Page:The constitution of Japan - with the laws pertaining thereto, and the imperial oath and speech. Promulgated at the Imperial palace, February 11th, 1889 (IA cu31924023459880).pdf/11

Rh —Japanese subjects are amenable to the duty of paying taxes, according to the provisions of law.

—Japanese subjects shall have the liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits of law.

—No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried, or punished, unless according to law.

—No Japanese subject shall be deprived of his right of being tried by the judges determined by law.

—Except in the cases provided for in the law, the house of no Japanese subject shall be entered or searched without his consent.

—Except in the cases mentioned in the law, the secrecy of the letters of every Japanese subject shall remain inviolate.

—The right of property of every Japanese subject shall remain inviolate.

Measures necessary to be taken for the public benefit shall be provided for by law.

—Japanese subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief.

—Japanese subjects shall within the limits of law, enjoy the liberty of speech, writing, publication, public meetings, and associations.

—Japanese subjects may present petitions, by observing the proper forms of respect, and by complying with the rules specially provided for the same.

—The provisions contained in the present Chapter shall not affect the exercise of the powers appertaining to the Emperor, in times of war or in cases of national emergency.

—Each and every one of the provisions contained in the preceding Articles of the present chapter, that are not in conflict with the laws or the rules and discipline of the Army and Navy, shall apply to the officers and men of the Army and of the Navy.

—The Imperial Diet shall consist of two Houses, a House of Peers and a House of Representatives.

—The House of Peers shall, in accordance with the Ordinance concerning the House of Peers, be composed of the members of the Imperial Family, of the orders of nobility, and of those persons who have been nominated thereto by the Emperor.

—The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members elected by the people, according to the provisions of the Law of Election.

—No one can at one and the same time be a Member of both Houses.

—Every law requires the consent of the Imperial Diet.

—Both Houses shall vote upon projects of law submitted to them by the Government, and may respectively initiate projects of law.

—A Bill, which has been rejected by either the one or the other of the two Houses, shall not be again brought in during the same session.

—Both Houses can make representations to the Government, as to laws or upon any other subject. When, however, such representations are not accepted, they cannot be made a second time during the same session.