Constitution of the Viceroyalty of Yucatan Member State of t
We, the people of Yucatan, acknowledge the Divine goodness for having allowed us to organize a government as our particular needs demand, using the right that God has granted all human societies to organize a government, this is what the sovereign Lawgiver of the Universe and the Legislators of the Universe have given to all human societies has decreed the following constitution.
Art. 1, The rights of every inhabitant of the state, whether national or foreign, are as follows:
10. Not to be imprisoned except by decree or order of a competent judge, given in writing and signed, or apprehended by proclamation of the Viceroy, except under the terms indicated in the powers of the latter. Except in the case of an offense committed in the act of very wrongdoing, especially sexual misconduct, in which case any person may apprehend him/her. The arrest may not be carried out without the express consent of the Viceroy.
20. He/she may not be detained without an express order, given and signed by the competent judge who apprehends him/her, nor may the twenty-four-hour detention be without him/her receiving his/her preparatory statement, nor for forty-eight hours without providing a reasoned order for his/her imprisonment.
30. He/she may not remain in prison or incommunicado for more than seven days without receiving his/her confession with charges, nor may he/she be held incommunicado again after the latter procedure has been carried out.
40. Not to be tried by the commission, except by the competent Court established by law.
50. Not to be tried or sentenced by established judges, nor by laws from established judges, nor by laws enacted until after the fact of the litigation or the formation of his/her cause is known. He/she then has the right to be tried and sentenced by established judges.
60. To be able to settle his/her differences through arbitrating judges.
70. He/she may not be compelled to do what he/she is not required to do by law, nor to do what he/she is prevented from doing by law, nor to practice what is provided for in the law, except in the manner and form determined by the law, nor to pay any tax not decreed by the legislature.
80. He/she may not be prevented from doing what the laws do not forbid him/her to do.
90. He/she can print and circulate his/her ideas without censorship, but he/she will subject himself/herself to the abuses that he/she commits to the penalties of the law.
100. To acquire real estate, rural or urban, and to engage in any branch of industry with his/her correspondence or papers by order of a competent judge and with the requirements established by law.
Art. 2, To ask freely and moderately for the observance of the constitution and laws. The judges of the first instance shall protect in the enjoyment of the rights guaranteed by the preceding Article, those who ask for their protection against any officials who do not belong to the judicial order, deciding briefly and summarily the questions that arise on the matters indicated.
Art. 3, In the case of offenses committed by judges against the rights as mentioned earlier, their respective superiors shall take of them with the same preference as has been mentioned in the preceding Article; they shall immediately remedy the wrong that is claimed against them and shall immediately prosecute the offenders and violators of the guarantees as mentioned earlier.
Art. 4, The public power of the state is divided for its exercise into legislative, executive, and judicial, and the three may never be joined together, nor two of them in a single corporation or person.
Art. 5, The legislative power is vested in two powers, one of Citizens and one of Nobles with each department and each district of each department also having the same legislative structure as the federal level with the exception of the executive branch.
Art. 6, The House of Commons shall be composed of at most twelve Citizens appointed to this office by the highest-ranking Noble that represents their department out of the five departments. Citizens nominated for this office shall represent a percentage of the Citizenry they represent with each department having a proportional representation of Citizens serving in the House of Commons. They shall serve 5-year terms with a maximum of 10 years before being replaced.
Art. 7, The following may not be in this House: judicial authorities, the secretaries of the office, the prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Justice, the employees of the treasury, war, and other government appointees.
Art. 8, This House shall be composed of three nobles for each department: Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Orange Walk, and Corozal, as appointed by the Viceroy. There are no terms for this office.
Art. 9, All included in Article 7, cannot be in the House of Nobles.
Art. 10, The regulations to be issued for the internal government of the Houses shall determine the days and hours of their sessions and the manner and form in which they shall be held. They are to deal with the matters within the competence of both Houses, as well as the economic matters which correspond to each of them.
Art. 11, The initiative of the laws and decrees for all kinds of business, belongs to each of the Citizens and Nobles in their respective chambers, the Supreme Court of Justice is only to correct the vices of the state Court of Justice to correct the wrongs of the civil legislation and criminal law or to improve that of judicial proceedings.
Art. 12, Citizens and Nobles of the Houses, at no time or in no case, may they be or in any case, may they be reprimanded for their opinions expressed in the exercise of their office.
Art. 13, For a vote on any law or decree, two-thirds of the members of each House must be present.
