l,ll_, .../ t :u > . j. .)....—
2nd. To banishment to other localities in the national ter
ritory, o.i >;.:i\ 3 n» :¦ \'.~q ¦¦ ¦'' '¦
v>§-'8. Immediately upon "the ''reunion of Congress, the
Presidehtdf the Republic will 'report to it, with reasons, the
exfebptt'onal measures to which lie' has resorted, the implicated
authorities 'to' hfe responsible for rhe'Etbuses which in this re
spect •th'e'y ;may have'incufred.'
'Art: 78.' 'Criminal' proceedings decided may be revised at
ahy-titaie'ih the interest of trie convicts by the Supreme Fed
eral Tribunal, to amend or confirm the sentence.
•'{ l.^Th'e law wiirprrescrib'ethe^cases and the form of the
revision, which may be required' by the convict, by any one
df'the: people, 'br^f^c'io by 'the Attorney-General of the Re
public. '-"¦\'1: In the revision :the. penalties of the sentence reviewed
can not be increased.
'i'tA'R'T:!17l9. ' Public functionaries' are strictly respensible for
abuses' and omissions incurred in the exercise of their offices,
as well as for indulgence or negligence in not effectively hold
ing their subordinates responsible.
Paragraph.- All these will be bound by a formal engage
ment, in the, acttpf taking possession, for the fulfillment ot
'their' legal' duties. ' .,,,•.. ,*:r :;,-
,Art..&Q,, The. daws- of the former regimen, while not re
voked, "will pontjnuain vigor in what may not be explicitly or
by implication contrary to the system of government estab-

26
lished by this Constitution, and to the principles therein con
secrated. Art. 81. The federal government guarantees the payment
of the public domestic and foreign debt.
Art. 82. Every Brazilian is bound to military service in
defense of the country and the Constitution, in accordance
with the federal laws.
Art. 83. Military recruiting is abolished. The national
army and navy will be formed by conscription, through a
previous enrollment, in which pecuniary exemption will not
be admitted.
Art. 84. In no case, directly or indirectly, alone or in alli
ance with another nation, will the United States of Brazil en
gage in a war of conquest.
Art. 85. The Constitution may be amended through the
initiative of the National Congress or of the legislatures of the
states. § 1. A proposal of amendment will be considered when
presented by a fourth part at least of the members of either
of the chambers of the federal Congress, and shall be passed
in three discussions by a two-thirds vote of one and the other
house of Congress, or when it shall be requested by two-thirds
of the states, each one represented by a majority of the votes
in their legislatures, taken within the period of one yeir.
§ 2. This proposal will be considered approved if in the
following year it should be (passed) in three discussions, by a
majority of three-fourths of the votes in the two chambers of
Congress. § 3. The proposal approved will be published with the
signatures of the presidents and secretaries of the two cham
bers, becoming incorporated in the Constitution as an integral
part thereto.
§ 4. Projects tending to abolish the republican federative
form of government, or the equality of representation in the
Senate, will not be admitted' as subjects of deliberation in
Congress. TRANSITORY DISPOSITIONS.
Art. 1. Both of the chambers of the first National Con
gress, convoked for November 15th, 1890, will be elected by
direct popular election, according to the regulations decreed
by the Provisional Government.
§ 1. This Congress will receive from the electoral body
special powers to express the will of the nation upon this

27
Constitution, as well as to elect the first President and Vice-
President of the Republic.
$ 2. When the first Congress is assembled, it will deliber
ate in General Assembly, the two chambers united, to discuss
this Constitution, and, it being approved, it will proceed to
elect, by an absolute majority of votes in the first ballot, and,
if no one should receive this, by a relative majority in the
second, the President and Vice-President of the United Stat s
of Brazil.
$ 3. The President and Vice-President elected in the terms
of this article, will occupy the presidency and vice-presidencv
of the Republic for the first presidential term.
$ 4. For this election there will be no incompatibilities.
§ 5. This concluded, Congress will consider its constituent
mission terminated, and, dividing into Senate and Chamber,
will enter upon the exercise of its normal functions.
§ 6. For election to the first Congress the incompatibilities
under the Constitution, Art. 25, Nos. 2 to 7, will not be in
force; but those excluded under this provision, once elected.
will lose their offices, unless they declare their choice for
these, immediately they are recognized senators or deputies.
Art. 2. The acts of the Provisional Government, where
they shall not be contrary to the Constitution, will be laws of
the Republic while not revoked by Congress.
Paragraph. The commissions, posts and permanent ap
pointments, concessions and contracts granted by the Provi
sional Government, are guaranteed in all their plenitude.
Art. 3. The state which up to the end of 1892 shall not
have decreed its constitution, will be subject, by act of the
federal legislative power, to that of one of the others, which
may appear most suitable for this purpose, until the state un
der this regimen shall amend it by the process in it prescribrd.
Art. 4. In proportion as the states organize, the federal
government will deliver to them the administration of the
services which pertains to them under the Constitution, and
will liquidate the responsibility of the federal administratinn
as regards these services and the payment of the respective

Art. 5. While the states are occupied in regulating ex
penses, during the period of the organization of their services.
the federal government, for this purpose, will grant to them
special credits under conditions fixed by Congress.
Art. 6. Within two years from the approval of the Con
stitution by the first Congress the classification of revenue
therein established will become effective.

