II. Of the King and his Ministers
Section II.—Of the King.
Article 60. The constitutional powers of the King are hereditary in the direct, natural and legitimate descent from His Majesty Leopold-George-Christian-Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, from male to male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpetual exclusion of the females of their line. The prince who marries without the consent of the King or of those who, in his absence, exercise his powers, in the cases provided for by the Constitution, shall forfeit his rights. Nevertheless he can be restored to his rights by the King or by those who, in his absence, exercise his authority in the cases provided for by the Constitution, with the consent of both Chambers.
Article 61. In default of male descendants of his Majesty Leopold-George-Christian-Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, the King can name his successor, with the assent of the Chambers, expressed in the manner prescribed by the following article. If no nomination has been made according to the proceeding here stated, the throne will be vacant.
Article 62. The King cannot be, at the same time, the chief of another State, without the consent of both Chambers. Neither of the two Chambers can deliberate on this subject if two-thirds at least of the members who compose it are not present, and the resolution is adopted only if it receives two-thirds at least of the votes cast.
Article 63. The person of the King is inviolable; his ministers are responsible.
Article 64. No act of the King can have effect if it is not countersigned by a minister, who, thereby, makes himself responsible.
Article 65. The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.
Article 66. He confers the grades in the army. He appoints to the offices of general administration and of foreign relations, with the exceptions determined by law. He appoints to other offices only by virtue of express provisions of a law.
Article 67. He makes the regulations and decrees necessary to the execution of the laws, without power to suspend the laws themselves, nor to exempt from their execution.
Article 68. The King commands the land and naval forces, declares war, makes treaties of peace, of alliance, and of commerce. He announces them to the Chambers as soon as the interest and the safety of the State admit of it, adding to them appropriate communications. Treaties of commerce and those which might burden the State or bind Belgians individually become effective only after having received the approval of the Chambers. No cession, nor exchange, nor addition of territory can take place without authority of a law. In no case can the secret articles of a treaty be destructive to the open articles.
Article 69. The King sanctions and promulgates the laws.
Article 70. The Chambers meet by right every year, on the 2d Tuesday in November, unless previously summoned by the King. The Chambers must remain in session at least 40 days in each year. The King declares the closing of the session. The King has the right to call extra sessions of the Chambers.
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Article 71. The King has the right to dissolve the Chambers, either simultaneously or separately; the act of dissolution to contain a convocation of the electors within forty days and of the Chambers within two months.
Article 72. The King may adjourn the Chambers. The adjournment, however, cannot exceed the term of one month, nor be renewed in the same session, without the consent of the Chambers.
Article 73. He has the right to remit or to reduce penalties pronounced by the judges, except those which are enacted concerning the ministers.
Article 74. He has the right to coin money, in execution of the law.
Article 75. He has the right to confer titles of nobility, without power to attach any privilege to them.
Article 76. He confers the military orders, observing in that regard what the law prescribes.
Article 77. The law fixes the civil list for the duration of each reign.
Article 78. The King has no other powers than those formally conferred on him by the Constitution, and by laws enacted pursuant to the Constitution.
Article 79. On the death of the King, the Chambers meet without convocation, not later than the tenth day after that of his decease. If the Chambers had been previously dissolved, and if the convocation had been fixed in the act of dissolution for a later date than the tenth day, the old Chambers resume their functions until the meeting of those which are to take their place. If one Chamber only had been dissolved, the same rule is followed with regard to that Chamber. From the death of the King and until his successor on the throne or the regent has taken the oath, the constitutional powers of the King, are exercised, in the name of the Belgian nation, by the ministers assembled in council and under their responsibility.
Article 80. The King is of age when he has completed his 18th year. He takes possession of the throne only after having solemnly taken, in the midst of the Chambers assembled together, the following oath: "I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the Belgian people, to maintain the national independence and to preserve the integrity of the territory."
Article 81. If, on the death of the King, his successor is a minor, both Chambers meet in one body for the purpose of providing for the regency and the guardianship.
