| CHILE Republic of Chile Republica de Chile Joined United Nations: 24 October 1945 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 17 October 2012 |
CHAPTER I
Bases of Institutionality
Article 1.- Men are born free and equal, in dignity and rights.
The family is the basic core of society.
The State recognizes and defends the intermediate groups through which society organizes and structures itself and guarantees them the
necessary autonomy to fulfill their own specific objectives.
The State is at the service of the individual and its goal is to promote common welfare. To this effect, it must contribute to the creation of
the social conditions which permit each and every one of the members of the national community to achieve the greatest possible spiritual
and material fulfillment, with full respect for the rights and guarantees established by this Constitution.
It is the duty of the State to safeguard the national security, to provide protection for the people and the family, to promote the
strengthening of the latter, to further the harmonious integration of all the sectors of the Nation and to ensure everyone the right to
participate in the national life with equal opportunities.
Article 2.- The national flag, the coat of arms of the Republic and the national anthem are the emblems of the Nation.
Article 3.- The State of Chile is unitary. Its territory is divided into regions. The law shall provide that administration thereof be functional
and territorially decentralized.
Article 4.- Chile is a democratic republic.
Article 5.- Sovereignty rests essentially with the Nation. It is exercised by the people through the plebiscites and periodic elections, as well
as by the authorities established by this Constitution. No sector of the people nor any individual may assume its exercise. The exercise of
sovereignty recognizes as a limitation the respect for the essential rights originating from human nature.
Article 6.- The action of the bodies of the State must be subject to the Constitution and to the norms enacted in conformity therewith.
Both the incumbent officers of said bodies or members thereof, as well as all persons, institutions or
groups, are bound by the precepts of this Constitution.
The breach of this principle shall generate responsibilities and penalties to be determined by the law.
Article 7.- The bodies of the State operate validly within their field of competence, and in the manner prescribed by law, after their
members have been properly invested.
No judicature, person or group of persons may assume, even on the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, any other authority or rights
than those expressly conferred upon them by the Constitution or by law.
Any act contravening this article is null and void and shall give rise to the responsibilities and penalties indicated by law.
Article 8.- Any action by an individual or group intended to propagate doctrines attempting against the family, or which advocate violence
or a concept of society, the State or the juridical order, of a totalitarian character or based on class warfare, is illegal and contrary to the
institutional code, of the Republic.
The organizations and political movements or parties which, due to their purposes or the nature of the activities of their members, tend
toward such objectives, are unconstitutional.
The cognizance of violations of the provisions set forth in the preceding paragraphs shall rest with the Constitutional Court.
Without prejudice to the other penalties established by the Constitution or by the law, persons who incur or who should have incurred the
aforementioned violations shall not, for a period of ten years from the date of the Court's decision, be eligible for public duties or
positions, regardless as to whether they should or should not be obtained through popular vote. Likewise, they will not become rectors or
directors of educational establishments or teach thereat or exploit any medium of mass communication, or become directors or
administrators thereof, or hold positions therein, related to the broadcast or dissemination of opinions or information. During the
aforementioned period, they will not be able either to act as leaders of political organizations or students associations, and in general,
organizations related to education, or occupy positions in community professional, entrepreneurial, labor or trade unions.
If at the time of the Court's decision, those persons referred to above should be holding a public office or position, whether or not as the
result of a popular vote, they shall lose it as a matter of law.
Persons penalized in accordance with this precept, shall not be eligible for reinstatement during the period indicated in the fourth
paragraph.
The duration of ineligibility as prescribed in this article shall be doubled in case of recurrence of the offense.
Article 9.- Terrorism in any of its forms is essentially contrary to human rights.
A law passed by a qualified quorum shall define terrorist conducts and the penalty to be imposed. Those responsible for such crimes shall,
for a period of fifteen years, be precluded from holding positions or exercising functions or activities as referred to in paragraph four of
the preceding article, without prejudice to other ineligibilities or of those for a longer period established by law.
Neither amnesty or pardon, nor provisional freedom for those tried for such crimes shall be warranted. For all legal effects, such crimes
will always be regarded as common offenses and not as political ones.
CHAPTER II
Nationality and Citizenry
Article 10.- Chileans are:
1.- Persons born in the territory of Chile, with the exception of those children of foreigners who are in Chile serving their government, as
well as those children of transient foreigners. However, all may opt for the Chilean nationality;
2.- Children born abroad, of a Chilean father or mother, who may actually be serving the Republic. To these effects, they shall be
considered to have been born in Chilean territory;
3.- Children-born abroad, of a Chilean father or mother, for the mere fact of having resided in Chile for more than one year;
4.- Foreigners who have obtained naturalization papers in accordance with the law, after expressly renouncing their former nationality.
