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The Constitution of the Italian Republic
Gazzetta Ufficiale 27 dicembre 1947, n. 298)
THE PROVISIONAL HEAD OF THE STATE
by virtue of the Constituent Assembly, which in the session of 22 December 1947 approved the Constitution of the Italian Republic;
by virtue of the XVIII Final Provision of the Constitution;
promulgates
the Constitution of the Italian Republic in the following text:
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Art. 1
Italy is a Democratic Republic, founded on work.
Sovereignty belongs to the people, which exercises it in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution.
Art. 2
The Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of man, as an individual, and in the social groups where he expresses his personality, and demands the fulfilment of the intransgressible duties of political, economic, and social solidarity.
Art. 3
All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of ***, race, language, religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions.
It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic and social nature which, really limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, impede the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organization of the country.
Art. 4
The Republic recognizes the right of all citizens to work and promotes those conditions which will make this right effective.
Every citizen has the duty, according to his possibilities and individual choice, to carry out an activity or a function which contributes to the material or spiritual progress of society.
Art. 5
The Republic, one and indivisible, recognizes and promotes local autonomies; implements in those services which depend on the State the fullest measure of administrative decentralization; accords the principles and methods of its legislation to the requirements of autonomy and decentralization.
Art. 6
The Republic safeguards by means of appropriate measures linguistic minorities.
Art. 7
The State and the Catholic Church are, each within its own order, independent and sovereign.
Their relations are regulated by the Lateran Treaties. Changes to the Treaties accepted by both parties do not require the procedure for constitutional amendment.
Art. 8
All religious confessions are equally free before the law.
Religious confessions other than Catholic have the right to organize in accordance with their own statutes, in so far as they are not in conflict with Italian laws.
Their relations with the State are regulated by law on the basis of an accord between the respective representatives.
Art. 9
The Republic promotes the development of culture and scientific and technical research.
It safeguards landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation.
Art. 10
Italian laws conform to the generally recognized tenets of international law.
The legal status of foreigners is regulated by law in conformity with international provisions and treaties.
The foreigner who is denied in his own country the real exercise of the democratic liberties guaranteed by the Italian Constitution has the right of asylum in the territory of the Republic, in accordance with the conditions established by law.
The extradition of a foreigner for political offences is not admitted.
Art. 11
ltaly rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedoms of others peoples and as a means for settling international controversies; it agrees, on conditions of equality with other states , to the limitations of sovereignty necessary for an order that ensures peace and justice among Nations; it promotes and encourages international organizations having such ends in view.
Art. 12
The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white and red, in three vertical bands of equal dimensions.
part I
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS
title I
CIVIL RIGHTS
Art. 13
Personal liberty is inviolable.
No form of detention, inspection or personal search is admitted, nor any other restrictions on personal freedom except by warrant which states the reasons from a judicial authority and only in cases and manner provided for by law.
In exceptional cases of necessity and urgency, strictly defined by law, the police authorities may adopt temporary measures which must be communicated within forty-eight hours to the judicial authorities and if they are not ratified by them in the next forty-eight hours, are thereby revoked and become null and void.
All acts of physical or moral violence against individuals subjected in any way to limitations of freedom are punished.
The law establishes the maximum period of preventative detention.
Art. 14
The home is inviolable.
Inspections or searches or seizures may not be carried out except in cases and manner prescribed by law in accordance with the guarantees prescribed for safeguarding personal freedom.
Controls and inspections for reasons of public health and safety or for economic and fiscal purposes are regulated by special laws.
Art. 15
The freedom and secrecy of correspondence and of every other form of communication is inviolable.
Restriction thereto may be imposed only by warrant which gives the reasons issued by a judicial authority with the guarantees established by law.
Art. 16
All citizens may travel or sojourn freely in any part of the national territory, except for general limitations which the law establishes for reasons of health and safety. No restrictions may be made for political reasons.
All citizens are free to leave and reenter the territory of the Republic, provided the legal obligations are fulfilled.
Art. 17
Citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and unarmed.
No previous notice is required for meetings, even when in places open to the public.
For meetings in public places previous notice must be given to the authorities, who may forbid them only for proven motives of security and public safety.
Art. 18
Citizens have the right to form associations freely, without authorization, for ends which are not forbidden to individuals by criminal law.
Secret associations and those which pursue, even indirectly, political ends by means of organizations of a military character, are forbidden.
Art. 19
All have the right to profess freely their own religious faith in whatever form, individual or associate, to propagate it and to exercise it in private or public cult, provided that the rites are not contrary to morality.
Art. 20
The ecclesiastical nature and the purpose of religion or worship of an association or institution may not be a cause for special limitations in law, nor for special fiscal impositions in its setting up, legal capacity and any of its activities.
Art. 21
All have the right to express freely their own thought by word, in writing and by all other means of communication.
The press cannot be subjected to authorization or censorship.
Seizure is permitted only by a detailed warrant from the judicial authority in the case of offences for which the law governing the press expressly authorizes, or in the case of violation of the provisions prescribed by law for the disclosure of the responsible parties.
In such cases, when there is absolute urgency and when the timely intervention of the judicial authority is not possible, periodical publications may be seized by officers of the criminal police, who must immediately, and never after more than twenty-four hours, report the matter to the judicial authority. If the latter does not ratify the act in the twenty-four hours following, the seizure is understood to be withdrawn and null and void.
