the Congress of the State of Coahuila and Texas

“ The supreme powers of the state shall be divided for its exercise into legislative, executive and judicial, and neither these three powers, or any two of the same, shall ever be united in one corporation or person, nor shall the legislative be deposited in one individual alone. ”

“ On conclusion of the voting, the president, tellers and secretary shall examine the votes, and the candidate who received more than one half of the votes shall be deputy, constitutionally elected, the president declaring each election. Should no one have received the absolute majority, the two highest candidates shall be run in a second balloting. Should more than two persons have received a like respective majority, they shall all be run in the second balloting, and the same shall be done when no one has received said majority, but all an equal number of votes. ”

“ The electors present shall then immediately proceed to make choice of the deputy or deputies corresponding to the district, and they shall be elected one by one by secret scrutiny, by means of slips which each elector shall deposite in an urn placed upon a table at the foot of Crucifix, after being sworn before the same, and by the president that for deputies to the congress of the state, he will give his vote for those citizens, who in his opinion possess the qualifications of education, integrity, probity, and well known adherence to the cause of the national independence. ”

“ The administration of justice in civil and criminal cases shall exclusively belong to the tribunals and courts of justice which agreeably to the constitution should exercise the judicial power. Article 169. Neither congress, or the governor can remove cases pending from an inferior to a superior court; nor can tribunals and courts of justice themselves open those already concluded. Article 170. Every inhabitant of the state shall be judged by competent tribunals and judges, established prior to the act by which he is judged, and in no way by special commission, or retroactive law. ”

“ At no time, in no case, and to no authority shall the deputy be responsible for the opinions they manifest in the discharge of their duties. In criminal actions that should be commenced against them they shall be tried by the tribunals hereinafter mentioned, and from the day of their election until the expiration of the two years term of service, they can be accused only before congress, which shall form itself into a grand jury, for declaring whether there be a just ground of action. ”

“ All criminal actions, for light transgressions that should be punished by correctional penalties, shall be decided by executive judgment without the form or shape of trial, and from the result no appeal, or any other recourse can be interposed. ”

“ In all the towns of the state a suitable number of primary schools shall be established, wherein shall be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, the cathechism of the christian religion, a brief and simple explanation of this constitution, and that of the republic, the rights and duties of man in society, and whatever else may conduce the better education of youth. ”

“ The secretary shall be responsible with his person and office for whatever he authorizes with his signature contrary to the constitutive act, the constitution and general laws of the union, or private constitution and laws of the state, and orders of the president of the republic not manifestly opposed to said constitutions and laws, without availing him as an excuse, his having done so by order of the governor. ”

“ In a district where only one deputy is to be elected, eleven, and where two or more, twenty-one electors shall be chosen. Article 56. Doubts or controversies that arise whether any person or persons present possess the qualifications required for voting shall be decided verbally by the assembly, and the decision shall be executed without appeal for that time and purpose only, it being understood that the doubt shall not turn upon the provision of this constitution, or other laws. Should there be a tie in resolving thereon, absolutory sentence shall be given. ”

“ The state shall regulate and pay all expense that should be necessary for the preservation of religious worship, agreeably to the concordates the nation should ratify with the Apostolic See, and to the laws that shall be prescribed on the exercise of the patronato throughout the republic. Article 11. Every man who resides within the limits of the state, although but transiently, shall enjoy the imprescritible rights of liberty, security, property and equality; and it is the duty of said state to preserve and protect by wise and equitable laws, these universal rights of men. ”

“ On the 28th of December of the year preceding that of the renewal of congress, the deputies newly elected and members of the permanent deputation shall meet in public session, and the president and secretary of said deputation shall act in said assembly. Said assembly shall discuss the subject of the legality of the credentials and qualifications of the deputies, and doubts that arise in regard to these two points shall be decided by said assembly, by majority of vote, these members of the standing deputation who have not been re-elected not having a vote. ”

“ Each citizen shall vote for the respective district electors, viva voce or in writing, in the former case the voter shall call the name of those for whom he votes, in an audible voice, and should he give in his vote in writing, the secretary shall read the ticket in the same manner, and enter the same in the register, indispensably in the presence of the voter. No person shall vote for himself in this or the other electoral acts under penalty of losing the right of voting. ”

“ The formation of said corps, their organization, discipline, and internal government, shall be regulated by congress in conformity to the provision made on the subject by the general laws of the republic. Article 213. Congress shall regulate the service of said militia, so that while it is adapted to the purposes of its institution and to the best interests of the state, it may be as little onerous as possible to the citizens. ”

“ Should one person only receive the respective majority, and two or more an equal number of votes, but greater than that of all the others, congress shall elect one individual from among the former, to be run in competition for the election, with the person who received the respective majority. ”

“ In districts wherein there proves to be an excess of population of more than three thousand five hundred souls, for this fraction another elector shall be chosen, and in those whose population does not amount to seven thousand, one shall be chosen notwithstanding. The election having closed, said juntas shall forward a certified copy of their act to the vice governor of the state, and also the corresponding attested copy to each person elected, to serve him as a credential. ”

