Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/632

Rh 620 CHILI Council of State. tive committee, which replaces Congress during its proro gation in the duty of observing the conduct of the execu tive. President. The executive power is committed to the president, with a salary of 3600, as supreme chief of the nation. He is chosen by indirect election, and holds office for a term of five years, after expiry of which he is not eligible for re election until other five years have elapsed The president concludes treaties, and declares peace or war ; he appoints and removes ministers, councillors, and clerks of depart ment, as well as diplomatic representatives, consuls, and the administrative officers of provinces. He also inducts the higher legal and judicial functionaries ; but the nomi nation of these officers, as well as of ecclesiastical digni taries, must proceed from the Council of State. He distributes the army and navy at will ; and when, with the sanction of the Senate, he assumes the command of the national troops in person, he has the exclusive bestowal of naval and military commissions, though ordinarily appointments of this nature must be approved by the Senate. The president is liable to impeachment for mal administration for a year after the expiry of his authority. During that time he is not allowed to leave the country, except with the permission of Congress. All the other officers of Government are subject to the same law : but in their case the time is more limited. The Council of State is composed of ministers in the exercise of their functions, a member of the courts of justice, an ecclesiastical dignitary, a general or admiral, a chief of the administration of finances, and one ex-minister or diplomatic agent, all named by the president, together with six other councillors, named one-half by the Senate and one-half by the Chamber of Deputies. The duties of the Council of State are to advise and act as a check upon the president. The government is conducted by five cabinet ministers, each with a salary of 1200. The Ministro del Interior presides over the preparation of the national statistics, over roads and railroads, public buildings, and hospitals ; the Ministro de Hacienda over the finance ; the Ministro de Justicia, Culto, e&quot; Instruccion over the law and prisons, the church, and education ; the Ministro de Guerra over the army and navy ; and the Ministro del Esterior over foreign affairs and colonization. The president has no power of enforcing obedience to orders relating to any one of these departments until they have been confirmed by the minister in charge. The ministers are entitled to take part in all the debates of Congress ; but, unless holding at the same time the office of senator or of deputy, they are not allowed to vote. Any of them may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies for treason against the laws of the state, or for the mal-administration of the duties of his office. An action may be brought against them even by private individuals who have suffered by any of their acts if the Senate, to whom appeal must in the first place be made, decide that there is sufficient ground for complaint. Local Government. Upon the executive depend directly the administrative officials throughout the country. For administrative purposes Chili is divided into fifteen pro vinces, each with subordinate departments, subdelegations, and districts, and one settlement, viz., the provinces of Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Aconcagua, Santiago, Col- chagua, Curic6, Talca, Maule, Nuble, Concepcion, Arauco, Valdivia, Llanquihue, and Chiloe, and the settlement of Magellan. The capital is Santiago, on the Mapocho. Each of the provinces is governed by an intendant, who is nominated by the president, and holds office for three years. The departments are under governors, who hold office for Executive depart ment. Local go vernment. a similar term. The intendant generally acts as governor in that department in which the capital of the province is situated, and is, at the same time, mayor of the municipal corporation ; but the authority of this body is very limited, as it cannot dispose even of its local funds without the permission of Government. The subdelegates are appointed by the governors for a period of two years, as are also the inspectors of districts. Both these offices are com pulsory, those who decline to serve being liable to fines. The united revenue of the municipal corporations of Chili amounts to about 500,000, of which about 80,000 is contributed by the State, and the remainder derived from local sources. The procedure of the Chilian courts of justice is based Judicial on the same fundamental principles as those which hold depart- among the Latin nations generally, and approximates ment - therefore to that of equity. Evidence is mostly taken by depositions in writing. The suitor appears by a sworn procurator or attorney, who must be conversant with thu technicalities of the law. In the higher courts, the aid of an advocate is further obligatory. The advocate, who combines the functions of the consulting lawyer with those of the barrister, is only admitted to practice after taking a university degree, and passing an examination by the Supreme Court. Trial by jury is unknown, except as applied in a modified form to libel cases connected with the press. The whole law of Chili is being gradually digested into codes, the civil, penal, commercial, &c. The supreme court, which sits at Santiago, takes cog nizance of criminal and civil causes alike. Its decisions are final, and also bind the Government upon questions of law submitted for the consideration of t Q bench. There are three courts of intermediate appeal, siting in Santiago, Serena, and Concepcion, which also have both criminal and civil jurisdiction, and whose decisions are final in certain cases. In each department of every province there are one or more salaried judges of letters (or judges learned in the law), who divide among them the local jurisdiction, the criminal and civil sides being, in places of importance, vested in different judges, each of whom, as a rule, sits alone. Below these, again, are the judges of subdelega tions and of districts, of whom the latter can only decide civil cases when the value at issue as below 10, and in criminal causes can arrest the criminal and prepare evidence ; while the former decides civil suits up to 40 value, hears- appeals from the district judge, and takes cognizance of minor criminal offences. In places where access to a judge of letters is difficult,, an alcalde or local police magistrate retains a limited juris diction. With a view to reduce litigation, the law expressly encourages reference to arbitration in various forms ; and the duties of public prosecutor and public advocate are performed by officials, who intervene before the higher courts and the judges of letters in all cases which involve public morality, or the interests of the State, of minors, of the incapable, of the absent, and of charitable trusts. Military and ecclesiastical offences come under the cog nizance of special tribunals, but neither ecclesiastical nor military persons are, as such, exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals in respect of offences against the law of the land. Certain special jurisdiction is reserved to the Council of State and to the revenue courts ; and under a treaty with Great Britain, guaranteeing the mutual right of search in suspected slave vessels, a mixed tri bunal decides, without appeal, as to the validity of cap ture. The clerks and secretaries of the higher courts, and the secretaries of the judges of letters, must be qualified advocates, as also the notaries public, who are charged