Constitution of Georgia (adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia on 21 February 1921)

Constitution of Georgia (adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia on 21 February 1921)

Constitution of Georgia

Adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia on 21 February 1921

Article 1.🔗

Georgia is a free, independent and indivisible state.

The permanent and immutable form of the political system is a democratic republic.

Article 2.🔗

The capital city of Georgia is Tiflis.

Article 3.🔗

The state language of Georgia is the Georgian language.

Article 4.🔗

The flag of the Republic of Georgia is a crimson-coloured banner with black and white stripes.

The coat of arms of the Republic of Georgia is White George with seven luminaries.

Article 5.🔗

Every law and binding resolution has force only if it is promulgated in the prescribed manner.

Article 6.🔗

The cession, partition and sale of state territory is impossible.

The expansion of state territory or the correction of disputed borders may be carried out only in accordance with legislative procedure.

Article 7.🔗

Administrative division and the establishment and change of the borders of self-governing units shall be carried out only in accordance with legislative procedure.

Article 8.🔗

The Constitution is the supreme law of the state. No law, decree, order or ordinance may be published that is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and their fundamental meaning.

The implementation of the Constitution and the realization of its principles in legislation and administration constitutes the duty of every authority of the state.

Article 9.🔗

A law and decree issued and published before the adoption of the Constitution shall remain in force if they do not contradict the Constitution and its principles.

Article 10.🔗

This Constitution shall be in force permanently and continuously, except in the case provided for by this same Constitution.

Article 11.🔗

After approval and adoption, the Constitution shall be published by the Constituent Assembly with the signatures of its members.

Article 12.🔗

Georgian citizenship is acquired by origin, marriage and naturalization.

Article 13.🔗

A citizen of Georgia cannot at the same time be a citizen of another state.

Article 14.🔗

A citizen of Georgia may renounce Georgian citizenship only after fulfilling his state duty.

Article 15.🔗

The conditions for acquiring and losing citizenship shall be determined in detail by law.

Article 16.🔗

All citizens are equal before the law.

Article 17.🔗

There is no class distinction.

Article 18.🔗

The conferment of a rank, except an academic one, is prohibited.

Orders are abolished.

During military action, a badge of distinction may be awarded for displaying courage.

Article 19.🔗

The death penalty is abolished.

Article 20.🔗

No one may be punished otherwise than by court procedure; an exception is the disciplinary procedure defined by law.

Article 21.🔗

Every citizen must be tried under the general procedure.

Article 22.🔗

The person is inviolable; no one may be arrested or otherwise deprived of liberty and personally searched, except by force of a reasoned order of a court or an investigative body.

Article 23.🔗

The administration may, on its own authority, arrest someone in the following cases:

a) when it catches a malefactor right at the scene of the crime;

b) when at the scene of the crime the victim, or someone present, lays hands on the malefactor;

c) when the person on whom suspicion is cast is found to have any incriminating thing, or when on his body or in his dwelling clear signs and traces of the crime are found.

Article 24.🔗

A private person may also arrest a criminal, if he catches him at the scene of the crime and at the same time his escape before the arrival of the administration is to be expected.

Article 25.🔗

A person arrested by order of both court bodies and the administration must be brought before the nearest court within 24 hours; if the court is so distant that it is impossible to bring the criminal within 24 hours, this term must be extended according to local circumstances, but only not more than 48 hours.

Article 26.🔗

The court is obliged to interrogate the brought person immediately, in any case not later than 24 hours; and then to issue a written order either for the continuation of his arrest or for his immediate release.

Article 27.🔗

The proper bodies of the court are obliged, if by any way and means they learn that someone has been arrested in violation of the above rules, to immediately investigate the case and issue a written order either for his release or for the continuation of his arrest.

Article 28.🔗

Every citizen's dwelling is inviolable: only by a Resolution of the court may it be searched in the case provided by law.

Article 29.🔗

Private correspondence is inviolable: its seizure and examination may be only by a Resolution of the court.

Article 30.🔗

Every citizen is entirely free in movement and choice of residence; restriction of this right may be only by a judgment of the court.

Article 31.🔗

Every citizen enjoys full freedom of conscience.

