SECTION II
LEGISLATIVE POWER

Art.3. The domain of state legislation comprises the establishment of all public and private laws, and the manner of their execution.

There can be no statute without the consent of the Seym, expressed in a manner conforming to the Standing Orders.

A statute voted by the Seym comes into force at the time determined in the statute itself.

The Republic of Poland, basing its organization on the principle of broad territorial self-government, will delegate to the bodies representing this self-government the proper domain of legislation, especially in administrative, cultural, and economic fields, to be defined more fully by statutes of the state.

Ordinances by public authorities, from which result rights or duties of citizens, have binding force only if issued by the authority of a statute, and with a specific reference to the same.

Art. 4. A statute of the state will determine annually the budget of the state for the ensuing year.

Art. 5. The establishment of the numerical strength of the army, and permission for the annual draft of recruits, can be determined only by statute.

Art. 6. The contracting of a state loan, the alienation, exchange or pledging of immovable property of the state, the imposition of taxes and public dues, the determination of customs duties and monopolies, the establishment of the monetary system and the taking over by the state of a financial guarantee, can take place only by the authority of a statute.

Art. 7. The Government will present annually for parliamentary confirmation the accounts of the state for the past year.

Art. 8. The manner of exercising parliamentary control over the debts of the state will be defined by a special statute.

Art. 9. The control of the whole state administration as regards finances; the examination of the accounts of the state; the annual submission to the Seym of its motion for the granting or refusing of its absolutorium to the Government, are in the hands of the Supreme Board of Control, which is organized on the basis of collegiality and judicial independence of its members, the latter being removable only by a vote of the Seym representing a majority of three-fifths of those actually voting. The organization of the Supreme Board of Control and its method of procedure will be defined in detail by a special statute.

The President of the Supreme Board of Control enjoys a position equal to that of a Minister, but he is not a member of the Council of Ministers and is directly responsible to the Seym for the exercise of his office and for the officials who are his subordinates.

Art. 10. Measures can originate either with the government or with the Seym. Motions and bills which involve expenditure from the state treasury must state the manner of their raising and expenditure.

Art. 11. The Seym is composed of deputies elected for a term of five years to be counted from the day of the opening of the Seym, by secret, direct, equal, and proportional voting.

Art. 12. The right to vote belongs to every Polish citizen without distinction of sex, who, on the day of the proclamation of the elections, is twenty-one years of age, is in full possession of civil rights, and is a resident of the electoral district at least from the day preceding the proclamation of the elections in the Journal of Laws. The right to vote can be exercised only in person. Members of the army in active service do not possess the right to vote.

Art. 13. Every citizen having the right to vote is eligible for election to the Seym, independently of his place of residence, if he is at least twenty-five years of age, not excepting members of the army in active service.

Art. 14. Citizens convicted of offenses which the law of elections may define as involving temporary or permanent loss of the right to vote, of eligibility, or of being a deputy, may not enjoy the electoral right.

Art. 15. Administrative, revenue, and judicial officials of the state may not be elected in the districts in which they are performing their official duties. This rule does not apply to officials employed in the central departments.

Art. 16. State and self-government employees obtain leaves of absence at the moment of being elected deputies. This rule does not apply to ministers, undersecretaries of state, and professors in academic schools. The years spent in the exercise of the duties of a deputy are considered as years of service.

Art. 17. A deputy loses his seat on being appointed to a paid office of the state. This rule does not apply to appointment as minister, under-secretary of state, or professor in an academic school.

Art. 18. The law of elections will define the manner of electing deputies to the Seym.

Art. 19. The validity of unprotested elections is verified by the Seym. The validity of protested elections is decided upon the Supreme Court.

Art. 20. The deputies are representatives of the whole nation and are not bound by any instructions given by the voters.

The deputies make to the Marshal the following vow in the presence of the Chamber: "I do solemnly vow, as deputy to the Seym of the Republic of Poland, to work honestly, according to the best of my understanding and in conformity with my conscience, for the sole good of the Polish State as a whole."

Art. 21. Deputies cannot be made responsible, either during their term of office or after it has expired, for their activities in or out of the Seym appertaining to the exercise of their office as deputies. For their speeches, presentations, and manifestations in the Seym, deputies are responsible only to the Seym. For violation of the rights of a third person, they may be made to answer before a court of law, if the judicial authority obtains the consent of the Seym thereto.

Criminal, penal-administrative, or disciplinary proceedings instituted against a deputy before his election, may, at the demand of the Seym, be suspended until the expiration of his mandate.

Prescription in criminal proceedings against a deputy does not run while he retains his office. While he retains his office, a deputy may not, without the permission of the Seym, be made to answer before a criminal court, penal-administrative authority, or a disciplinary court, or be deprived of his freedom. If a deputy is caught in the act of committing a common felony, and if his arrest is necessary to insure the administration of justice, or to avert the consequences of the offense, the court is bound to notify immediately the Marshal of the Seym in order to obtain the consent of the Seym to his arrest and to further criminal proceedings. Upon demand of the Marshal, the arrested deputy must be liberated at once.