Art. 14, As a general rule, all votes shall be decided by an absolute majority of votes. The bills or decrees approved by both Houses shall be sent to the Viceroy, and if the latter approves them, publish and circulate them for their due compliance. But suppose within ten working days of receiving them, the Viceroy returns them with critical observations. Then they shall be examined again by the two co-legislating corporations. If they do not reproduce them by a vote of three-fifths of their members present, reproduced in the form indicated, they shall not be published as laws or decrees.
Art. 15, In addition, the Emperor can overturn laws that are contrary to the literal text of the Empire’s constitution. If the decision made by the Emperor is in dispute with the Viceroy it shall be determined by a majority vote of the three other members of the Supreme Court of the Viceroyalty of Yucatan, but if the Emperor is not satisfied with the decision it can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the Confederated Empire where the final decision shall be made.
Art. 16, If the government should propose any reform in the observations referred to in Article 14, the Houses should adopt it by a vote of two-thirds of the members of each House present with approval from the Viceroy. It can reproduce the law or decree, however, it cannot have any variation other than that expressed and in the same terms as proposed by the government.
Art. 17, The legislative power:
10. To dictate the laws to which the public administration must conform in every one of its branches and those relating to the civil and political rights of the state’s inhabitants.
20. To impose taxes and to decree their investment.
30. To grant general amnesty in cases where public convenience may require it.
40. To grant pardons, remission, or commutation of legal penalties when the greater good and convenience of the state so require.
50. To decree the protection that the government should dispense to the worship of the religion of the state and the intervention that it should exercise in the appointment of its ministers.
60. To recognize the public debt and decree the manner and means of amortizing it.
70. To authorize the government to contract debts on the credit of the state and to designate guarantees to cover them.
80. To decree the force to be provided from sea and land and arrange it in the manner convenient to the service it is to render.
90. To open ports and close them.
100. To grant privileges and exclusive rights.
110. To extend its ordinary sessions for thirty working days at most without the executive returning to it with critical observations of the decrees.
Art. 18, The councilors, secretaries of the office, and ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice may be impeached for infractions of the law committed by them in the exercise of their respective functions; but for this purpose, they must be accused before the House of Commons, and if the latter declares that there is cause for the formation of a case against them, it shall send the respective file to the House of Nobles, so that, having completed the investigation expertly, and with the hearing of the accused and the accuser or accusers, if any, to acquit or convict, without being able to impose in these trials any penalty other than the deprivation of office or employment, and the temporary or perpetual disqualification to obtain any other. But when in the judgment of the aforementioned House of Nobles the accused is deserving of more significant penalties, it shall pass the process to the respective judge of the first instance so that he/she may proceed under the law.
Art. 19. The officials referred to in Article 18 may only be tried for the common crimes they commit, preceded by the declaration made by any of the chambers that a case has been made and that there is cause for the formation of a case. Citizens and Nobles serving in the Houses may be tried for the aforementioned offenses, the aforementioned crimes, the aforesaid declaration all shall be made by the House of Nobles, if it is a question of proceeding criminally, the former, and if against, by the House of Commons.
Art. 20, Once it has been declared that it is necessary to proceed criminally against the public officials mentioned in the preceding Article, the case file shall be submitted to the House of Nobles, and the file on the matter shall be passed to the Supreme Court of Justice so that they may judge them in accordance with the laws.
Art. 21, The executive power of the state shall be vested in the Viceroy. The person in charge of this office shall be appointed by the previous Viceroy by the line of descent or by appointment of the Viceroy. Still, the Viceroy is ranked below the Emperor.
Art. 22, It shall be the duty of the Viceroy:
10. To sanction, publish, circulate and enforce the laws and decrees passed by the Houses, as determined by law.
20. To request from all the offices and employees the news and reports that he/she may need to perform his/her duties.
30. To issue the appropriate orders so that at times determined by law, the laws and decrees may be carried out.
40. To freely appoint and remove the secretaries of the office and the employees of their offices.
50. To appoint permanent army and navy officers.
60. To issue regulations and orders for the better enforcement of the constitution and laws.
70. To take care of public health, dictating the measures for their conservation.
80. Effectively stir up the zeal of the Courts for the most expeditious administration of Justice, informing the Supreme Court of the faults committed by the lower Courts.
90. To request the Houses to summon the chambers to extraordinary sessions and the same the prorogation of the ordinary sessions.
100. To require the Houses to give its opinion in writing on the matters of administration that it proposes to him/her to ensure the correctness of his/her determinations.