The law may establish, by means of general provisions, that the financial sources of the periodical press be disclosed.
Printed publications, shows and other displays contrary to morality are forbidden. The law establishes appropriate means for preventing and suppressing all violations.
Art. 22
No one may be deprived, for political reasons, of legal status, citizenship, name.
Art. 23
No services of a personal or a capital nature may be imposed except on the basis of law.
Art. 24
Everyone can take judicial action to protect individual rights and legitimate interests.
The right to defence is inviolable at every stage and moment of the proceedings.
The indigent are assured, through appropriate institutions, the means for action and defence before all levels of jurisdiction.
The law determines the conditions and the means for the reparation for judicial errors.
Art. 25
No one may be moved from the normal judge preestablished by law.
No one may be punished except on the basis of a law already in force before the offence was committed.
No one may be subjected to security measures except in those cases provided for by law.
Art. 26
Extradition of a citizen is permitted only in cases expressly provided for in international conventions.
In no case may it be permitted for political offences.
Art. 27
Criminal responsibility is personal.
The defendant is not considered guilty until final judgment is passed.
Punishment cannot consist in treatment contrary to human dignity and must aim at rehabilitating the condemned.
The death penalty is not permitted, except in cases provided for in martial law.
Art. 28
Officials and employees of the State and public entities are directly responsible, according to criminal, civil and administrative laws, for acts committed in violation of rights. In such cases the civil responsibility extends to the State and the public entities.
title II
ETHICAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS
Art. 29
The Republic recognizes the rights of the family as a natural society founded on matrimony.
Matrimony is ****d on the moral and legal equality of the spouses within the limits laid down by law to guarantee the unity of the family.
Art. 30
It is the duty and right of parents to support, instruct and educate their children, even those born outside of matrimony.
In cases of the incapacity of the parents, the law provides for the fulfilment of their duties.
The law ensures to children born outside of marriage full legal and social protection, compatible with the rights of members of the legitimate family.
The law lays down the rules and limitations for ascertaining paternity.
Art. 31
The Republic assists through economic measures and other provisions the formation of the family and the fulfilment of its duties, with particular consideration for large families.
It protects maternity, infancy and youth, promoting the institutions necessary thereto.
Art. 32
The Republic safeguards health as a fundamental right of the individual and as a collective interest, and guarantees free medical care to the indigent.
No one may be obliged to undergo particular health treatment except under the provisions of the law. The law cannot under any circumstances violate the limits imposed by respect for the human person.
Art. 33
Art and science are free and teaching them is free.
The Republic lays down general rules for education and establishes State schools for all kinds and grades.
Entities and private persons have the right to establish schools and institutions of education, without impositions for the State.
The law, in fixing the rights and obligations on non-state schools which request parity, must ensure to these schools full liberty and to their pupils scholastic treatment equal to that of pupils in State schools.
State examinations are prescribed for admission to the various kinds and grades of schools or at their termination and for qualifications to exercise a profession.
Institutions of higher learning, universities and academies, have the right to establish their own regulations within the limits laid down by the laws of the State.
Art. 34
Schools are open to everyone.
Elementary education, imparted for at least eight years, is compulsory and free.
Capable and deserving pupils, even without financial resources, have the right to attain the highest levels of education.
The Republic makes this right effective through scholarships, payments to families and other provisions, which must be assigned through competitive examination.
title III
ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Art. 35
The Republic protects work in all its forms and applications.
It provides for the training and professional improvement of workers.
It promotes and encourages international agreements and organizations whose aim is to assert and regulate labour rights.
It recognizes the freedom to emigrate, safeguarding obligations established by law in the general interest, and protects Italian labour abroad.
Art. 36
Workers have the right to wages in proportion to the quantity and quality of their work and in all cases sufficient to ensure them and their families a free and dignified existence.
The maximum working day is fixed by law.
Workers have a right to a weekly rest day and paid annual holidays. They cannot waive this right.
Art. 37
Working women have the same rights and, for equal work, the same wages as working men. Working conditions must allow women to carry out their essential role in the family and ensure special appropriate protection for the mother and the child.
The law establishes the minimum age for paid labour.
The Republic protects the work of minors by means of special provisions and guarantees them, for equal work, the right to equal pay.
Art. 38
Every citizen unable to work and without the resources necessary to live has a right to social maintenance and assistance.
Workers have the right to be provided with and assured adequate means for their needs and necessities in cases of accidents, illness, disability and old age, and involuntary unemployment.
Disabled and handicapped persons have the right to education and vocational training.
The duties laid down in this Article are provided for by organs and institutions established by or supplemented by the State.
Private assistance is free.
Art. 39
Trade union organization is free.
No obligations can be imposed on trade unions other than registration at local or central offices, according to the provisions of the law.
A condition for registration is that the statutes of the trade union confirm the democratic basis of the internal organization.
Registered trade unions are legal persons. They may, through a representative unit proportional to their members, enter into collective labour agreements having mandatory effect for all persons belonging to the categories referred to in the agreement.
Art. 40
The right to industrial action is exercised within the laws which regulate it.
Art. 41
Private economic initiative is free.
It cannot be conducted in conflict with public weal or in such manner that could damage safety, liberty, and human dignity.
The law determines appropriate planning and controls so that public and private economic activity is given direction and coordinated to social objectives.
