Path: Janda's Home Page > PoliTxts > World Documents
Excerpts from the Political Constitution of Chile March 11, 1981 CHAPTER III Constitutional Rights and Obligations
Article 19. The Constitution guarantees to all persons:
1. The right to life and to the physical and psychic wellbeing of the individual. The law protects the life of those about to be born. The death penalty may only be instituted for a crime established by law approved by a qualified quorum. Use of all illegal pressure is prohibited.
2. Equality before the law. In Chile there are no privileged persons or groups. In Chile there are no slaves, and he who sets foot on this territory becomes free. Neither the law nor any authority may establish arbitrary differences.
3. Equal protection under law in the exercise of their rights. Every person has the right to legal defense in the manner provided by law and no authority nor individual may impede, restrict or perturb the proper appearance of an attorney, should it have been sought.... The law will provide the means whereby legal counsel and defense may be given to those who may be unable to obtain them on their own. No one may be judged by special commissions, but only by the tribunal provided by law, and provided such tribunal has been established prior to the enactment of said law. Every sentence decreed by a court vested with jurisdiction must be based upon prior legal proceedings.... The law may not presume de jure criminal responsibility. No crime shall be subject to penalties other than those prescribed by a law enacted prior to the perpetration of the crime, except in cases where new legislation favors the interested party. No law may establish penalties without the conduct that is being penalized being expressly described in it.
4. Respect for and protection of private and public life and the honor of the individual or his family....
5. The inviolability of the home and all forms of private communication. The home may be searched and private communications and documents intercepted, opened or inspected only in the cases and in means provided by law.
6. Freedom of conscience, manifestation of all creeds and the free exercise of all cults which are not opposed to morals, proper usages and public order. Religious establishments may erect and maintain churches and their dependencies in accordance with the conditions of safety and hygiene established by laws and ordinances....
7. The right to personal freedom and individual security.
Consequently:
a) Every person has the right to live and remain in any place in the Republic, move from one location to another, and enter and leave the national territory on condition that the norms established by law are respected and provided that third parties are not injured.
b) No one may be deprived of his personal freedom nor may such freedom be restricted except for the cases in the manner determined by the Constitution and law.
c) No one may be arrested or detained unless on an order of a public official expressly empowered by law to that effect and provided such an order has been communicated in the manner prescribed by law. However, an individual caught in the act of committing a crime may be detained provided that he be brought, within the following 24 hours, before the competent judge. Should the authority order the arrest or detention of an individual, the competent judge must be notified, within 48 hours following the arrest or detention, and the individual is to be place at his disposition. For probable cause, the judge may extend this period to five days and, in instances where the facts under investigation are described by the law as terrorist acts, such period may be extended to ten days.
d) No one may be arrested or detained, held under preventive arrest or in prison, except in his home or public premises established for that purpose....
e) Release on bail shall apply unless the judge considers the detention or preventive imprisonment as necessary for investigation proceedings, or for the security of the victim of the offense or of society....
f) In criminal cases the defendant cannot be obliged to testify under oath as to his own deeds; neither may there be obliged to testify against him his ancestors, descendants, spouse nor any other persons who, according to cases or circumstances, should be specified by law.
g) The penalty of confiscation may not be imposed except for seizure in the circumstances determined by law; but such a penalty will apply with respect to illicit associations.
h) The loss of social security rights may not be imposed as a penalty, and
i) Once a definitive stay of proceeding has been decreed, or when an absolute sentence is pronounced, the person subjected to trial or sentenced in any process as the result of a decision which the Supreme Court declares unjustifiably erroneous or arbitrary, shall have the right to be indemnified by the State for proprietary and moral losses which he may have suffered....
8. The right to live in an environment free from contamination....
9. The right to protection of health. The State protects the free and equal access to facilities for the promotion, protection and recovery of health and rehabilitation of the individual....
10. The right to education. The objective of education is the complete development of the individual in the various stages of his life. Parents have the prime right and duty to educate their children. The State shall provide special protection for the exercise of this right. Basic education is mandatory..
11. Freedom of teaching includes the right to open, organize and maintain educational establishments. Freedom of education has no other limitations than those imposed by morals, proper usages, public order and national security. Officially recognized education cannot be directed towards propagating any partisan political tendency. Parents have the right to choose the educational establishment for their children....
12. Freedom to express opinions and to disseminate information without prior censorship in any form and by any means, notwithstanding assumption of responsibility for any crimes or abuses committed in the exercise of such liberties, in conformity with law, which must be approved by a qualified quorum. In no case may the law establish a state monopoly over the media of mass communication.... The law shall establish a system of censorship for the exhibition and publicity of motion picture production and will set the general norms governing public expression of other artistic activities.
13. The right to assemble peacefully and unarmed, without prior permission. Meetings in squares, streets and other public places shall be ruled by general police regulations.
14. The right to submit petitions to the authorities with reference to any matter of public or private interest, with no limitation other than the requirement to submit such petitions in a respectful and appropriate manner.
15. The right to associate without prior authorization. In order to have juridical personality, associations must be organized in accordance with law. No one can be obliged to belong to an association. Associations contrary to moral standards, public order and Security of the State are prohibited....
16. Freedom to work and its protection. Every person has the right to free undertaking and free selection of his work, for proper compensation. Any discrimination not based on personal competence or fitness is prohibited, provided however that the law may require Chilean citizenship or set age limits in certain cases....
17. Admission to all public positions and employments with no requirements other than those imposed by the Constitution and the law.
18. The right to social security....
19. The right to affiliation with unions in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law....
20. Equal distribution of taxes in proportion to individual income or in progression or the manner established by law....
21. The right to develop any economic activity which is not contrary to morals, public order or national security, abiding by the legal norms which regulate it....
22. No arbitrary discrimination in the treatment that the State and its organisms must provide in economic matters....
23. Freedom to acquire ownership over all types of property except that which nature has made common to all men or which should belong to the entire Nation, and that the law so declares....