Constituent Assembly of Portugal

“ Every person who is deprived of freedom shall be informed, immediately and in a comprehensible way, of the reasons of his or her arrest or detention, as well as of his or her rights. (5) Any deprival of freedom in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and the law results in the State having the duty to compensate the aggrieved party in accordance with what is laid down by law. ”

“ The Armed Forces Movement, as the guarantor of democratic achievements and the revolutionary process, shall participate, in alliance with the people, in the exercise of sovereignty, under the terms of the Constitution. ”

“ SECTION V The Courts CHAPTER I General principles Article 205 Jurisdiction 1. The courts are the organs with supreme authority that have the power to administer justice in the name of the people.
2. In administering justice, the courts are under a duty to safeguard the rights and interests of citizens that are legally protected, to punish breaches of democratic legality and to resolve public and private disputes.
3. In performing their functions, the courts are entitled to the assistance of other authorities. ”

“ All citizens have the right of access to public office under conditions of equality and freedom. (2) No one may be discriminated against in his or her assignment to a specific post, employment, professional career, or social benefits to which he or she has a right because of the exercise of political rights or the holding of public office. (3) With respect to access to elective office, the law establishes only such limitations as are necessary in order to secure the electors freedom of choice as well as the unbiased and independent carrying out of the functions that go with the office. ”

“ TITLE IV Agrarian Reform ARTICLE 96. (Objectives of Agrarian Reform) Agrarian reform is one of the fundamental instruments for building a socialist society, and its aims are:
(a) to promote the improvement of the economic, social and cultural situation of rural workers and small and medium-sized farmers by the transformation of landholding structures and the progressive transfer of the useful ownership of land and the means of production directly used in its exploitation to those who work it, as a first step towards the creation of new relations of production in agriculture ”

“ The only subjects for a referendum shall be those matters of national interest in respect of which the power of decision rests with the Assembly of the Republic or the Government through the approval of an international convention or the enactment of legislation. ”

“ When submitting to the President of the Republic a decree that should be promulgated as an organic law, the President of the Assembly of the Republic must, on the same day, inform the Prime Minister and the parliamentary groups of the Assembly of the Republic. ”

“ Whenever the courts refuse to apply a rule contained in a law, decree-law, regulatory decree, regional decree-law or similar, on the grounds of unconstitutionality, and once all the ordinary appeals that may be applicable have been exhausted, there shall be a free appeal, which shall be mandatory as regards the Public Prosecutor's Office and restricted to the unconstitutionality issue, to the Constitutional Commission for a definitive ruling on the specific case. ”

“ Persons who are subjected, on conviction, to a sentence or a security measure involving the deprivation of liberty remain entitled to their fundamental rights, subject to the limitations that necessarily derive from that conviction and from the requirements for its enforcement. ”

“ Citizens who are physically or mentally disabled enjoy all the rights and be subject to all the duties embodied in the Constitution, except for the exercise or performance of those for which their disablement renders them unfit. (2) The State carries out a national policy for prevention and for the treatment, rehabilitation, and integration of handicapped persons, developes a form of education to make society aware of its duties of respect for them and solidarity with them, and ensures that they enjoy their rights fully, without prejudice to the rights and duties of their parents or guardians. ”

“ The organization of the social security system shall not prejudice the existence of private non-profit institutions of social solidarity, which shall be permitted, regulated by law and subject to the supervision of the state. 4. The social security system shall protect citizens in illness, old age, invalidity, widowhood and orphanhood, as well as in unemployment and all other situations of lack or diminution of means of subsistence or capacity for work. ”

“ When performing their functions, officials in the Public Service and other personnel of the State and other public bodies shall serve exclusively the public interest, as that is defined, under the law, by the competent organs of the Public Service. ”

“ Freedom of the press implies freedom of expression and creation on the part of journalists and literary collaborators, as well as the intervention of the former in the ideological orientation of information bodies not belonging to the state or political parties, without any other sector or group of workers being able to censor or impede their free creativity. 3. Freedom of the press implies the right to found newspapers and any other publications, independently of administrative authorization, bail or prior qualifications. ”