Persecution of a citizen and restriction of his political or civil rights on grounds of religion or belief is not permitted. Everyone may profess the religion he wishes, or change his religion, or belong to no cult at all.

On grounds of religion and belief, civil and political

refusal to perform duty is not permitted to anyone, except in the case

which is provided by a separate law.

Acts of a religious nature have no influence whatsoever on civil rights and status.

Article 32.🔗

Every citizen has the right to express and disseminate his thoughts by word, print or any other means without the prior permission of the government. For every crime committed in such a case, he is answerable only before the court.

Article 33.🔗

Citizens of the Republic of Georgia have the right to assemble publicly and unarmed without the permission of the government, both indoors and outdoors.

Article 34.🔗

If an assembly has taken on the character of a crime, the administration may close it.

Article 35.🔗

Citizens of the Republic of Georgia have the right, without prior permission of the Government, to establish professional and any other unions, if their purpose is not prohibited by law; the dissolution of a union may be effected only by a court resolution.

Article 36.🔗

The free development of intellectual, commercial and economic-industrial professions is ensured by the laws of the Republic.

Article 37.🔗

The right to personal and collective petition is ensured.

Article 38.🔗

The strike of workers is free.

Article 39.🔗

Citizens of both sexes are equal in both political and civil, economic and family rights.

Article 40.🔗

Marriage is based on legal equality and voluntariness; the form and rules of marriage are determined by law.

Those born outside marriage and those born in marriage are equal in rights and duties; the mother has the right to seek and establish who is the father of the child born by her outside marriage; likewise, a child born outside marriage has the right to seek his father.

Article 41.🔗

A political refugee who has taken refuge in the territory of the Republic shall not be surrendered to another state.

Article 42.🔗

For violation of the rights of a citizen, both an official and a private person shall be held liable in accordance with criminal laws.

Article 43.🔗

During rebellion or war, Parliament has the right temporarily to suspend throughout the Republic, or in any part thereof, the guarantee of those rights which are set forth in the following articles: 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, and 38, and during war also the guarantee set forth in Article 21, on the condition that subjection to military law is possible only in territory occupied by the active army.

If Parliament is not assembled, the Government may, on its own responsibility, suspend the operation of the above-mentioned guarantees, but must immediately convene Parliament and submit its resolution to it.

Article 44.🔗

During a great epidemic, the Government has the right temporarily to suspend the guarantee of the rights set forth in Articles 22, 25, 26 and 30, insofar as the fight against the epidemic requires it.

Article 45.🔗

The guarantees and rights enumerated in the Constitution do not deny other guarantees and rights which are not mentioned therein but follow by themselves from the principles recognized by the Constitution.

Article 46.🔗

The representative body of the Republic of Georgia is the "Parliament of Georgia", which consists of deputies elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and proportional suffrage. Every citizen with full rights who has reached the age of twenty has the right to participate in elections, regardless of sex.

Parliament is elected for a term of three years.

Article 47.🔗

The procedure for parliamentary elections is determined by a separate law.

Article 48.🔗

A member of Parliament shall not be held liable for the opinion and views he expresses in the performance of his duties.

The person of a member of Parliament is inviolable; he may not be arrested or put on trial while he is considered a member of Parliament, unless Parliament itself has given its consent to this. An exception is a case when he is caught in the commission of a crime.

Parliament shall be notified of this case immediately;

A member of Parliament who has been arrested or put on trial shall be released if Parliament so demands.

Article 49.🔗

A member of Parliament has the right not to give testimony regarding the facts entrusted to him as a deputy. He does not lose this right even when he is no longer considered a deputy.

Article 50.🔗

Members of Parliament shall receive the remuneration determined by law.

Article 51.🔗

The issue of the incompatibility of membership of Parliament, civil service and profession shall be determined by law.

Article 52.🔗

Sovereignty belongs to the whole people; Parliament, within the framework of this Constitution,

exercises the sovereignty of the people.

Article 53.🔗

Parliament issues a law, a decree and a resolution; the procedure for their publication shall be determined by a separate law.