28
Art. 7. In the first appointrnentstO". federaI.-,j,udgJ8sbip^>0.f
the first and second instance, the President of.the Jleptaali'*
will admit, as far as convenient; t,o the proper selec^qn of jthese
tribunals and courts, the moreJnipqrtar^di^|,n^
judges (juizes de direito e desenlbargadpres^ ;-()r!3, ti •> \ aid)
Art. 8. In the first organisation; i©f, /their tespKotiye 6oxwit6,
the states will contemplate, with preference, as far as interest
in their best composition rnay ,permit,r.the,.pxes£nt.4udg-esn£)f
the first and second instance (juizes de primeira e seanndckin-
stancia). ,-¦ -i-. i : b,5 ,•=•' i
Art. 9. The members of the. Supreme Tribunal :ofi Justice
not appointed to the Supreme Federal Tribunal will be retired
with all their salaries.
Art. 10. The desernbargadores and, juizes, . de , dp\eito t who
may under the new judiciary organization lose their positions,
wili receive their present saliifies' so .long as/tlieyVmay.oe'iin-
employed. Art. 11. While the state's are not constituted, the expendi
ture with the present magis'tracy'-poll b,^,' for, ^qpurit,, of,.jtne
federal coffers, but it will be gradually classified iii proportion
to the organization of the respective' tribunal's, '."'
° , i r , ,.i ¦;• .- ,,,n- .Oli=,,..r 1 , i (if
Art. 12. While the regimen of military conscription is;riot
perfectly organized, volunteers will be received in the com
position of the land and naval forces'"" '* ' '",
We therefore order all authorities to, whom- the, knowledge
and execution of this decree pertains,',' to ', execute it, and to
have it fully and exactly executed 'and observed;
The Minister of State for the Affairs of the Interior, will
have it printed, published anil made current!. " 0 ,,,,,', "V „,-
Assembly-Room of the Provisional Government of the
United States of Brazil, June 22nd, J,890, second ., of thfii.Rer
public. Manoel Deodoro da.Fonseca,'
Ruy Barbosa. ,-,.,,,,; •.•.¦ un..
Benjamin Constant Bvtelhoi detMayalhaxnyn
Eduardo Wandenlvlk.
Floria.no Peixoto. ;+,
Q. Bocayuva.
M. Ferraz de Campos, Salles.
Jose Cesario dc Farm AlrhL
Francisco Glycerin.

Commission for Drafting a Project of Constitution.

Decree No. 29, of 3rd December. 1889.

Dr. Joaquim Saldanha Marinho,
President.
Dr. Americo Brasiliense de Almeida Mello,
Vice-President.
Dr. Antonio Luiz dos Santos Werneck,
Dr. Francisco Rangel Pestana,
Dr. Jose Antonio Pedreira de Magalhaes Castro.

Note —In an open letter published in the Joma! do Commercio, of June 29th,
i he above commission disclaims the authorship of all the provisions of the fore
going Constitution. Their project was delivered to the government May 30th,
anil was subsequently amended by the cabinet.

The Provisional Government.

Marshal Manoel Deodoro da Fonseca,
Chief of State.
Ruy Barbosa, Minister of Finance-
Benjamin Constant Botelho de Magalhaes,
Minister of Public Instruction, Post-offices and Telegraphs.
Ecluardo Wandenkolk, Minister of Marine-
Floriano Peixoto, Minister of War.
Quintino Bocayuva, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles,
Minister of Justice.
Jose Cesario de Faria Alvim,
Minister of Interior.
Francisco Glycerio, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Public Works.

Outline of Contents.

TITLE I.
OF THE FEDERAL ORGANIZATION.
Section'I — Of the Legislative Authority.
Chapter I. — General Dispositions.
Chapter II. — Of the Chamber.
Chapter III. — Of the Senate.
Chapter IV. — Of the Attributes of the Congress.
Chapter V. — Of Laws and Resolutions.
Section II. — Of the Executive Powers.
Chapter I. — Of the President and Vice-President.
Chapter II. — Of the Election of President and Vice-
President.
Chapter III.— Of the Attributes of the Executive Power.
Chapter IV.— Of the Ministers of State.
Chapter V. — Of the Impeachment of the President.
Section 111.— Of the Judicial Paver.
TITLE II.
OF THE STATES.
TITLE III.
OF THE MUNICIPALITY.
TITLE IV.
OF BRAZILLIAN CITIZENS.
Section I.— Of the Qualifications of the Brazilian CUizen.
Section 11.— Declaration of Rights. TITLE V.
GENERAL DISPOSITIONS.
TRANSITORY DISPOSITION.
Commission for Drafting a Project of Constitution.
Cabinet Officers of the Provisional Government.

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