“ No one may be compelled to pay taxes which have not been created as provided in the Constitution and whose settlement and collection are not effected in the forms laid down by law. Article 107 Taxes (1) The tax on personal income seeks to reduce inequality. It is a single progressive tax having regard to family needs and income and tries to limit incomes to a national maximum fixed by law each year. (2) Enterprises are taxed fundamentally on their real income. (3) The tax on inheritances and donations are to be progressive, so as to make for equality among citizens. ”

“ Children, particularly orphans and abandoned children, have the right to special protection by society and the state from all forms of discrimination and oppression and from the abuse of authority in the family and other institutions. ”

“ Workers have the right to set up committees for the defence of their interests and for a democratic share in the running of their enterprise. (2) The establishment of the committees is determined by general assemblies of the workers, who also approve their statutes and elect their members by direct and secret ballot. (3) Coordinating committees may be set up in such a form as to safeguard the interests of the workers for the purpose of more effective intervention in economic reorganization. (4) The members of the committees enjoy the protection afforded by law to trade union delegates. ”

“ The basis for the development of social property, which shall tend to predominate, shall be assets and units of production with useful ownership and management by worker collectives, community assets with useful ownership and management by local communities, and the cooperative sector. 2. The conditions for the development of social property are nationalization, democratic planning, management control, and the democratic power of the workers. 3. Production units managed by the State and other public legal persons shall evolve, as far as possible, into self-managed forms. ”

“ The autonomy of the regions serves the interests of democratic participation by their citizens, their economic and social development, the promotion and defence of regional interests, and the strengthening of national unity and of the bonds of solidarity among all the Portuguese. (3) The political and administrative autonomy of the regions in no way affects the State's full sovereignty and is exercised within the limits of the Constitution. ”

“ Article 98 Reshaping the Size of Very Small Farms Without affecting property rights and in accordance with the law, the State promotes reshaping the size of land exploitation units whose dimensions are smaller than what is adequate from the viewpoint of the objectives of the agricultural policy; it so promotes in particular by way of legal, tax, and credit incentives the achievement of the structural integration of units or, short of that, their economic integration, notably cooperative integration, or by way of deparceling out units. ”

“ Suffrage shall be universal, equal and secret, and shall be granted to all citizens over the age of 18, with the exception of those incapacitated by general law, and its exercise shall be personal and shall constitute a civic duty. ”

“ Trade union associations are governed by the principles of democratic organization and management, based on regular elections to their governing bodies by secret ballot. They are not subject to any authorization or recognition, their foundation being active participation by the workers in all aspects of trade union activity. (4) Trade union associations are independent of employers, the State, and religious denominations. Adequate safeguards for such independence has to be laid down by law as the foundation of the unity of the working classes. ”

“ The economic and social organization of the Portuguese Republic shall be based on the development of socialist relations of production, through the collective appropriation of the main means of production and land, as well as of natural resources, and the exercise of democratic power by the working classes. ”

“ Education contributes to overcome economic, social, and cultural imbalances, to enable citizens to participate on a democratic basis in a free society and to promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and a spirit of solidarity. (3) In the implementation of its educational policy it is a State duty to: a) Ensure compulsory and free universal basic education; b) Institute a public system of pre-school education; c) Ensure permanent education and abolish illiteracy; d) Secure to all citizens, in accordance with their ability, access to the highest levels of education. ”

“ The Council of the Revolution may declare, with generally binding force, the unconstitutionality of a rule if the Constitutional Commission has judged it unconstitutional in three specific cases or in just one case if it is organically or formally unconstitutional, without offending the cases judged. ”

“ The declaration of a state of siege or emergency in no case affects the rights to life, personal dignity and identity, civil capacity and citizenship of the person, the non-retroactive nature of criminal law, the right to defense of accused persons, and the freedom of conscience and religion. ”