Article 82. If it is impossible for the King to reign, the ministers, after having caused that inability to be established, convoke the Chambers immediately. Guardianship and regency are to be provided for by the Chambers convened.
Article 83. The regency can be conferred on one person only. The regent enters upon his duties only after he has taken the oath prescribed by Article 80.
Article 84. No change can be made in the Constitution during a regency.
Article 85. In case of a vacancy on the throne, the Chambers deliberating together, arrange provisionally for the regency until the meeting of new Chambers, that meeting to take place within two months, at the latest. The new Chambers deliberating together provide definitely for the vacancy.
Section II.—Of the Ministers.
Article 86. No person can be a minister who is not a Belgian by birth, or who has not received the "grande naturalization."
Article 87. No member of the royal family can be a minister.
Article 88. Ministers have a deliberative voice in either Chamber only when they are members of it. They have free admission into each Chamber and must have a hearing when they ask for it. The Chambers may require the presence of ministers.
Article 89. In no case, can the order of the King, verbal or written, relieve a minister of responsibility.
Article 90. The Chamber of Representatives has the right to accuse ministers and to arraign them before the Court of Cassation [Appeal], which alone has the right to judge them, the united Chambers reserving what may be enacted by law concerning civil action by a party wronged, and as to crimes and misdemeanors which ministers may have committed outside of the performance of their duties. A law shall determine the cases of responsibility, the penalties to be inflicted on the ministers, and the manner of proceeding against them, either upon the accusation admitted by the Chamber of Representatives, or upon prosecution by parties wronged.
Article 91. The King may pardon a minister sentenced by the Court of Cassation only upon the request of one of the two Chambers.
III. Of the Judiciary Power
Article 92. Contests concerning civil rights are exclusively within the jurisdiction of the tribunals.
Article 93. Contests concerning political rights are within the jurisdiction of the tribunals, with exceptions determined by law.
Article 94. No tribunal can be established otherwise than by law. Neither commissions nor extraordinary tribunals, under any denomination whatever, can be created.
Article 95. There is for the whole of Belgium one Court of Cassation. This Court does not consider the ground of causes, except in the judgment of ministers.
Article 96. Sittings of the tribunals are public, unless such publicity be dangerous to order or morals, and in that case the tribunal declares it by a judgment. In the matter of political or press offenses, the exclusion of the public must be voted unanimously.
Article 97. The ground of every judgment is to be stated. It is pronounced in public sitting.
Article 98. The jury is established in all criminal cases, and for political and press offenses.
Article 99. The judges of the peace and judges of the tribunals are appointed directly by the King. Councillors of the Courts of appeal and presidents and vice-presidents of the courts of original jurisdiction are appointed by the King, from two double lists, presented, one by those courts and the other by the provincial Councils. Councillors of the Court of Cassation are appointed by the King from two double lists, one presented by the Senate and the other by the Court of Cassation. In these two cases the candidates whose names are on one list may also be inscribed on the other. All presentations are made public at least fifteen days before the appointment. The courts choose their presidents and vice-presidents from among their members.
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Article 100. Judges are appointed for life. No judge can be deprived of his position or suspended, except by a judgment. The displacement of a judge can take place only through a new appointment and with his consent.
Article 101. The King appoints and dismisses the public prosecutors to the courts and tribunals.
Article 102. The salaries of the members of the judicial order are fixed by law.
Article 103. No judge may accept salaried offices from the government unless he exercises them gratuitously, and excluding the cases of incompatibility defined by law.
Article 104. There are three courts of appeal in Belgium. The law determines their jurisdiction and the places in which they shall be established.
Article 105. Special enactments regulate the organization of military courts, their powers, the rights and obligations of the members of such courts, and the duration of their functions. There are tribunals of commerce in the places determined by law, which regulate their organization, their powers, the mode of appointment of their members and the term of the latters' duties.
Article 106. Conflicts of jurisdiction are settled by the Court of Cassation, according to proceedings regulated by law.
Article 107. Courts and tribunals shall apply general, provincial and local decisions and regulations only so far as they are conformable to the laws.