Art. 42
Property is public or private. Economic goods belong to the State, to entities or to private persons. Private property is recognized and guaranteed by law, which prescribes the ways it is acquired, enjoyed and its limits in order to ensure its social function and to make it accessible to all.
Private property can, in such cases provided for by law and with provisions for compensation, be expropriated for reasons of the public weal.
The law establishes the regulations and limits of legitimate and testamentary inheritance and the rights of the State in questions of inheritance.
Art. 43
For purposes of general utility the law can reserve from the beginning or transfer, by means of expropriation and payment of compensation, to the State, to public entities or to workers communities or users, specific enterprises or categories of enterprises which relate to essential public services or sources of energy or monopolistic situations and which have the nature of primary general interest.
Art. 44
For the purpose of securing a rational exploitation of the soil and to establish equity in social relationships, the law imposes obligations and constraints on private ownership of land, fixes limitations to the extension thereof according to region and agricultural zone, encourages and imposes land reclamation, the transformation of large estates and the reorganization of productive units, assists small and medium-sized holdings.
The law makes provisions in favour of mountainous areas.
Art. 45
The Republic recognizes the social function of cooperation of a mutualistic nature and without purposes of private speculation. The law promotes and encourages them through the appropriate means and secures, through appropriate controls, their character and purposes.
The law provides measures for safeguarding and promoting handicrafts.
Art. 46
With the objective of economic improvements and the social betterment of labour and in harmony with the needs of production, the Republic recognizes the rights of workers to collaborate, in the ways and within the limits established by law, in the management of enterprises.
Art. 47
The Republic encourages and safeguards savings in all forms; it disciplines, coordinates and controls the exercise of credit.
It promotes the access of popular savings to the ownership of housing, to directly cultivated property and indirect investment in the shares of the large production complexes of the country.
title IV
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Art. 48
All citizens, male and female, who have attained their majority, are electors.
The vote is personal and equal, free and secret. The exercise thereof is a civic duty.
An Act of Parliament shall establish the conditions and the procedures under which Italian nationals resident abroad may exercise their right to vote in Italian elections, and shall guarantee its effectiveness. For this purpose a 'Foreign Constituency' shall be created to which Members to both Houses of Parliament shall be elected. The number of seats shall be established by a constitutional law and comply with the criteria enacted by Act of Parliament.
The right to vote cannot be restricted except for civil incapacity or as a consequence of an irrevocable penal sentence or in cases of moral unworthiness as laid down by law.
Art. 49
All citizens have the right to freely associate in parties to contribute through democratic processes to determining national policies.
Art. 50
Al1 citizens may present petitions to both Houses to request legislative measures or to express collective needs.
Art. 51
All citizens of either *** are eligible for public office and for elected positions on equal terms, according to the conditions established by law.
The law may grant Italians who are not resident in the Republic the same rights as citizens for the purposes of access to public offices and elected positions.
Whoever is called to perform an elected public office has the right to have the needful time to carry out that function and to conserve his place of work.
Art. 52
The defence of the Fatherland is a sacred duty for every citizen.
Military service is obligatory within the limits and the ways set by law. Fulfilment thereof shall not prejudice a citizen's employment, nor the exercise of political rights.
The regulations of the armed forces are ****d on the democratic spirit of the Republic.
Art. 53
Everyone shall contribute to public expenditure in accordance with his means.
The system of taxation shall be ****d on criteria of progression.
Art. 54
All citizens have the duty to be loyal to the Republic and to uphold its Constitution and laws.
Those citizens to whom public functions are entrusted have the duty to fulfil such functions with discipline and honour, taking an oath in those cases established by law.
PART II
ORGANISATION OF THE REPUBLIC
TITLE I
PARLIAMENT
SECTION I
The Houses
Art. 55
Parliament consists of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.
Parliament meets in joint session of the members of both Houses only in those cases established in the Constitution.
Art. 56
The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal and direct suffrage.
The number of Deputies is six hundred and thirty.
All those voters who on the day of elections have attained the age of twenty-five are eligible to be deputies.
The division of seats among the electoral districts is obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants of the Republic, as shown by the latest general census of the population, by six hundred and thirty and distributing the seats in proportion to the population in every electoral district, on the basis of whole shares and the highest remainders.
Art. 57
The Senate of the Republic is elected on a regional basis.
The number of Senators to be elected is three hundred and fifteen.
No region may have fewer than seven senators; Molise shall have two, Valle d'Aosta one.
The division of seats among the regions, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Article, is made in proportion to the population of the regions as revealed in the most recent general census, on the basis of whole shares and the highest remainders.
Art. 58
Senators are elected by universal and direct suffrage by the electors who have completed their twenty-fifth year of age.
Electors who have completed their fortieth year are eligible to be senators.
Art. 59
Anyone who has been President of the Republic is a senator by right and for life unless he renounces the nomination.
The President of the Republic may nominate senators for life five citizens who have brought honour to the Fatherland through their outstanding achievements in social, scientific, artistic and literary fields.
Art 60
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic are elected for five years.
The term for each house cannot be extended except by law and only in cases of war.
Art. 61
Elections for the new Houses will take place within seventy days of the end of the term of the previous Houses. The first meeting will take place not later than twenty days after the elections.
Until such time as the new Houses meet the powers of the previous Houses are extended.
Art. 62
The Houses shall convene by right on the first working day of February and October.
Each House may be convened in extraordinary session on the initiative of its President or of the President of the Republic or by a third of its members.