110. To preside without a vote over the Houses, when he/she attends it for any consultation, but he/she shall not be present at the time of the resolutions to be taken by it on the business that prompts his/her attendance.
120. To dispose of the land and sea forces for internal and external security.
130. To arrest those who are suspicious of him/her, when the good or the security of the state; having to place them at the disposal of the competent Court within three days at the latest.
140. To initiate the laws and decrees that he/she deems convenient for the good or prosperity of the state.
150. To exercise exclusive power in the appointment of judges with majority approval by the House of Nobles.
160. To grant retirements, leaves of absence, and pensions to the military, per the laws.
170. To intervene in the provision of ecclesiastical benefices or ministries in the manner and form established by law.
Art. 22, He/she may not:
10. Impose contributions of any kind.
20. Impede the installation of the legislature.
30. Interfere in the examination of pending judicial cases, nor, during the trial, dispose of the persons of the defendants, nor dispose of, during the trial, of the persons of the accused.
Art. 23, There shall be an advisory council of the Viceroy composed of nine members, three appointed by the Viceroy, three appointed by the House of Nobles, and three appointed by the House of Commons. The first member appointed by the chambers shall preside in the Viceroy’s absence, the second in their absence, and the third in their absence.
Art. 24, For the dispatch of the business of the executive, secretaries as may be decreed by the legislature. These shall be responsible for the dispositions they authorize in violation of the Constitution and the laws, for the lack of compliance with those they should approve, and the lack of compliance with those that should have it by their respective ministry.
Art. 25, The judicial power shall reside in the Supreme Court of Justice and the lower Courts of law.
Art. 26, The Supreme Court of Justice shall be composed of the nine members of the Viceroy’s advisory council. Any vacancy that occurs will be filled by an additional three individuals as chosen by Article 23 as their rank describes.
Art. 27: It corresponds to the Court:
10. To protect in the enjoyment of their rights for those who ask for its protection against laws and decrees of the legislature that are contrary to the literal text of the constitution, or against the providences of the Viceroy or the Emperor. The law is not to be applied in the case of the fundamental code in the expressed terms, limiting itself in both instances to repairing the offense in the part in which an individual would have violated the constitution.
20. To initiate laws and decrees to improve civil and penal legislation and judicial procedures.
30. To appoint their respective subordinates and dependents, as well as judges and advisors, per the provisions of the laws.
Art. 28, It is likewise incumbent upon this Court, judging each of its members in particular, and dividing the cases that occur, to hear in the first, second, and third instance and to hear appeals for annulment, when there is no room for the latter.
Art. 29, It is also incumbent upon this Court, other matters not designated by the Supreme Court of Justice and other matters not designated in the law, as well as the respective appeals for annulment, following what is or will be provided by law. Courts of the first instance in ordinary matters and particular matters shall be judges of the first instance for common, civil, and criminal matters.
Art. 30, Purely military offenses, and those committed in the field shall be tried by Court martials following what the laws provide.
Art. 31, There shall be a superior political chief and a subaltern in each department. The law shall determine the qualities of these officials and their respective powers.
Art. 32, There shall be only one jurisdiction for common, civil, or criminal matters. No fearful coercive means may be used, nor may the ecclesiastical authorities apply penalties of this kind.
Art. 33, In the administration of Justice, the judges shall make their rulings in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, disregarding the provisions against the literal text of this Constitution and the laws or decrees of Congress that are contradictory to the literal text of this Constitution.
Art. 34, The rulings of the judges shall be punctually obeyed and executed under the responsibility and penalties established by law.
Art. 35, Authority not conferred by this constitution, nor by the legislature, nor by the laws on other public officials, is understood to be denied to them.
Art. 36, Every inhabitant of the state is obliged to keep and comply with the laws under the penalties established in the laws.
Art. 37, No one may be persecuted because of his/her religious opinions, and both those who come to settle in the country and their descendants onward shall be guaranteed the exercise and privacy of their respective religions in the country.
Art. 38, All government officials are required to use their middle names as last names with their first name as an initial in governmental matters.
Art. 39, The Viceroyalty of Yucatan has the right to peacefully leave the Confederated Empire if it so chooses by a referendum by at least 60% of the citizenry.
Art. 40, After the publication of the present Constitution, the constitution may be reformed, modified, or added to, observing that the legislative decree the necessity of reforming particular Articles, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present in both Houses, as must be composed to form laws. But still limiting itself to the Articles the previous government has declared worthy of modification or repeal.
