Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/76

60 Section VII of Article 27 of the new constitution provides, as follows:

 "During the next constitutional term, the Congress and the state legislatures shall enact laws, within their respective jurisdictions, for the purpose of carrying out the division of large landed estates, subject to the following conditions:

"(a) In each state and territory there shall be fixed the maximum area of land which any one individual or legally organized corporation may own.

"(b) The excess of the area thus fixed shall be subdivided by the owner within the period set by the laws of the respective locality; and these subdivisions shall be offered for sale ON SUCH CONDITIONS AS THE RESPECTIVE GOVERNMENTS SHALL APPROVE, in accordance with the said laws.

"(c) If the owner shall refuse to make the subdivision, this shall be carried out by the local government by means of expropriation proceedings.

"(d) The value of the subdivisions shall be paid in annual amounts sufficient to amortize the principal and interest within a period of not less than twenty years, during which the person acquiring them may not alienate them. The rate of interest shall not exceed 5 per cent, per annum.

"(e) The owner shall be BOUND TO RECEIVE BONDS OF A SPECIAL ISSUE to guarantee the payment of the property expropriated. With this end in view, the Congress shall issue a law authorizing the states to issue bonds to meet their agrarian obligations."