Such renunciation shall not be required of persons born in a foreign country which, by virtue of an international treaty, offers the same
benefits to Chileans.
Individuals naturalized in accordance with this clause shall be eligible to hold public offices resulting from popular election only after five
years following completion of naturalization papers;
5.- Individuals upon whom the law has, as a special grace, bestowed naturalization.
The law shall provide for the procedures concerning the option of acquiring Chilean nationality, issuance, denial or annulment of
naturalization papers and for the creation of an official register for all these acts.
Article 11.- Chilean nationality is lost:
1.- By naturalization in a foreign country, except those Chileans covered by clauses 1, 2 and 3 of the preceding Article, who should have
obtained another nationality without renouncing their Chilean citizenship, and in accordance with provisions set forth in clause 4 of the
same Article.
The aforementioned grounds for loss of Chilean nationality shall not apply to Chileans who, by virtue of constitutional, legal or
administrative provisions of the State in the territory in which they should reside, adopt the foreign nationality as a condition for remaining
in that country or for attaining juridical equality with nationals of the respective country in the exercise of civil rights;
2.- By means of a supreme decree, in case of services rendered to enemies of Chile or its allies during a foreign war;
3.- By means of a judicial condemnatory sentence for crimes against the honor of the country or the essential and permanent interests of
the State, regarded as such by a law passed by a qualified quorum.
In such proceedings, facts shall always be conscientiously analysed;
4.- By annulment of naturalization papers, and
5.- By a law revoking naturalization granted by special grace.
Individuals who should have lost Chilean nationality on any of the grounds set forth in this Article, may only recover it by virtue of law.
Article 12.- The individual affected by an action or resolution of the administrative authority depriving him of his Chilean nationality or
disregarding it, may, within the term of thirty days, resort, on his own behalf or through a third party, to the Supreme Court, which shall
take cognizance of his case as a jury and in full court. Upon filing the appeal the effects of the action or resolution resorted shall be
suspended.
Article 13.- Citizens are those Chileans who have reached the age of eighteen years and who have never been sentenced to afflictive
punishment.
The status of citizen entails the rights to vote, the eligibility to hold positions subject to popular voting, as well as all other rights granted
by the Constitution or the law.
Article 14.- Foreigners residing in Chile for more than five years and who comply with the requirements prescribed in the first paragraph
of Article 13, may exercise the right to vote in the cases and in the manner determined by law.
Article 15.- In popular voting, vote shall be personal, egalitarian and secret. In addition, for citizens it shall be compulsory.
Popular voting may only be called for in elections and plebiscites expressly provided for in this Constitution.
Article 16.- The right to vote is suspended:
1.- In case of interdiction on grounds of insanity;
2.- When the person is being tried for a crime deserving afflictive punishment or for a crime that the law should define as a terrorist
conduct, and
3.- In case of punishment by the Constitutional Court in conformity with Article 8 of this Constitution.
Those who should, on these grounds, be deprived of the right to vote, may recover such right upon completion of the term of ten years
counted from the date of the Court's decision.
Article 17, The status of citizenship is lost:
1.- Upon loss of Chilean nationality;
2.- On account of a sentence to afflictive punishment, and
3.- On account of a sentence for crimes which the law defines as terrorist conduct.
Individuals who should have lost their citizenship on the grounds described in number 2, may appeal to the Senate for recovery thereof,
once their criminal liability has been extinguished. Those who should have lost citizenship on the grounds described in number 3, may
only secure its recovery by virtue of a law passed by a qualified quorum once the sentence has been served.
Article 18.- There shall be a public electoral system. Regarding matters not provided for by this Constitution, a constitutional organic law
shall determine the organization and operation thereof, shall regulate the manner in which electoral processes and plebiscites will be
conducted, and shall, at all times, guarantee full equality between independents and members of political parties, both with regard to the
presentation of candidacies and to their participation in said processes.
Responsibility for safeguarding public order during electoral acts and plebiscites shall rest with the Armed Forces and the Armed Police in
the manner prescribed for by law.
CHAPTER III
Constitutional Rights and Obligations
Article 19.- The Constitution guarantees to all persons:
1.- The right to life and to the physical and psychological integrity of the individual.
The law protects the life of those about to be born.
The death penalty may only be instituted for a crime considered in a 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 those who should set foot
on her territory become free.
Neither the law nor any authority may establish arbitrary differences;
3.- Equal protection under the law in the exercise of their rights.