Article 54.🔗

Parliament has the right to:

a) legislation;

b) supreme governance of the army of the republic

and generally of every armed force;

c) declaration of war;

d) ratification of peace, trade and similar treaties with foreign states;

e) amnesty;

f) approval of the budget;

g) raising domestic and foreign loans;

aa) election of officials, assigned to it by the Constitution or by law, and

h) general control of the executive power.

Article 55.🔗

A sitting of Parliament is public; however, Parliament may by a special resolution declare its sitting, or part of a sitting, closed.

Article 56.🔗

Parliament itself shall examine the legality of the election of its members and shall decide every dispute on this subject.

Article 57.🔗

Parliament decides every question by a simple majority of votes, unless another procedure is adopted by the Rules of Procedure or by law.

Article 58.🔗

Parliament may be opened only if more than half of the total number of deputies are present.

Article 59.🔗

Members of Parliament have the right to submit an interpellation to the Government and to put questions; the procedure for submitting an interpellation and putting questions shall be determined by law or by the Rules of Procedure.

Parliament has the right to appoint an investigative commission.

Article 60.🔗

Parliament itself determines its Rules of Procedure and the procedure of its activity.

Article 61.🔗

Parliament convenes annually on the first Monday of November. Elections of the new Parliament shall be appointed in autumn, at the same time throughout the whole republic, with the expectation that the newly elected deputies attend the opening of Parliament.

Article 62.🔗

The temporary suspension of the work of Parliament may occur only by decision of Parliament.

When the work of Parliament is suspended, the Government, or the Presidium of Parliament, has the right to convene it for a special occasion.

The convening of Parliament is mandatory if one fourth of the deputies so demand.

Article 63.🔗

The right of initiative shall belong to:

a) every member of Parliament, and

b) 5,000 voters.

Article 64.🔗

If thirty thousand voters so demand in writing, Parliament shall be obliged to submit a newly adopted law to the people for a referendum.

The procedure for a referendum shall be determined by law.

Article 65.🔗

Parliament shall annually elect a Presidium.

Article 66.🔗

The executive power of the highest administration shall belong to the Government of the Republic.

Article 67.🔗

The Government shall have a Chairman, who shall be elected by Parliament for a term of one year. The same person may be elected to this position only twice in succession.

Article 68.🔗

The other members of the Government – the ministers – shall be invited by the Chairman of the Government

from among those citizens of the Republic who have the right to participate in parliamentary elections.

Article 69.🔗

A member of the Government may not at the same time hold any other office, or

pursue any profession; he may be only a member of Parliament and a member of local self-government.

Article 70.🔗

The Chairman of the Government shall be vested with the highest representation of the Republic; he shall appoint ambassadors to other states, and ambassadors of foreign states shall be accredited to him.

In special circumstances, if the adoption of a Government resolution is impeded, the Chairman may call out the armed forces of the Republic, which shall be immediately reported to Parliament.

The Chairman shall issue orders and instructions for the enforcement of law, but shall not have the right to suspend the operation of a law or to impede its execution.

The Chairman of the Government shall have the right, by his instruction, to order an inspection of a particular branch, place or event of administration in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law.

The Chairman shall have no special rights other than those conferred upon him by this Constitution.

Article 71.🔗

The Chairman of the Government shall have a deputy, who shall perform his duties in the Government.

Article 72.🔗

The general rights and duties of the Government shall be:

a) the highest administration and governance of the affairs of the Republic, in accordance with law;

b) supervision and enforcement of the Constitution and laws;

c) submission to Parliament of its own draft law, as well as of an opinion on a draft law introduced on the initiative of Parliament or of the people;

d) protection of the foreign interests of the Republic;

e) ensuring the Republic against external peril and protection of its

independence;

f) care for the protection of domestic order and security.

In an unforeseen case, if necessity so requires, the Government shall have the right, by its resolution, to call out the armed forces for a period of not more than 21 days. If it is needed for a longer period, it must obtain permission from Parliament.

g) to manage finances, to cut money in accordance with law, and annually to submit to Parliament the estimated statement of income and expenditure – the budget;

aa) to render account to Parliament of its activity and at least once a year to submit a report on the internal and external situation of Georgia; to submit also a special report, if Parliament so demands, and

h) to perform everything that law or Parliament has imposed upon it.