When one House is convened in extraordinary session, the other House is convened by right.
Art. 63
Each House shall elect from among its members its president and the Office of the President.
When Parliament meets in joint session, the President and the presiding officers are those of the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 64
Each House adopts its own rules by absolute majority of its members.
The sittings are public; however, each of the Houses and Parliament in joint session of both Houses may decide to meet in secret session.
The decisions of each House and of Parliament are not valid if the majority of the members is not present, and if they are not passed by a majority of those present, unless the Constitution prescribes a special majority.
Members of the government, even when not members of the Houses, have the right, and when requested the obligation, to attend sittings. They shall be heard every time they so request.
Art. 65
The law determines cases of non-eligibility and incompatibility with the office of deputy or senator.
No one may be a member of both Houses at the same time.
Art. 66
Each House decides the qualifications for admission of its members and subsequent causes of ineligibility and incompatibility.
Art. 67
Each member of Parliament represents the Nation and carries out his duties without constraint of mandate.
Art. 68
Members of Parliament may not be required to give account of any opinions expressed or votes cast in the exercise of their functions.
Without authorization from the House to which they belong, no member of Parliament may be subjected to a personal search or have their domicile searched, neither may they be arrested or otherwise deprived of personal freedom, or kept in detention, except to enforce a final conviction, or if caught in the act of committing a crime for which arrest is mandatory.
Similar authorization is also required before members of Parliament may have their conversations or communications intercepted, or their mail impounded.
Art. 69
Members of Parliament shall receive a compensation established by law.
SECTION II
The Drafting of Laws
Art. 70
The legislative function is exercised collectively by both Houses.
Art. 71
Legislation is initiated by the government, by each member of the houses and by those organs and bodies so empowered by constitutional law.
The people may initiate legislation by way of a proposal, by at least fifty-thousand electors, of a draft of law drawn up in articles.
Art. 72
Every draft of law submitted to one of the houses is, in accordance with its rules, examined by a committee and then by the house itself, which approves it article by article and with a final vote.
The rules establish shortened procedures for draft legislation that has been declared urgent.
They may also establish in what cases and in what manner the examination and approval of bills is deferred to committees, including standing committees, composed so as to reflect the proportion of the parliamentary groups. Even in such cases, until the moment of its final approval, the bill may be submitted to the house, if the government or one-tenth of the members of the house or one-fifth of the committee request that it be debated and voted on by the house itself or that it be submitted to the house for final approval by means of a call for votes only. The rules establish the ways in which the workings of committees are made public.
The regular procedure for examination and approval directly by the house is always followed for bills on constitutional and electoral matters and for those delegating legislature, the authorization and ratification of international treaties, the approval of budgets and expenditure accounts.
Art. 73
Laws are promulgated by the President of the Republic within one month of their approval.
If the houses, each by the absolute majority of its members, declare its urgency, a bill is promulgated in the time established by the bill itself.
Laws are published immediately after promulgation and come into force on the fifteenth day following publication, unless the laws themselves establish a different time.
Art. 74
The President of the Republic, before promulgating a law, may request of the houses in a message outlining his motives a new debate.
If the houses once more pass the bill, it must be promulgated.
Art. 75
A popular referendum shall be held to abrogate, totally or partially, a law or an act having the force of law, when requested by five hundred thousand electors or five regional councils.
A referendum is not permitted in the case of tax, budget, amnesty and pardon laws, in authorization or ratification of international treaties.
All citizens eligible to vote for the Chamber of deputies have the right to participate in referendums.
The proposal subjected to referendum is approved if the majority of those with voting rights have voted and a majority of votes validly cast has been reached.
The law establishes the procedures for conducting a referendum.
Art. 76
The exercise of the legislative function may not be delegated to the government if the principles and guiding criteria have not been established and then only for a limited time and for specified ends.
Art. 77
The government may not, without delegation from the houses, issue decrees having the force of ordinary law.
When in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency the government adopts provisional measures having the force of law it must on the same day present them for conversion into law to the houses which, even if dissolved, shall be especially summoned and shall assemble within five days.
The decrees lose effect from their inception if they are not converted into law within sixty days from their publication. The houses can however regulate through laws legal issues arising out of decrees not converted.
Art. 78
The houses decide on states of war and confer the necessary powers on parliament.
Art. 79
Amnesties and indults are granted by act of parliament requiring a two-thirds majority of the members of each House, voting on each single article and on the statute as a whole.
The Act granting the amnesty or the indult shall also indicate the deadlines for their application.
In every instance, amnesties and indults may never apply to any crimes committed after the date on which the Bill is tabled before the House.
Art. 80
The houses authorize through laws the ratification of international treaties which are of a political nature, or which call for arbitration or legal settlements, or which entail changes to national territory or financial burdens or changes in the laws.
Art. 81
The houses approve every year the budgets and expenditure accounts submitted by the government.
Provisional use of the budget cannot be conceded unless by law and for periods not exceeding a total four months.
With the law approving the budget it is not possible to introduce new taxes and new expenditures.
Any other law involving new or increased expenditures must specify the means for meeting them.
Art. 82
Each house may set up inquiries on matters of public interest.
For such purposes it nominates from its members a committee so composed as to reflect the proportions of the various groups. The committee of inquiry conducts its investigations and examinations with the same powers and the same limitations as a judicial inquiry.
