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56 We now declare to respect and protect the security of the rights and of the property of Our people, and to secure to them the complete enjoyment of the same, within the extent of the provisions of the present Constitution and of the law.

The Imperial Diet shall first be convoked for the 23rd year of Meiji [1890], and the time of its opening shall be the date when the present Constitution comes into force.

When in the future it may become necessary to amend any of the provisions of the present Constitution, We or Our successors shall assume the initiative right, and submit a project for the same to the Imperial Diet. The Imperial Diet shall pass its vote upon it, according to the conditions imposed by the present Constitution, and in no otherwise shall Our descendants or Our subjects be permitted to attempt any alteration thereof.

Our Ministers of State, on Our behalf, shall be held responsible for the carrying out of the present Constitution, and Our present and future subjects shall foreoverforever [sic] assume the duty of allegiance to the present Constitution.

The 11th day of the 2nd month of the 22nd year of Meiji [February 11, 1889].

[Countersigned by the Ministers.]

.—The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.

.—The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial male descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law.

.—The Emperor is sacred and inviolable.

.—The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them according to the provisions of the present Constitution.

.—The Emperor exercises the legislative power with the consent of the Imperial Diet.

.—The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be promulgated and executed.