Article 73.🔗

The administration and management of the remaining affairs of the Republic is distributed among the Government's

members. Each of them independently and with his own responsibility before the Parliament administers the department entrusted to him and must resign when, by a direct resolution of the Parliament, he loses its confidence.

A minister has the right to vote in the Parliament only when he is registered as a deputy.

The Chairman of the Government is responsible to the Parliament for the general policy, is obliged to obey the resolution of the Parliament

and to execute it and, accordingly, if necessary, to replace an individual minister or to transform the entire cabinet.

Article 74.🔗

Every member of the Government has the right to attend a sitting of the Parliament and of its commission. If a minister so requests, the Parliament and its commission are obliged to hear him. For its part, at the request of the Parliament and of the commission, a minister is also obliged to appear at a sitting and give an explanation.

Article 75.🔗

For violation of the Constitution, the Chairman of the Government and the members of the Government are responsible before the court. Only the Parliament may hold them accountable. Their trial is conducted under the general procedure.

Article 76.🔗

Throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Georgia there is one supreme court – the Senate, which is elected by the Parliament. The Senate is obliged:

a) to supervise the observance of the law, and

b) to administer the judicial part as a court of cassation.

Article 77.🔗

For the conduct of civil, criminal and administrative law cases there are permanent courts.

The organisation, jurisdiction and competence of the court are determined by law.

Article 78.🔗

The court is independent and obeys only the law. Justice is administered in the name of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

Article 79.🔗

Not a single judgment of a court may be annulled, altered or suspended by a legislative, executive or administrative body.

Article 80.🔗

A court sitting is public; only in an exceptional case, when the interest of protecting morality and public peace so requires, may the sitting be held in camera by a resolution of the court itself.

Article 81.🔗

For grave criminal offences, as well as for political and press crimes, there is an institution of jurors.

Article 82.🔗

A judge is elected for a term. The procedure of election and the conditions which a judge must satisfy are determined by law.

Article 83.🔗

A member of a court may not be transferred from one place to another against his will, without a resolution of the court. His temporary removal from office may take place only when he has been placed under proceedings or investigation.

Complete dismissal, however, may take place by force of a judgment of the court.

Article 84.🔗

No state tax may be imposed or collected unless it has been approved in advance by the Parliament.

Note: The right to impose taxes of local self-government is determined by a separate law.

Article 85.🔗

No one may be exempted from a state tax except by force of law.

Article 86.🔗

Unless by force of law, no pension, reward or public expenditure whatsoever may be paid out of the State Treasury.

Article 87.🔗

Without the consent of Parliament, no state loan or any financial obligation whatsoever may be contracted.

Article 88.🔗

Every revenue and expenditure of the State shall be entered in the budget.

The budget shall be submitted to Parliament annually for approval.

Article 89.🔗

If Parliament has not managed to approve the budget before the beginning of the accounting year, the Government shall be entitled, with the permission of Parliament, to cover state expenditures according to the budget of the previous year until the new budget is approved.

Article 90.🔗

The transfer of expenditure from one paragraph of the budget to another may not be effected without the consent of Parliament.

Article 91.🔗

The following shall be subject to state control:

a) the proper execution of the state budget;

b) all revenues and expenditures of the State;

c) the estimates and accounts of the Government and of various other agencies, and

d) the finances of local self-government in accordance with law.

Article 92.🔗

The State Controller shall be elected by Parliament. He shall not be considered a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, but shall be vested with the rights of a minister and shall be responsible only to Parliament. He shall report to Parliament annually.

Article 93.🔗

The organisation of control and the procedure for its exercise shall be determined by law.

Article 94.🔗

Every citizen of the Republic shall be obliged personally to perform military service in accordance with law.

Article 95.🔗

The purpose of the military forces shall be the defence of the Republic and its territory.

Article 96.🔗

The term of military service and the procedure for every organisation of the military forces shall be determined by law.

Article 97.🔗

The number of young men to be called up for the performance of military service shall be approved by Parliament annually.

Article 98.🔗

Local self-government shall at the same time be a body of local government and shall administer the cultural, educational and economic affairs of the local administration within the limits of its territory.

Article 99.🔗

The organisation, rights and duties, and the procedure of administration of local self-government shall be determined by law.