Gazzetta Ufficiale 27 dicembre 1947, n. 298)
THE PROVISIONAL HEAD OF THE STATE
by virtue of the Constituent Assembly, which in the session of 22 December 1947 approved the Constitution of the Italian Republic;
by virtue of the XVIII Final Provision of the Constitution;
promulgates
the Constitution of the Italian Republic in the following text:
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Art. 1
Italy is a Democratic Republic, founded on work.
Sovereignty belongs to the people, which exercises it in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution.
Art. 2
The Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of man, as an individual, and in the social groups where he expresses his personality, and demands the fulfilment of the intransgressible duties of political, economic, and social solidarity.
Art. 3
All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of ***, race, language, religion, political opinions, personal and social conditions.
It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic and social nature which, really limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, impede the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organization of the country.
Art. 4
The Republic recognizes the right of all citizens to work and promotes those conditions which will make this right effective.
Every citizen has the duty, according to his possibilities and individual choice, to carry out an activity or a function which contributes to the material or spiritual progress of society.
Art. 5
The Republic, one and indivisible, recognizes and promotes local autonomies; implements in those services which depend on the State the fullest measure of administrative decentralization; accords the principles and methods of its legislation to the requirements of autonomy and decentralization.
Art. 6
The Republic safeguards by means of appropriate measures linguistic minorities.
Art. 7
The State and the Catholic Church are, each within its own order, independent and sovereign.
Their relations are regulated by the Lateran Treaties. Changes to the Treaties accepted by both parties do not require the procedure for constitutional amendment.
Art. 8
All religious confessions are equally free before the law.
Religious confessions other than Catholic have the right to organize in accordance with their own statutes, in so far as they are not in conflict with Italian laws.
Their relations with the State are regulated by law on the basis of an accord between the respective representatives.
Art. 9
The Republic promotes the development of culture and scientific and technical research.
It safeguards landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation.
Art. 10
Italian laws conform to the generally recognized tenets of international law.
The legal status of foreigners is regulated by law in conformity with international provisions and treaties.
The foreigner who is denied in his own country the real exercise of the democratic liberties guaranteed by the Italian Constitution has the right of asylum in the territory of the Republic, in accordance with the conditions established by law.
The extradition of a foreigner for political offences is not admitted.
Art. 11
ltaly rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedoms of others peoples and as a means for settling international controversies; it agrees, on conditions of equality with other states , to the limitations of sovereignty necessary for an order that ensures peace and justice among Nations; it promotes and encourages international organizations having such ends in view.
Art. 12
The flag of the Republic is the Italian tricolour: green, white and red, in three vertical bands of equal dimensions.
part I
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS
title I
CIVIL RIGHTS
Art. 13
Personal liberty is inviolable.
No form of detention, inspection or personal search is admitted, nor any other restrictions on personal freedom except by warrant which states the reasons from a judicial authority and only in cases and manner provided for by law.
In exceptional cases of necessity and urgency, strictly defined by law, the police authorities may adopt temporary measures which must be communicated within forty-eight hours to the judicial authorities and if they are not ratified by them in the next forty-eight hours, are thereby revoked and become null and void.
All acts of physical or moral violence against individuals subjected in any way to limitations of freedom are punished.
The law establishes the maximum period of preventative detention.
Art. 14
The home is inviolable.
Inspections or searches or seizures may not be carried out except in cases and manner prescribed by law in accordance with the guarantees prescribed for safeguarding personal freedom.
Controls and inspections for reasons of public health and safety or for economic and fiscal purposes are regulated by special laws.
Art. 15
The freedom and secrecy of correspondence and of every other form of communication is inviolable.
Restriction thereto may be imposed only by warrant which gives the reasons issued by a judicial authority with the guarantees established by law.
Art. 16
All citizens may travel or sojourn freely in any part of the national territory, except for general limitations which the law establishes for reasons of health and safety. No restrictions may be made for political reasons.
All citizens are free to leave and reenter the territory of the Republic, provided the legal obligations are fulfilled.
Art. 17
Citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and unarmed.
No previous notice is required for meetings, even when in places open to the public.
For meetings in public places previous notice must be given to the authorities, who may forbid them only for proven motives of security and public safety.
Art. 18
Citizens have the right to form associations freely, without authorization, for ends which are not forbidden to individuals by criminal law.
Secret associations and those which pursue, even indirectly, political ends by means of organizations of a military character, are forbidden.
Art. 19
All have the right to profess freely their own religious faith in whatever form, individual or associate, to propagate it and to exercise it in private or public cult, provided that the rites are not contrary to morality.
Art. 20
The ecclesiastical nature and the purpose of religion or worship of an association or institution may not be a cause for special limitations in law, nor for special fiscal impositions in its setting up, legal capacity and any of its activities.
Art. 21
All have the right to express freely their own thought by word, in writing and by all other means of communication.
The press cannot be subjected to authorization or censorship.
Seizure is permitted only by a detailed warrant from the judicial authority in the case of offences for which the law governing the press expressly authorizes, or in the case of violation of the provisions prescribed by law for the disclosure of the responsible parties.
In such cases, when there is absolute urgency and when the timely intervention of the judicial authority is not possible, periodical publications may be seized by officers of the criminal police, who must immediately, and never after more than twenty-four hours, report the matter to the judicial authority. If the latter does not ratify the act in the twenty-four hours following, the seizure is understood to be withdrawn and null and void.
