Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/257

The jury trial of causes is regulated by law and may be suspended only in those cases designated by law. In times of war jurisdiction of the military tribunals may be extended over the civil population and then only for offenses committed during the period of the war.

The qualifications of judges are determined by law and they may not hold anyother position of emolument, provided they are “professional” judges. All controversies must be decided pursuant to the provisions of the law. All sessions of the courts must be oral and public, but in certain cases the public may be excluded. All judgements are rendered in the name of the Republic.

The judges, in a given case, may determine all the legal points, except that they cannot pass upon the constitutionality of a law, for that question is reserved, by the constitution, for the Constitutional Court.

The Czechoslovak Constitution guarantees personal liberty; liberty of conscience and profession; equal protection to all inhabitants; rights of settlement, except as restricted in the interests of public welfare; private ownership, except that expropriation may be undertaken in compliance with the law and when compensation is awarded; rights of the home; secrecy of mails; liberty of the press, liberty of individual opinion, and liberty of assemblage, provided it is without arms; right to associate for protection and betterment of conditions and economic interests, except that non-citizensmay be restricted in political affairs; right to petition; and free scientific investigations and art studies, provided they do not overstep the provisions of the criminal law.

Before the law all citizens are equal regardless of race, language or religion; all religious confessions are equal and no one may be compelled to participate in any religious practices; public instruction must not conflict with scientific researches; the marriage relation, the family and motherhood are under state protection; and every physically fit citizen must obey the call to defend the state.

All citizens may freely employ any language in private or commercial relations, in religion, in the press or other publications, or, in public assemblies; the right to a definite language in public offices is regulated by law. Forcible denationalization is prohibited.

In districts where non-Czechoslovak speaking citizens form 20 per cent of the population, opportunity for instruction, at public expense, in such non-Czechoslovak tongue is assured. Almost similar provisions are made for the maintenance of educational, religious and charitable institutions.

The reader is instantly impressed with two currents of thought emphasised forcibly in this instrument—one is the American system and the other is the French system of government. The sincerity of the framers is at all times evident and their goal is democracy.

In direct contrast to the current tendency, at least in the United States, the constitution is singularly free from recall and referendum provisions, except in one particular. If the government proposes a measure to the National Assembly for enactment and this body rejects it, then the government may go before the voters to have them finally pass upon the bill. To all intents rather a wise provision, whereby the sentiment of the country may readily and ac- curately be ascertained.

However, the power of government is centralized in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower and popular house of the National Assembly. This is evident everywhere, but the Senate is designed to act as a check to recklessness and extravagance. Contrasting the powers of the President with those of similar officers in France and America we find that they are enlarged over the French and considerably curtailed as granted in America.

The rights, privileges and duties of the inhabitants are amply safeguarded and enumerated. Taking lesson from other experiences, the rights of non-citizens, in political fields, may be restricted by law. An excellent proviso to discourage outsiders from meddling in the internal affairs of the nation.

On the whole the Constitution is not as radical as expected by some, principally those who feared the participation of the Socialists in its drafting, but on the other