Article 100.🔗

Local self-government shall have the right to issue binding resolutions in accordance with law.

Article 101.🔗

Local self-government shall be elected by universal, direct, equal, secret and proportional suffrage.

Article 102.🔗

A resolution or order of local self-government may be annulled only by judicial procedure.

Article 103.🔗

The central bodies of the Government shall have the right to suspend a resolution or order of local self-government if it contravenes the law, and shall be obliged to refer the matter to a court immediately. The procedure and conditions of suspension shall be determined by law.

Article 104.🔗

Local self-government in matters of administration shall be subordinate

to the central bodies of the Government.

Article 105.🔗

The matters in respect of which a resolution of local self-government must be approved by the central authority shall be determined by law.

Article 106.🔗

Local self-government shall be granted budgetary rights, as determined by a separate law.

Article 107.🔗

The integral parts of the Republic of Georgia – Abkhazia, Sukhumi district, Muslim Georgia (Batumi region) and Zakatala, Zakatala district – are granted local autonomous governance.

Article 108.🔗

The statutes of the autonomous governments mentioned in the previous article shall be elaborated by a separate law.

Article 109.🔗

Art, science and their teaching are free; it is the duty of the state to provide patronage to them and to promote their development.

Article 110.🔗

Primary education is universal, free of charge and compulsory. The system of public schools constitutes one organic whole, in which the primary school is the foundation of the secondary and higher school.

Education in schools of all levels is secular.

Article 111.🔗

The state sets as its goal: to provide the poorest children in primary school with food, clothing and footwear, and school items free of charge.

To achieve this goal, the state and local self-governments shall set aside a part of their revenue annually.

Article 112.🔗

A school founded by private initiative is subject to the general school law.

Article 113.🔗

The Republic shall care for the dignified existence of its citizens.

Article 114.🔗

Forcible deprivation of property or restriction of private initiative may be carried out only for state, public and cultural needs in the manner prescribed by a separate law. For the property taken away, appropriate compensation shall be given unless otherwise provided by law.

Article 115.🔗

The Republic has its own trade and industrial economy, the expansion of which and the creation of a single integral public economy is its main goal.

The Republic promotes the expansion and strengthening of the same kind of economy of local self-government bodies.

The Republic may, through legislation, socialize that branch of trade, industry and agriculture, and production, which is suitable for this.

Article 116.🔗

The protection of the fruits of the labour of the small producer – the farmer, the artisan, the home producer – from exploitation by private persons is a subject of special concern of the state.

The special concern of the Republic is also the flourishing of agriculture; the cultivation and use of land constitutes the duty of the landowner to society.

Article 117.🔗

Labour is the foundation of the existence of the Republic, and its provision is a special duty of the Republic.

Article 118.🔗

Under the legislation of the Republic, local self-government is obliged to establish a labour exchange, a mediation office and other similar institutions that register the unemployed and mediate in finding work.

In the governing body of such an institution, the number of representatives of the workers' union shall not be less than half.

Article 119.🔗

A citizen left unemployed shall be given assistance by finding work or in the form of insurance.

Article 120.🔗

A citizen deprived of the ability to work by reason of old age, illness or another cause, for whom care is not assigned by law or custom to an heir, a curator, a producer or another private or public institution, and who has no means of subsistence, shall receive assistance from the state treasury in the form of insurance or in another form. The treasury shall likewise render assistance if the heir or the curator is unable to support the person who has lost the ability to work.

Article 121.🔗

A hired worker who fully or partially loses the ability to work by reason of old age, injury or another cause shall receive assistance in the form of insurance in proportion to his wage. The amount to be insured shall be constituted from a special tax imposed on the employer.

Article 122.🔗

In addition to the special tax or the tax imposed for this purpose, a portion determined annually shall be set aside from the revenue of the Republic for the fulfilment of the above-mentioned duties.

Article 123.🔗

Normal working time for hired persons shall not exceed 48 hours per week; at the same time, once a week the worker shall rest continuously for 42 hours. Exceptions concerning working time shall be determined by law.

In agricultural and other seasonal production, the adjustment of working time to special conditions shall be determined by law.