The law may establish, by means of general provisions, that the financial sources of the periodical press be disclosed.
Printed publications, shows and other displays contrary to morality are forbidden. The law establishes appropriate means for preventing and suppressing all violations.
Art. 22
No one may be deprived, for political reasons, of legal status, citizenship, name.
Art. 23
No services of a personal or a capital nature may be imposed except on the basis of law.
Art. 24
Everyone can take judicial action to protect individual rights and legitimate interests.
The right to defence is inviolable at every stage and moment of the proceedings.
The indigent are assured, through appropriate institutions, the means for action and defence before all levels of jurisdiction.
The law determines the conditions and the means for the reparation for judicial errors.
Art. 25
No one may be moved from the normal judge preestablished by law.
No one may be punished except on the basis of a law already in force before the offence was committed.
No one may be subjected to security measures except in those cases provided for by law.
Art. 26
Extradition of a citizen is permitted only in cases expressly provided for in international conventions.
In no case may it be permitted for political offences.
Art. 27
Criminal responsibility is personal.
The defendant is not considered guilty until final judgment is passed.
Punishment cannot consist in treatment contrary to human dignity and must aim at rehabilitating the condemned.
The death penalty is not permitted, except in cases provided for in martial law.
Art. 28
Officials and employees of the State and public entities are directly responsible, according to criminal, civil and administrative laws, for acts committed in violation of rights. In such cases the civil responsibility extends to the State and the public entities.
title II
ETHICAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS
Art. 29
The Republic recognizes the rights of the family as a natural society founded on matrimony.
Matrimony is ****d on the moral and legal equality of the spouses within the limits laid down by law to guarantee the unity of the family.
Art. 30
It is the duty and right of parents to support, instruct and educate their children, even those born outside of matrimony.
In cases of the incapacity of the parents, the law provides for the fulfilment of their duties.
The law ensures to children born outside of marriage full legal and social protection, compatible with the rights of members of the legitimate family.
The law lays down the rules and limitations for ascertaining paternity.
Art. 31
The Republic assists through economic measures and other provisions the formation of the family and the fulfilment of its duties, with particular consideration for large families.
It protects maternity, infancy and youth, promoting the institutions necessary thereto.
Art. 32
The Republic safeguards health as a fundamental right of the individual and as a collective interest, and guarantees free medical care to the indigent.
No one may be obliged to undergo particular health treatment except under the provisions of the law. The law cannot under any circumstances violate the limits imposed by respect for the human person.
Art. 33
Art and science are free and teaching them is free.
The Republic lays down general rules for education and establishes State schools for all kinds and grades.
Entities and private persons have the right to establish schools and institutions of education, without impositions for the State.
The law, in fixing the rights and obligations on non-state schools which request parity, must ensure to these schools full liberty and to their pupils scholastic treatment equal to that of pupils in State schools.
State examinations are prescribed for admission to the various kinds and grades of schools or at their termination and for qualifications to exercise a profession.
Institutions of higher learning, universities and academies, have the right to establish their own regulations within the limits laid down by the laws of the State.
Art. 34
Schools are open to everyone.
Elementary education, imparted for at least eight years, is compulsory and free.
Capable and deserving pupils, even without financial resources, have the right to attain the highest levels of education.
The Republic makes this right effective through scholarships, payments to families and other provisions, which must be assigned through competitive examination.
title III
ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Art. 35
The Republic protects work in all its forms and applications.
It provides for the training and professional improvement of workers.
It promotes and encourages international agreements and organizations whose aim is to assert and regulate labour rights.
It recognizes the freedom to emigrate, safeguarding obligations established by law in the general interest, and protects Italian labour abroad.
Art. 36
Workers have the right to wages in proportion to the quantity and quality of their work and in all cases sufficient to ensure them and their families a free and dignified existence.
The maximum working day is fixed by law.
Workers have a right to a weekly rest day and paid annual holidays. They cannot waive this right.
Art. 37
Working women have the same rights and, for equal work, the same wages as working men. Working conditions must allow women to carry out their essential role in the family and ensure special appropriate protection for the mother and the child.
The law establishes the minimum age for paid labour.
The Republic protects the work of minors by means of special provisions and guarantees them, for equal work, the right to equal pay.
Art. 38
Every citizen unable to work and without the resources necessary to live has a right to social maintenance and assistance.
Workers have the right to be provided with and assured adequate means for their needs and necessities in cases of accidents, illness, disability and old age, and involuntary unemployment.
Disabled and handicapped persons have the right to education and vocational training.
The duties laid down in this Article are provided for by organs and institutions established by or supplemented by the State.
Private assistance is free.
Art. 39
Trade union organization is free.
No obligations can be imposed on trade unions other than registration at local or central offices, according to the provisions of the law.
A condition for registration is that the statutes of the trade union confirm the democratic basis of the internal organization.
Registered trade unions are legal persons. They may, through a representative unit proportional to their members, enter into collective labour agreements having mandatory effect for all persons belonging to the categories referred to in the agreement.
Art. 40
The right to industrial action is exercised within the laws which regulate it.
Art. 41
Private economic initiative is free.
It cannot be conducted in conflict with public weal or in such manner that could damage safety, liberty, and human dignity.
The law determines appropriate planning and controls so that public and private economic activity is given direction and coordinated to social objectives.
