CHAPTER VII. The Judicial Power
Article 80
The office of judging civil and criminal causes belongs exclusively to the tribunals established by the law. Neither the President of the Republic nor Congress can in any case exercise judicial functions, remove pending cases from one court to another, or revive proceedings once terminated.
Article 81
A special law will determine the organization and attributes of the courts that may be necessary for the speedy and full administration of justice in all the territory of the Republic.
Only by virtue of a law can a change be made in the attributes of the courts or in the number of its membership.
Article 82
The law will determine the qualifications that the judges respectively must have and the number of years that persons appointed Ministers of the Courts or Scholastic Judges must have practiced the profession of attorney.
Article 83
In respect to the appointment of judges the law will be adjusted to the following general principles:
Ministers and Fiscals of the Supreme Court will be chosen by the President of the Republic from a list of five persons proposed by the said court. The two Ministers of the Court of Appeals who have been longest in office shall occupy places on the list. The other three places will be filled in accordance with the merits of the candidates. Persons outside the administration of justice may figure in the list.
Ministers and Fiscals of the Courts of Appeals shall be designated by the President of the Republic from a list of three proposed by the Supreme Court.
Scholastic Judges shall be designated by the President of the Republic from a list of three proposed by the Court of Appeals of the respective jurisdiction. For the preparation of the lists there shall be opened a competitive contest at which the persons interested must present their titles and antecedents.
The Scholastic Judge longest on the bench of the court, or the Scholastic Judge longest in the position next below that to be filled, respectively, shall have a place in the corresponding list of three. The other two places will be filled in accordance with the merits of the candidates.
Article 84
Judges are personally responsible for bribery, failure to observe the laws governing procedure and in general for every betrayal of trust or tortuous administration of justice. The law will determine the cases and the method of making this responsibility effective.
Article 85
The judges will remain in office during good behavior, but inferior judges discharge their respective judgeships for such time as the law may determine.
Judges, whether of limited or unlimited tenure, may be deprived of their positions for cause legally determined.
Nevertheless, the President of the Republic on the proposal, or with the consent, of the Supreme Court may authorize exchanges, or order the transfer of judges from one post to another of equal rank.
In any case the Supreme Court, upon demand of the President of the Republic at the solicitation of the party interested, or ex-officio, may declare that judges have not been of good behavior, and upon prior statement from the accused and from the Court of Appeals, respectively, with a two-thirds vote of its membership, grant their removal from office.
These decisions will be communicated to the President of the Republic in order to be carried into effect.
Article 86
The Supreme Court has direct supervision, correctional and economic, over all the tribunals of the Nation in accordance with the law determining its organization and attributes.
The Supreme Court, in private cases under its cognizance, or which may have been submitted to it on appeal interposed in a cause pending before another tribunal, may declare ineffective for that case, any legal ruling as contrary to the Constitution. This appeal may be taken at any stage of the cause without suspending the proceedings.
It shall have cognizance also of disputes of competence that may arise between political or administrative authorities and the tribunals of justice not under the control of the Senate.
Article 87
There shall be administrative tribunals with permanent membership to pass upon claims that may be interposed against arbitrary acts or measures of the political or administrative authorities and the disposition of which may not be entrusted by the Constitution or the laws to any other tribunals. Their organization and attributes are matters of law.