Art. 22. A deputy may not, either in his own name or in the name of another, buy, or acquire the lease of, any real property of the state, contract for public supplies or government works, or obtain from the government any concessions or other personal benefits. A deputy is also debarred from receiving from the government any decorations other than military.

Art. 23. A deputy may not be the responsible editor of a periodical publication.

Art. 24. The deputies receive compensation the amount of which is determined by the standing orders, and are entitled to the free use of the state means of communication for travelling over the whole territory of the Republic.

Art. 25. The President of the Republic convokes, opens, adjourns, and closes the Seym and Senate. The Seym must be convoked to assemble on the third Tuesday after election day, and every year, at the latest in October, to an ordinary session for the purpose of voting the budget, the numerical strength and recruiting of the army, and other current affairs.

The President of the Republic may, at his own discretion, convoke the Seym to an extraordinary session at any time and is bound to do this within two weeks upon request of one-third of the total number of deputies.

Other cases in which the Seym assembles in extraordinary session are determined by this constitution.

An adjournment requires the consent of the Seym, if previous adjournment has taken place during the same ordinary session, or if the interruption is to last for more than thirty days.

The Seym, when convoked in October for its ordinary session, may not be closed before the budget has been voted.

Art.26. The Seym may be dissolved by its own vote, passed by a majority of two-thirds of those voting with the turn-out not less than half of the total number of deputies as determined by the law. The President of the Republic may dissolve the Seym with the consent of three-fifths of the statutory number of members of the Senate in the presence of at least one-half of the total membership. In both cases the Senate is automatically dissolved at the same time.

Elections will take place within forty days from the date of dissolution, the precise date to be determined either in the resolution of the Seym or in the message of the President, on the dissolution of the Seym.

Art. 27. The deputies exercise all their rights and duties in person.

Art. 28. The Seym elects from among its members, the Marshal, his deputies, the secretaries, and committees.

The Marshal and his deputies continue in office after the dissolution of the Seym until the new Seym shall have elected its officers.

Art. 29. The standing rules of the Seym define the mode and order of the proceedings of the Seym, the type and number of the committees, the number of marshals and secretaries, the rights and duties of the Marshal. The employees of the Seym are appointed by the Marshal, who is responsible to the Seym for their actions.

Art. 30. The meetings of the Seym are public. On the motion of the Marshal, of a Government representative, or of thirty deputies, the Seym may vote the secrecy of its meetings.

Art. 31. No one may be called to account for a truthful report of an open meeting of the Seym or a committee of the Seym.

Art. 32. A vote is valid only when carried by a plurality vote in the presence of at least one-third of the total statutory number of deputies, in so far as provisions of this constitution do not contain other rules.

Art. 33. The deputies have the right of addressing interpellations to the Government or to individual ministers, in the manner prescribed by the standing rules. A minister is bound to answer, within six weeks, orally or in writing, or submit a statement wherein he justifies his failure to give an answer to the point. At the request of those addressing the interpellation, the answer must be communicated to the Seym. The Seym may make the answer of the Government the subject of debate and vote.

Art. 34. The Seym may form and appoint for the investigation of individual cases, extraordinary committees empowered to hear the interested parties, as well as to summon witnesses and experts. The competence and powers of such committees will be determined by the Seym.

Art. 35. Every bill passed by the Seym will be submitted to the Senate for consideration. If the Senate, within thirty days from the day on which a passed bill has been delivered to it, does not raise any objections to the bill, the President of the Republic will direct the publication of the statute. Upon the motion of the Senate, the President of the Republic may direct the publication of the statute before the lapse of the thirty days.

If the Senate decides to alter or reject a bill passed by the Seym, it must announce this to the Seym within the aforesaid thirty days, and must return the bill to the Seym with the proposed changes within the following thirty days.

If the Seym approves by an ordinary majority, or rejects by a majority of eleven-twentieths of those voting, the changes proposed by the Senate, the President of the Republic will direct the publication of the statute in the wording determined by the second vote of the Seym.

Art. 36. The Senate is composed of members elected by the individual Voyevodships, by universal, secret, direct, equal, and proportional voting. Every Voyevodship forms one constituency and the number of senators is equal to one-fourth of the number of members of the Seym, in proportion to the number of inhabitants. The right of electing to the Senate is enjoyed by every elector for the Seym who, on the day of the proclamation of the elections, is thirty years of age and has on that day been a resident of the electoral district for at least one year; the right of voting is not lost by newly settled colonists who have left their former place of residence, availing themselves of the agrarian reform; neither is that right lost by workmen who have changed their place of residence as a result of changing their place of occupation, or by the state officials transferred by their superior authorities. Eligibility is enjoyed by every citizen who has the right of voting for the Senate, not excluding members of the army in active service, provided that citizen is forty years of age on the day of the proclamation of the elections.

The term of the Senate begins and ends with the term of the Seym.

No one may be at the same time a member of the Seym and of the Senate.

Art. 37. The provisions contained in Articles 14, 15, 16, 17, 19,20 ,21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 have analogous application to the Senate and to its members respectively.

Art. 38. No statute may be in opposition to this constitution or violate its provisions.