Art. 42
Property is public or private. Economic goods belong to the State, to entities or to private persons. Private property is recognized and guaranteed by law, which prescribes the ways it is acquired, enjoyed and its limits in order to ensure its social function and to make it accessible to all.
Private property can, in such cases provided for by law and with provisions for compensation, be expropriated for reasons of the public weal.
The law establishes the regulations and limits of legitimate and testamentary inheritance and the rights of the State in questions of inheritance.
Art. 43
For purposes of general utility the law can reserve from the beginning or transfer, by means of expropriation and payment of compensation, to the State, to public entities or to workers communities or users, specific enterprises or categories of enterprises which relate to essential public services or sources of energy or monopolistic situations and which have the nature of primary general interest.
Art. 44
For the purpose of securing a rational exploitation of the soil and to establish equity in social relationships, the law imposes obligations and constraints on private ownership of land, fixes limitations to the extension thereof according to region and agricultural zone, encourages and imposes land reclamation, the transformation of large estates and the reorganization of productive units, assists small and medium-sized holdings.
The law makes provisions in favour of mountainous areas.
Art. 45
The Republic recognizes the social function of cooperation of a mutualistic nature and without purposes of private speculation. The law promotes and encourages them through the appropriate means and secures, through appropriate controls, their character and purposes.
The law provides measures for safeguarding and promoting handicrafts.
Art. 46
With the objective of economic improvements and the social betterment of labour and in harmony with the needs of production, the Republic recognizes the rights of workers to collaborate, in the ways and within the limits established by law, in the management of enterprises.
Art. 47
The Republic encourages and safeguards savings in all forms; it disciplines, coordinates and controls the exercise of credit.
It promotes the access of popular savings to the ownership of housing, to directly cultivated property and indirect investment in the shares of the large production complexes of the country.
title IV
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Art. 48
All citizens, male and female, who have attained their majority, are electors.
The vote is personal and equal, free and secret. The exercise thereof is a civic duty.
An Act of Parliament shall establish the conditions and the procedures under which Italian nationals resident abroad may exercise their right to vote in Italian elections, and shall guarantee its effectiveness. For this purpose a 'Foreign Constituency' shall be created to which Members to both Houses of Parliament shall be elected. The number of seats shall be established by a constitutional law and comply with the criteria enacted by Act of Parliament.
The right to vote cannot be restricted except for civil incapacity or as a consequence of an irrevocable penal sentence or in cases of moral unworthiness as laid down by law.
Art. 49
All citizens have the right to freely associate in parties to contribute through democratic processes to determining national policies.
Art. 50
Al1 citizens may present petitions to both Houses to request legislative measures or to express collective needs.
Art. 51
All citizens of either *** are eligible for public office and for elected positions on equal terms, according to the conditions established by law.
The law may grant Italians who are not resident in the Republic the same rights as citizens for the purposes of access to public offices and elected positions.
Whoever is called to perform an elected public office has the right to have the needful time to carry out that function and to conserve his place of work.
Art. 52
The defence of the Fatherland is a sacred duty for every citizen.
Military service is obligatory within the limits and the ways set by law. Fulfilment thereof shall not prejudice a citizen's employment, nor the exercise of political rights.
The regulations of the armed forces are ****d on the democratic spirit of the Republic.
Art. 53
Everyone shall contribute to public expenditure in accordance with his means.
The system of taxation shall be ****d on criteria of progression.
Art. 54
All citizens have the duty to be loyal to the Republic and to uphold its Constitution and laws.
Those citizens to whom public functions are entrusted have the duty to fulfil such functions with discipline and honour, taking an oath in those cases established by law.
PART II
ORGANISATION OF THE REPUBLIC
TITLE I
PARLIAMENT
SECTION I
The Houses
Art. 55
Parliament consists of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.
Parliament meets in joint session of the members of both Houses only in those cases established in the Constitution.
Art. 56
The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal and direct suffrage.
The number of Deputies is six hundred and thirty.
All those voters who on the day of elections have attained the age of twenty-five are eligible to be deputies.
The division of seats among the electoral districts is obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants of the Republic, as shown by the latest general census of the population, by six hundred and thirty and distributing the seats in proportion to the population in every electoral district, on the basis of whole shares and the highest remainders.
Art. 57
The Senate of the Republic is elected on a regional basis.
The number of Senators to be elected is three hundred and fifteen.
No region may have fewer than seven senators; Molise shall have two, Valle d'Aosta one.
The division of seats among the regions, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Article, is made in proportion to the population of the regions as revealed in the most recent general census, on the basis of whole shares and the highest remainders.
Art. 58
Senators are elected by universal and direct suffrage by the electors who have completed their twenty-fifth year of age.
Electors who have completed their fortieth year are eligible to be senators.
Art. 59
Anyone who has been President of the Republic is a senator by right and for life unless he renounces the nomination.
The President of the Republic may nominate senators for life five citizens who have brought honour to the Fatherland through their outstanding achievements in social, scientific, artistic and literary fields.
Art 60
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic are elected for five years.
The term for each house cannot be extended except by law and only in cases of war.
Art. 61
Elections for the new Houses will take place within seventy days of the end of the term of the previous Houses. The first meeting will take place not later than twenty days after the elections.
Until such time as the new Houses meet the powers of the previous Houses are extended.
Art. 62
The Houses shall convene by right on the first working day of February and October.
Each House may be convened in extraordinary session on the initiative of its President or of the President of the Republic or by a third of its members.
