at the same time nominates one of the three members to be president of the Constitutional Court. Of the remaining four, two each are taken from the ranks of the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Administrative Court.

For each member a substitute is nominated to sit when necessary and the procedure of nomination is the same as in the case of that of the original member. The members of the Constitutional Court as well as the substitute members must be persons well versed in the law, eligible for membership of the Senate, and who are neither members of parliament nor civil

servants.

The members of the Constitutional Court are nominated for a term of 10 years.

The question whether a particular law is in conflict with the Charter of the Constitution is decided by the Constitutional Court exclusively on the motion of the Supreme Court of Justice, or the Supreme Administrative Court, the Electoral Court, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate or the Diet of Russinia. A resolution to carry such a motion must be passed by a majority in the above-mentioned bodies in each case. It must be made within three years at least of the date on which the law in question was promulgated. Such an application is made under a system of procedure in which the parties participate by question and answer, and in the presence of the legislative assemblies and the government. Exact limits are fixed to the duration of the proceedings. They may not last longer than ten months. The proceedings are public and oral. Should any of the parties fail to send their representatives to the hearing, the proceeding shall not be thereby in any way prejudiced. Five votes

at least are always necessary for finding against the validity of a law.

The finding of the Constitutional Court is reported by the president of that court to the government. It is the duty of the Minister of the Interior to publish the finding within eight days and without comment in the official Code of Laws and Regulations. At the same time the finding is to be published in the official press with detailed grounds for the decision.

The publication of the finding in the official Code of Laws and Regulations has the effect of making it binding, from the date of its publication, upon the legislative bodies, the government, all public offices, and on the courts.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS

III

THE LAW OF FEBRUARY 29, 1920

WHEREBY THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC IS INTRODUCED

WE, the Czecho-Slovak nation, desiring to consolidate the perfect unity of our people, to establish the reign of justice in the Republic, to assure the peaceful development of our native Czecho-Slovak land, to contribute to the common welfare of all citizens of this State and to secure the blessings of freedom to coming generations, have in our National Assembly this 29th day of February, 1920 adopted the following Constitution for the Czecho-Slovak Republic; and in doing so we declare that it will be our endeavor to see that this Constitution together with all the laws of our land be carried out in the spirit of our history as well as in the spirit of those modern principles embodied in the idea of self-determination, for we desire to take our place in the family of nations as a member at once cultured, peaceloving, democratic and progressive.

ARTICLE I

I. Enactments which are in conflict with the Constitutional Charter or with laws which may supplement or amend it are invalid.

2. The Constitutional Charter may be altered or amended only by laws specifically designated as Constitutional Laws.

ARTICLE II

A constitutional court shall decide as to whether the laws of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and of the Diet of Carpathian Ruthenia (Russinia) conform with Article I.

ARTICLE III

1. The Constitutional Court shall consist of seven members, two of whom shall be appointed by the High Court of Administration and two by the High Court of Justice; the remaining two members and the chairman shall be nominated by the President of the Republic.

2. The appointment of representatives of the above-mentioned courts to the Constitutional Court, the tenure of office, the rules of procedure and the definition of its jurisdiction shall be established by a specific enactment.

ARTICLE IV

1. The present National Assembly shall sit until the convocation of Parliament (the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies).

2. Such laws as may have been enacted by the National Assembly but not made public in the official record by the day of the assembling of Parliament, shall not be promulgated if returned by the President of the Republic to the National Assembly.

3. Regulations of the Provisional Constitution, limiting the period of exercise of the rights of the President of the Republic (§ 11 of the Provisional

Constitution) and delimiting the duty of the Government to publish the law enacted shall remain valid as to laws enacted by the present National Assembly.

ARTICLE V

The present President shall remain in office until a new election takes place. The duties and obligations of the President, as defined in the Constitutional Charter, become effective simultaneously with the adoption of the Constitutional Charter.

ARTICLE VI

Until the election of the full number of members of Parliament, as required by the Constitutional Charter, the number of members actually elected shall determine the quorum necessary for the enactment of legislation.

ARTICLE VII

1. The provisions of Articles I, II, III (§ 1) and VI shall be an integral part of the Constitutional Charter, as set forth in § 33 of that Charter.

2. Provisions as to the execution of laws, as postulated in the Constitutional Charter, shall not form part of that Charter, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, unless the Charter provides otherwise.

ARTICLE VIII

1. The Constitutional Charter shall become valid on the day of its proclamation.

2. Paragraph 20 does not apply to members of the present National Assembly.