Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/106

 Rh Resolutions in each one of the co-legislative bodies shall be taken by a plurality of votes; but in order to pass enactments of a legislative character, the presence of one-half plus one of the total number of members composing it shall be required, The presence of one-third of the members shall, however, be sufficient for deliberation.

In order that a resolution may be understood to have been passed by the insular parliament, it shall be necessary for it to have been approved both by the chamber of representatives and by the council of administration.

The colonial statutes, when approved in the manner provided in the foregoing article, shall be laid before the Governor-General by the officers of the respective chambers for his sanction and promulgation.

The members of the council of administration and those of the chamber of representatives shall be inviolable as regards their opinions and votes in the discharge of the duties of their office.

The members of the council of administration shall not be prosecuted or arrested without a previous resolution of the council, unless when they are taken in flagrante delicto or when the council is not in session; but in all cases a report shall be made to that body as speedily as possible, in order that it may reach a proper determination. The representatives shall, moreover, not be prosecuted or arrested during the sessions of the chamber without its permission, unless they are taken in flagrante delicto; but in this case, and in that of their being prosecuted or arrested when the chambers are closed, a report shall be made as speedily as possible to the chamber of representatives, for its information and decision.

The superior court of Havana shall take cognizance of criminal cases against members of the council and representatives, in such cases and in such manner as the colonial statutes provide.

The guarantees provided in the foregoing article shall not be applicable to cases in which a member of the council or a representative shall declare that he is the author of articles, books, pamphlets, or printed matter of any kind in which soldiers are incited to sedition, or in which the Governor-General is insulted or slandered, or an attack is made upon the national integrity.

The relations between the two chambers shall be regulated, until further orders, by the law concerning the relations between both colegislative bodies bearing date of July 19, 1837.

In addition to holding the colonial legislative power, it shall be the duty of the insular chambers:

(1) To administer to the Governor-General the oath that he will uphold the constitution and the laws which guarantee the autonomy of the colony.

(2) To make effective the responsibility of the governmental secretaries who, when accused by the chamber of representatives, shall be tried by the council of administration.

(3) To address the central Government through the governor-general in order to propose to it the abrogation or modification of the laws of the Kingdom which are in force, to request it to present drafts of laws concerning determinate matters, or to request it to adopt resolutions of an executive character on subjects which interest the colony.

In all cases in which, in the opinion of the governor-general, the national interests may be affected by the colonial statutes, the presentation of drafts of ministerial initiative shall be preceded by their communication to the central Government.

If the project shall be the outgrowth of parliamentary initiative, the colonial Government shall ask for the postponement of the discussion until the central Government shall have expressed its opinion.

In both cases the correspondence that has passed between the two governments shall be communicated to the chambers and shall be published in the Gazette.

Conflicts of jurisdiction between the different municipal assemblies, provincial and insular, or with the executive power, which owing to their nature shall not be referred to the central Government, shall be submitted to the courts of justice, in accordance with the provisions of this decree.

The insular chambers shall have power to legislate concerning all matters that have not been specially and determinately reserved to the Cortez of the Kingdom or the central Government, according to the present decree or to the provisions that may hereafter be adopted as provided in article 2 additional.

Consequently, the enumeration presuming no limitation of their powers, it shall be their duty to decide concerning all matters that belong to the ministries of grace and justice, government, finance and fomento, in its three divisions, public works, education, and agriculture.