When one House is convened in extraordinary session, the other House is convened by right.
Art. 63
Each House shall elect from among its members its president and the Office of the President.
When Parliament meets in joint session, the President and the presiding officers are those of the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 64
Each House adopts its own rules by absolute majority of its members.
The sittings are public; however, each of the Houses and Parliament in joint session of both Houses may decide to meet in secret session.
The decisions of each House and of Parliament are not valid if the majority of the members is not present, and if they are not passed by a majority of those present, unless the Constitution prescribes a special majority.
Members of the government, even when not members of the Houses, have the right, and when requested the obligation, to attend sittings. They shall be heard every time they so request.
Art. 65
The law determines cases of non-eligibility and incompatibility with the office of deputy or senator.
No one may be a member of both Houses at the same time.
Art. 66
Each House decides the qualifications for admission of its members and subsequent causes of ineligibility and incompatibility.
Art. 67
Each member of Parliament represents the Nation and carries out his duties without constraint of mandate.
Art. 68
Members of Parliament may not be required to give account of any opinions expressed or votes cast in the exercise of their functions.
Without authorization from the House to which they belong, no member of Parliament may be subjected to a personal search or have their domicile searched, neither may they be arrested or otherwise deprived of personal freedom, or kept in detention, except to enforce a final conviction, or if caught in the act of committing a crime for which arrest is mandatory.
Similar authorization is also required before members of Parliament may have their conversations or communications intercepted, or their mail impounded.
Art. 69
Members of Parliament shall receive a compensation established by law.
SECTION II
The Drafting of Laws
Art. 70
The legislative function is exercised collectively by both Houses.
Art. 71
Legislation is initiated by the government, by each member of the houses and by those organs and bodies so empowered by constitutional law.
The people may initiate legislation by way of a proposal, by at least fifty-thousand electors, of a draft of law drawn up in articles.
Art. 72
Every draft of law submitted to one of the houses is, in accordance with its rules, examined by a committee and then by the house itself, which approves it article by article and with a final vote.
The rules establish shortened procedures for draft legislation that has been declared urgent.
They may also establish in what cases and in what manner the examination and approval of bills is deferred to committees, including standing committees, composed so as to reflect the proportion of the parliamentary groups. Even in such cases, until the moment of its final approval, the bill may be submitted to the house, if the government or one-tenth of the members of the house or one-fifth of the committee request that it be debated and voted on by the house itself or that it be submitted to the house for final approval by means of a call for votes only. The rules establish the ways in which the workings of committees are made public.
The regular procedure for examination and approval directly by the house is always followed for bills on constitutional and electoral matters and for those delegating legislature, the authorization and ratification of international treaties, the approval of budgets and expenditure accounts.
Art. 73
Laws are promulgated by the President of the Republic within one month of their approval.
If the houses, each by the absolute majority of its members, declare its urgency, a bill is promulgated in the time established by the bill itself.
Laws are published immediately after promulgation and come into force on the fifteenth day following publication, unless the laws themselves establish a different time.
Art. 74
The President of the Republic, before promulgating a law, may request of the houses in a message outlining his motives a new debate.
If the houses once more pass the bill, it must be promulgated.
Art. 75
A popular referendum shall be held to abrogate, totally or partially, a law or an act having the force of law, when requested by five hundred thousand electors or five regional councils.
A referendum is not permitted in the case of tax, budget, amnesty and pardon laws, in authorization or ratification of international treaties.
All citizens eligible to vote for the Chamber of deputies have the right to participate in referendums.
The proposal subjected to referendum is approved if the majority of those with voting rights have voted and a majority of votes validly cast has been reached.
The law establishes the procedures for conducting a referendum.
Art. 76
The exercise of the legislative function may not be delegated to the government if the principles and guiding criteria have not been established and then only for a limited time and for specified ends.
Art. 77
The government may not, without delegation from the houses, issue decrees having the force of ordinary law.
When in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency the government adopts provisional measures having the force of law it must on the same day present them for conversion into law to the houses which, even if dissolved, shall be especially summoned and shall assemble within five days.
The decrees lose effect from their inception if they are not converted into law within sixty days from their publication. The houses can however regulate through laws legal issues arising out of decrees not converted.
Art. 78
The houses decide on states of war and confer the necessary powers on parliament.
Art. 79
Amnesties and indults are granted by act of parliament requiring a two-thirds majority of the members of each House, voting on each single article and on the statute as a whole.
The Act granting the amnesty or the indult shall also indicate the deadlines for their application.
In every instance, amnesties and indults may never apply to any crimes committed after the date on which the Bill is tabled before the House.
Art. 80
The houses authorize through laws the ratification of international treaties which are of a political nature, or which call for arbitration or legal settlements, or which entail changes to national territory or financial burdens or changes in the laws.
Art. 81
The houses approve every year the budgets and expenditure accounts submitted by the government.
Provisional use of the budget cannot be conceded unless by law and for periods not exceeding a total four months.
With the law approving the budget it is not possible to introduce new taxes and new expenditures.
Any other law involving new or increased expenditures must specify the means for meeting them.
Art. 82
Each house may set up inquiries on matters of public interest.
For such purposes it nominates from its members a committee so composed as to reflect the proportions of the various groups. The committee of inquiry conducts its investigations and examinations with the same powers and the same limitations as a judicial inquiry.