Page:Niles' Weekly Register, v1.djvu/28

18 THE WEEKLY REGISTER — CARACAS ====RIGHTS OF MAN IN SOCIETY.==== 1. The purpose of society is the common happi- ness of the people, and government is instituted to secure it.

2. The felicity of the people consists in the en- joyment of liberty, security, property and equality of rights in the presence of the law.

3. The law is formed by the free and solemn ex- pression of the general will, declared by agents whom the people elect to represent their will.

4. The right to declare their thoughts and opin- ions, through the medium of the press, is unre- itraiaed and free, under responsibility to the law for any violation of the public tranquility, the re- ligious opinions, property and honor of the citizen.

5. The object of this law is to regulate the man- ner in which the citizens ought to act upon occa- sions when reason requires that they should con- duct themselves not merely by their individual judgment and will, but by a common rule.

6. When a citizen submits his actions to the law which his judgment does not approve, he does not surrender his right nor his reason, but obeys the law because he should not be influenced by his own private judgment again3t the general will to Which he ought conform. Thus the law does not exact the sacrifice of reason nor the liberty of those Who do not approve it, because it never makes an attempt upon liberty unless when the latter violates social order or swerves from those principles which determine that all shall be governed by one com- mon rule or law.

7. Every citizen cannot hold an equal power in the formation of the law, because all do not equally contribute to the preservation of the state, to tire security and tranquility of society.

8. The citizens shall be ranged in two classes — the one with the right of suffrage, the other without it.

9. Those possessing the right of suffrage, are such as are established in the territory of Venezue- la, of whatever nation they may be, and they alone constitute sovereignty.

10. Those not entitled to the right of suffrage, are such as have no certain place of residence — those without property, which is the support of society. This class, nevertheless, enjoy the bene- fits of the law, and its protection, in as full a meas- ure as the other, but without participating in the right of suffrage.

11. No individual can be accused, arrested or con- fined, unless in cases explicitly pointed out by law.

12. Every act exercised against a citizen without the formalities of the law,is arbitrary and tyrannical.

13. Any magistrate who decrees or causes an arbitrary act to be executed, shall be punished with the severity the law prescribes.

14. The law shall protect public and individual liberty against oppression and tyranny.

15. Every citizen is to be regarded as innocent, until he shall have been proved culpable. If it be- comes necessary to secure his person, unnecessary- rigor for the purpose shall be repressed by law.

16. No person shall be sentenced or punished, without a legal trial in virtue of a law promulgated previously to the offence. Any law which punishes crime committed previons to its existence, is tyran- nical. A retroactive effect assumed by the law, is a crime.

17. The law shall not decree any punishment not absolutely necessary-^and that shall be proportion- ate to the' crime, and useful to society.

18. Security consists in the protection afforded bv societv to each of its members, for the preserva- tion of his person, his rights acid his property.

19 Every individual possesses the right to aa* quire property, and to dispose of it at will, unless his will be contrary to a previous compact or to law.

20. No kind of labor, art, industry or commerce shall be prohibited to any citizen, save only such establishments as may be required for the subsis- tence of the state.

21. No one can be deprived of the least portion of his property without his consent, except when the public necessity requires it, and then under the condition of a just compensation. No contribution can be required and established, unless for the ge- neral utility. Every citizen entitled to suffrage, has the right, through the medium of his represen- tatives, to advise and consult on the establishment of contributions, to watch over their application, and to require an account of the same from those he has elected as his representatives.

22. The liberty of claiming one's right in the presence of the depositaries of the public authority, in no case can be withheld, nor confined to any par- ticular citizen.

23. The.e is individual oppression when one member of society is oppressed — there is also the oppression ot a number, when the social body is op- pressed. In these cases the laws are violated, and the citizens have a right to demand the observance of the laws.

24. The house of every citizen is an inviolable rsylum. No one has a right to enter it violently, unless in cases of conflagration, deluge or applica- tion, proceeding from the same house: or for ob- jects of criminal pioceedings in the cases, and with the essentials determined by law, and under the responsibility of the constituted authorities who have issued the decree. Domiciliary visks, and civil executions, shall tyke place openly in open day, in virtue of the law, and with respect to the per- son and object expressly pointed out in the act au- thorizing such visitation and execution.

25. Every foreigner, of whatever nation he may- be, shall be received and admitted into the state of Venezuela.

26. The persons and properties of foreigners shall enjoy the same security as the native citizens, pro- vided always, that they acknowledge the sovereign- ty and independence, and respect the catholic reli- gion, the only one in this country.

27. The foreigners who reside in the state of Caracas, becoming naturalized, and holding pro- perty, shall enjoy all the rights of citizenship.

DUTIES OF MAN IN SOCIETY.
ARTICLE FIRST. The rights of others in relation to each individ- ual, have their limit in the moral principle which determines their duties, the fulfilment whereof is the necessary effect of the respect due to the rights of each of the individuals. Their basis is these maxims: Render to others the good -which you -would they should render unto you. Do not unto another that which you do not wish to be done unto you.

2. The duties of every individual, with respect to society, are: To live in absolute submission to the laws — to obey and respect the legal acts of the constituted authorities; to maintain liberty and equality. ■ To contribute to the public expenses.— To serve the country in all its exigencies — and, if it becomes necessary, to render to it the sacrifice of property and life; in. the exercise of these virtues consist genuine patriotism.

3. Whoever does openly violence to the laws — whoever endeavors to elude them declares himself au enemy to society.