Article 124.🔗

The labour of a youth under 16 in production is prohibited; for adolescents aged 16-18 working time shall be set at 6 hours a day; night work is prohibited for adolescents and generally for women.

Article 125.🔗

It is a matter of concern for the Republic to determine the minimum wage and the normal conditions of labour in production.

A labour inspection and sanitary supervision shall be established, which shall be independent of employers.

Article 126.🔗

A special law shall protect the labour of women in production. The work of a woman in production harmful to motherhood is prohibited; a working woman during childbirth shall be free from work for not less than two months without loss of wages; the employer is obliged to keep working women in conditions suitable for the nursing of infants.

Article 127.🔗

For violation of the laws protecting labour, the guilty shall be held liable under criminal procedure.

Article 128.🔗

The Republic and local government are obliged to care for the protection of motherhood and children.

Article 129.🔗

The free social-economic and cultural development of any national

minority of the Republic of Georgia may not be restricted, in particular its instruction and upbringing in its mother tongue and the internal management and administration of national-cultural affairs.

Everyone has the right to write, print and speak in their mother tongue.

Article 130.🔗

Local self-government units composed of a national minority (community, eroba, city) have the right to unite and establish a national union for the better organization and direction of their cultural-educational affairs within the framework of the Constitution and law.

A national minority which does not possess such self-government bodies may, even without this, form a national union with the right and competence noted in this article.

Entry into a national union occurs according to spoken language.

For the satisfaction of the cultural-educational needs of national minorities, financial means shall be allocated from the state and self-government budgets proportionally to the number of inhabitants.

Article 131.🔗

No one's political and civil right may be restricted while participating in a national union.

Article 132.🔗

Every national union may initiate and defend before the court the case concerning the violation of the right of a national minority conferred by the Constitution and law.

Article 133.🔗

Every citizen of the Republic of Georgia has an equal right to receive state, civil, military and city or eroba service.

Article 134.🔗

Nationally mixed local governance is obliged to establish, with the funds allocated for study-education, a sufficient number of schools and cultural-educational institutions according to the proportion of the national composition of citizens.

Article 135.🔗

In a school of a national minority, instruction is conducted in the child's spoken language.

Article 136.🔗

Within the scope of local governance where any one national minority exceeds 20% of all citizens, at the request of this national minority, deliberation and proceedings in state and public institutions shall be introduced in its mother tongue along with the state language.

Article 137.🔗

A non-Georgian deputy who does not know the state language sufficiently may speak in Parliament in his mother tongue, the correct translation of which he shall submit in advance to the Presidium of Parliament.

The detailed rule is determined by law.

Article 138.🔗

A citizen of Georgia may be accepted to any position if he meets the requirements of law.

Article 139.🔗

A civil servant or official may be removed or punished by disciplinary procedure by the order of the institution or superior from whom he was received; and the procedure for complete dismissal from service is determined by law.

Article 140.🔗

Every civil servant has the right to receive a pension. The condition for receiving a pension by a civil servant and his family members is determined by law.

Article 141.🔗

Every civil servant is responsible before the court according to the general rule.

A citizen has the right to hold every civil servant accountable by the common procedure for his crime.

A citizen has the right to demand from the state compensation for the damage caused by the unlawful action of a civil servant.

The procedure and condition of compensation are determined by law.

Article 142.🔗

The state and the church are separate and independent.

Article 143.🔗

No faith has superiority.

Article 144.🔗

Expenditure from the state treasury and from the funds of local self-governments for the needs of religious affairs is prohibited.

Article 145.🔗

The right to initiate a general or partial revision of the Constitution shall be vested in:

a) not less than half of the members of Parliament, and

b) 50,000 voters.

Article 146.🔗

A proposal for a general or partial revision of the Constitution shall be placed on the agenda of Parliament for consideration not earlier than six months from the day of its submission.

Article 147.🔗

A draft general or partial revision of the Constitution shall be adopted by a majority of two-thirds of all members of Parliament. It shall enter into force only after confirmation by a majority of the people.

Article 148.🔗

The abolition of the form of government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia cannot become the subject of a proposal for revision of the Constitution.

Article 149.🔗

Before the first Parliament convenes, the Constituent Assembly shall act in its place.