Constituent Assembly of Portugal

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While exercising their functions, the workers of publicadministrative authorities and other personnel of the State and other public bodies exclusively serve the public interest, as it is defined, in accordance with law, by competent organs of administration. (2) The workers of public administrative authorities and other personnel of the State and other public bodies may not suffer damage or receive benefit as a result of the exercise of any political rights provided for in the Constitution, in particular because of party allegiance. ”

“ No one may be questioned by any authority about his or her convictions or religious practices, except for gathering of statistical data that cannot be identified individually, nor shall anyone be prejudiced by his or her refusal to reply. (4) The churches and religious communities are separate from the State and free to organize and exercise their own ceremonies and worship. (5) The freedom to teach any religion within its own denomination and the use of its own means of public information for the pursuit of its activities, are safeguarded. ”

“ Portugal advocates the abolition of all forms of imperialism, colonialism, and aggression, simultaneous and controlled general disarmament, the dissolution of politico-military blocs, and the setting up of a collective security system, with a view to the creation of an international order capable of safeguarding peace and justice in the relations among peoples. (3) Portugal recognizes the right of peoples to revolt against all forms of oppression, in particular colonialism and imperialism. ”

“ No one may be convicted under criminal law except by virtue of existing legislation making the action or omission punishable, and no one may be subjected to a security measure involving deprivation of freedom for reasons that do not warrant such a measure under existing legislation. ”

“ Article 2 Democratic State, Rule of Law The Portuguese Republic is a democratic State based on the rule of law, the sovereignty of the people, plurality of both democratic expression and democratic political organization as well as respect for and the safeguarding of fundamental rights and freedoms; its aim is to achieve economic, social, and cultural democracy and to push participatory democracy further. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The aims of the national defence are to ensure the national independence, the integrity of the territory, and the freedom and security of the population against any external aggression or menace, while respecting the constitutional order, the democratic institutions, and international conventions. ”

“ The persons who are convicted to a sentence or a security measure involving deprivation of freedom enjoy the fundamental rights, save the limitations that are inherent in the conviction and the requirements of its enforcement. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In its international relations, Portugal is governed by the principles of national independence, respect for human rights, the right of peoples to self-determination and independence, equality among States, the peaceful settlement of international disputes, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, and co-operation with all other peoples for the emancipation and progress of mankind. ”

“ The social security system protects citizens in sickness, old age, disability, widowhood, orphanhood, unemployment, and all other situations in which the means of subsistence or capacity to work are lost or reduced. (5) All the periods of time spent working regardless of the sectors of activity where the work was performed, are taken into account for the purposes of calculating the amount of old age and disability pensions, in accordance with the law. Article 64 Health (1) Everyone has the right to protection of his or her health and the duty to defend and foster it. ”

“ In conjunction with the mass media, cultural association and trusts, cultural and recreational groups, associations for the safeguard of the cultural heritage, neighborhood organizations and other cultural agents, the State promotes the democratization of culture by encouraging and securing access by all citizens to the fruits of culture and cultural creation. ”

“ No one may be deprived of his or her freedom, in whole or in part, except as a result of a court judgment convicting him or her to a prison sentence on account of an offense punishable by law, or as a result of judicial application of a security measure. ”

“ The Armed Forces may cooperate in the accomplishment of tasks connected with the satisfaction of basic needs and the improvement of the quality of life of the population, including situations of public calamity not justifying the suspension of the exercise of rights. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Expropriated land is handed over in accordance with the law, either for ownership or for possession, to small farmers, preferably family farming units, to cooperatives of rural workers or of small farmers, or to other forms of exploitation of the land by workers; these provisions do not affect the possibility of establishing a probation period for the purpose of judging whether the exploitation is effective and rational prior to transferring full property rights. ”

“ Everyone's right to his or her personal identity, civil capacity, citizenship, good name and reputation, image, the right to speak out, and the right to the protection of the intimacy of his or her private and family life is recognized. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Deportation of persons who have entered or are staying regularly on the national territory, who have obtained a residence permit, or who have lodged a non-refused asylum application, is decided only by a judicial authority; the law provides for expeditious forms of decisionmaking. (6) The right of asylum is secured to aliens and stateless persons who are persecuted or seriously threatened of persecution as a result of their activities on behalf ofdemocracy, social and national liberation, peace among the peoples, or individual freedom and human rights. ”

“ Where the Constitutional Court rules to the effect that a provision of a treaty is unconstitutional, that treaty is ratified only if the Assembly of the Republic approves it by a two-thirds majority of the Members present, where that majority is larger than the absolute majority of the Members entitled to vote. ”

“ Freedom of association includes the right to set up and join political associations and parties and through them to work jointly and democratically to give form to the will of the peopleand to organize political power. (2) No one may be a member of more than one political party simultaneously, or be deprived of the exercise of any right because of membership, or cessation of membership, of a lawfully constituted party. ”

“ Associations may pursue their objectives freely without interference by any public authority. They cannot be dissolved by the State and their activities may not be suspended except by judicial decision in the cases provided by law. ”

“ For the purposes of the foregoing paragraph, suitable forms of administrative decentralization and devolution are established by law, without prejudice to the efficiency and unity of action that are necessary or to take the Government's powers to direct and supervise. (3) Public associations may be formed only to meet specific needs. They do not have the functions peculiar to trade union associations and their internal organization is based on respect for the rights of their members and on the democratic formation of their organs. ”

“ To promote the people's welfare and quality of life, real equality among the Portuguese as well as the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights by way of transforming and modernizing the economic and social structures ”

“ The organic or formal unconstitutionality of international treaties that have been regularly ratified do not prevent the application of their provisions in Portuguese law as long as the provisions are applied in the law of the other party, except if the said unconstitutionality results from the violation of a fundamental principle. ”

“ Everyone has the right to education and culture. (2) The State promotes the democratization of education and other conditions so that education at school and by other methods can contribute to the development of the personality, to social progress, and to democratic participation in public life. ”

“ To create adequate conditions in order to attain actual equality between those who work in agriculture and the other workers and in order to avoid that the agricultural sector be ill-favored in the exchange relations with other sectors ”