3S6 
State of Public Affairs hi October^ 
In obedience to the general v;lll, to declare, 
and doth now solemnly declare, in the pre¬ 
sence of the universe, these rights inaliena¬ 
ble 5 to the end, that every citben may at 
all times compare the acts of the government 
with the purposes of the social institutions; 
that the magistrate may never lose sight of 
the rules, by which his conduct must be re¬ 
gulated ; and that the legislator may in no 
case mistake the objects of the trust com¬ 
mitted to him. 
So’verelgnty of the People. 
1. The sovereignty resides in the people, 
and the exercise of it in the citizens, by the 
medium of the right of suffrage, and through 
the agency of their representatives legally 
constituted. 
2. Sovereignty Is by Us essence and nature 
imprescriptible, inalienable, and indivisible. 
3. A portion only of the citizens, even w ith 
the right of suffrage, cannot exercise the 
sovereignty ; every individual ought to par¬ 
ticipate by his vole in tlie formation of the 
body which is to represent the sovereign au¬ 
thority 5 because all have a right to express 
their will with full and entire liberty. This 
principle alone can render the constitution of 
th eir government legitimate and just. 
4. Any individual, corporate body, or city, 
which attempts to usurp the sovereignty, 
incurs the crime of treason against the 
people. 
5. The public functionaries shall hold their 
etnees for a definite period of time, and the 
investure with a public function shall not at¬ 
tach any other importance or influence than 
what they acq^uire in the opinion of their 
Jellow-citizens, by the virtues they may exer¬ 
cise whilst occupied in the service of the re¬ 
public. 
6. Crimes committed by the representatives 
and agents of the republic shall not be passed 
over with impunity j because no individual 
has a right to become more inviolable than 
another. 
7. The law shall be equal for all, to punish 
crimes, and to reward virtues without dis¬ 
tinction of birth or hereditary pretensions.' 
Rights cf Mar. in Society. 
1. The purpose of society is the common 
hsppiness of the people, and government is 
instituted to secure it. 
2. The felicity of the people consists in 
tire enjoyment of liberty, security, proper¬ 
ty,-End equality of rights, i.u the presence of 
the law. 
3. The law is formed by the free and so¬ 
lemn expressio.n of the general will, declared 
by agents v.'hora the people elect to represent 
their wdl. 
4. Tlie right to declare their thoughts and 
opinions, through the niedium or the press, 
is unrestrained and free, under responsibility 
to the law for any violation of the public 
tranquillity, tlie religious opinions, property 
and honour of the citizen. 
o, The object of the Uw is to regulate Uie 
[Nov. I. 
manner in which tlic citizens ought to act 
upon occasions, when reason requires that 
they should conduct themselves not merely 
by their individual judgment and will, bat 
by a common rule. 
6. When a citizen submits his actions to % 
law which bis 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 
against tlie general will to which he ought to 
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 where 
the latter violates social order, or swerves 
from these principles which determine that 
all shall be governed by one common 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 preserva¬ 
tion of the state, to the security and tran¬ 
quillity of society. 
8. The citizens shall be ranged in two 
classes 5 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 ot Ve¬ 
nezuela, of w’hatever nation they may be, and 
they alone constitute sovereignty. 
10. Those not entitled to the right of suff¬ 
rage are such as have no certain place of re¬ 
sidence j those without property, which is 
the support of society. This class, never¬ 
theless, enjoys the benefits o: the law, and 
its protection, in as full a measure as the 
other, but without participating in the right 
of suffrage. 
11. No individual can be accused, arrested, 
or confined, 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 withthe severity the law prescribes. 
14. The law shall protect public and in^ 
dividual liberty against oppression and t)- 
ranny, 
15. Every citizen is to be regarded as In¬ 
nocent, until he shall have been proved cul¬ 
pable. If it become necessary to secure his 
person, unnecessary rigour tor the purpose 
shah be repressed by law. 
16. No person shall be sentenced or papish- 
ed without a legal trial, in virtue of a law 
promulgated previously to the offence. Any 
law which punishes crimes committed pre¬ 
vious to its existence, is tyrannical. A re¬ 
troactive effect assumed by the law is a 
crime. 
17. The law shall not decree any punish¬ 
ment not absolutely necessary j and that shall 
be proportionate to the ciime, and useful to 
society, 
18. Security 