“ To be a department chief it shall be required to be a citizen in the exercise of his rights, to have attained the age of twenty-five years, to be an inhabitant of the state, with three years residence therein, and one of which immediately preceding his election. ”

“ A person who has performed the duties of said trusts cannot hold any other municipal office, or be re-elected to that which he filled, until after two years from having ceased therein. Article 164. The members of the Ayuntamientos shall be chosen by the municipal electoral meetings, which shall be holden in the same manner as the municipal meetings established for the election of deputies to congress. The former juntas shall be convoked on the first Sunday in December, and they shall meet and perform their duties on the second Sunday and day following. ”

“ The state is also obligated to protect all its inhabitants in the exercise of the right which they possess of writing, printing and freely publishing their sentiments and political opinions, without the necessity of any examination, or critical review previous to their publication, under the responsibility and restrictions that are now, or shall be hereafter established by the general laws on the subject. ”

“ Torture and compulsion shall never be used, and penalties imposed, whatever be the crimes, shall never pass to the family of him who suffers them, but they shall have their effect solely upon the person who deserved them. ”

“ For crimes of any kind whatever, committed during his term of office, the vice-governor can be accused only before congress. SECTION III. Executive Council. Article 121. For the better discharge of the duties of his office the governor shall have a body for consultation, to be styled Executive Council, which shall be composed of three voters proper, and two substitutes, of all whom one only can be an ecclesiastick. Article 122. For being a member of the council the same qualifications shall be required as for being a deputy. Those not eligible as deputies, cannot be councillors. ”

“ District electoral assemblies shall be composed of the electors chosen by the citizens in the municipal assemblies, who shall meet in the capital of the respective district to choose the deputy or deputies corresponding thereto, to meet in congress as representatives of the state. ”

“ A person who gives bail in said cases, wherein it is not expressly prohibited by law, shall not be taken to prison, and in whatever state of the cause it appears that corporal penalty cannot be imposed on the prisoner, he shall be released under bail. ”

“ The electoral district assemblies, on the same day, and in the same method they must perform the election of deputies to the state congress, shall proceed to elect the individuals who are to elect the deputies to the general congress, choosing, for every seven thousand souls, one person possessing the qualifications required by article 53 of this constitution. ”

“ None but citizens in the exercise of their rights shall vote for officers of the state in cases designated by law, and such only shall be elected to the said officers, and all others of the state. Article 25. ”

“ Towns that should not possess the population assigned, and which find it practicable being advantageously annexed to another or others, shall constitute a municipality, and the Ayuntamiento shall be established at the place most convenient in the opinion of the executive. ”

“ Should complaints arise of bribery, subornation, or force to cause the election to result in favor of particular persons, the case shall be publicly and verbally canvassed and brought to a decision. Should the accusation prove to be true, the offenders shall be deprived of a voice, active and passive. ”

“ That the citizens may more conveniently attend, each Ayuntamiento, according to the locality and population of its territory, shall determine the number of municiple assemblies to be formed within its limits, and the public places where they shall be holden, designating to each the places corresponding thereto. ”

“ In grave offences summary information of the fact shall be drawn up authoritatively, without which requisite and that of the corresponding consequent warrant that shall be notified in the accused, and a copy thereof communicated to the jailor, no person can be a prisoner. ”

“ Said public officer, also the governor, vice-governor and councillors shall cease, during their trust, to discharge the duties of any public stations they were filling, as soon as they have taken possession of office. SECTION VI. Department Police Chiefs, and Subordinate or District Chiefs. Article 145. In the capital of each department of the state there shall be an officer charged with the political administration thereof, to be styled Department Police Chief. ”

“ Those who have to declare in criminal matters upon their own actions shall do so without being under oath. Article 186. All persons may arrest a delinquent in the act, and conduct him to the presence of the judge. ”

“ The president shall also seasonably dispatch the corresponding official letter to the deputies proper and substitutes, accompanied by an attested copy of the act, to serve them as a credential of their election. Article 77. No citizens shall decline discharging from any cause or pretext, the duties mentioned in this section. SECTION III. Holding Sessions. Article 78. Congress shall meet every year and hold its sessions, at the place that shall be designated by law for that purpose. ”

“ Ecclesiastics cannot hold said office. Article 141. All laws, degrees, orders regulations and instructions circulated to the towns, or directed by the governor to a particular corporation or person, as well as copies emanating from the department shall be authorized by the secretary, and without this requisite they shall not be obeyed or be productive of faith. ”

“ Said approval, or the resolution that should be adopted by congress shall be published and circulated to the Ayuntamientos, in order that they may publish and circulate the same in their districts. TITLE V. SOLE SECTION. Civic Militia of the State. Article 211. Corps of civic militia shall be established in all the towns of the state, and the said corps shall compose the military force of the state. ”