All persons have the right to legal defense in the manner indicated by law and no authority nor individual may impede, restrict or perturb
the due intervention of an attorney, should it have been sought. As regards the members of the Armed Forces and of Public Order and
Security, this right will be governed, in connection with administrative and disciplinary matters, by the relevant norms of their respective
statutes.
The law shall provide for the means whereby legal counsel and defense may be rendered to those who should have been unable to obtain
them on their own.
No one can be judged by special commissions, but only by the court specified in the law, and provided such court has been established
prior to the enactment of said law.
Sentences decreed by a court vested with jurisdiction must be based upon previous legally held proceedings. It will be the responsibility of
the legislator to establish, at all times, the guarantees for a rational and just procedure.
The law cannot presume de jure criminal liability.
No crime shall be subject to penalties other than those prescribed for by a law enacted prior to the perpetration of the crime, except where
a new legislation might favor the interested party.
No law may establish penalties for crimes which have not been expressly described therein;
4.- Respect for and protection of private and public life and the honor of the individual and his family.
Violation of this precept, committed through a mass medium, whereby a false deed or action is imputed unjustifiably causing harm or
discredit to an individual or his family, shall constitute a crime and shall be punished as determined by law. However, the mass medium
may claim exception by proving, before the corresponding court, the truth of the imputation, unless it should constitute in itself a libel
against private individuals. Furthermore, the proprietors, editors, directors and administrators of the respective mass medium shall be
jointly responsible for the appropriate indemnifications;
5.- Inviolability of homes and all forms of private communication. Homes may be searched and private communications and documents
intercepted, opened or inspected only in the case and in the manner prescribed for by law;
6.- Freedom of conscience, manifestation of all creeds and the free exercise of all cults which are not opposed to morals, good customs
or public order;
Religious communities may erect and maintain churches and their facilities in accordance with the conditions of safety and hygiene as
established by the laws and ordinances.
With respect to assets, the churches and religious communities and institutions representing any cult shall enjoy the rights granted and
acknowledged by the laws currently in force. Churches and their facilities assigned exclusively for religious activities shall be exempt
from all taxes;
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 impaired.
(b) No one may be deprived of his personal freedom nor may such freedom be restricted except for the cases and in the manner
determined by the Constitution and the laws.
(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 served in the manner prescribed for by law. However, an individual caught in the act of committing a crime may
be detained provided that he be brought before the competent judge within the following twenty-four hours. Should the authority order the
arrest or detention of an individual, the competent judge must be served, within forty-eight hours following the arrest or detention, and the
individual is to be brought before him. By virtue of a well founded decision, 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 on preventive arrest or prison, in places other than his home or the public premises
established to that effect.
Those in charge of prisons may not accept any one who has been arrested or detained, or who is being tried or sentenced to prison,
without recording the appropriate order issued by a legally authorized official, in a public register.
No incommunication order may prevent the official in charge of the place of detention from visiting the individual under arrest or
detention, subject to trial proceedings or sentenced to prison, held in such place of detention. This officer is obliged, provided it is so
requested by the arrested person or detainee, to send a copy of the detention warrant to the competent judge, or to demand that such
copy be given to him, or to make an attestation by himself that the individual is being detained, in the event this requirement should have
been omitted at the time of the detention.
(e) Release on bail shall apply unless the judge considers the detention or preventive imprisonment necessary for investigation proceedings
or for the security of the victim of the offense, or the society.
The law shall establish the requirements and formalities for obtaining such release.
(f) In criminal cases the defendant shall be obliged to testify under oath on acts of his own; nor shall he be obliged to testify against the
defendant, his ascendants, descendants, spouse or any other persons who, according to cases or circumstances, should be specified in
the law.
(g) No penalty of confiscation shall be imposed, without prejudice to any seizure in the circumstances determined by law; however, 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 definitive stay of proceedings has been decreed, or when absolutory 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 patrimonial and moral losses which he may have suffered. The indemnification shall be judicially
determined in a brief, summary proceeding in which the evidence shall be conscientiously analysed;
8.- The right to live in an environment free from contamination. It is the duty of the State to watch over the protection of this right and
the preservation of nature.
The law may establish specific restrictions on the exercise of certain rights or freedoms in order to protect the environment;
9.- The right to protection of health.
The State protects the free and egalitarian access to actions for the promotion, protection and recovery of the health and rehabilitation of
the individual.
The coordination and control of activities related to health shall likewise rest with the State.
It is the prime duty of the State to guarantee health assistance, whether undertaken by public or private institutions, in accordance with
the form and conditions set forth in the law which may establish compulsory health quotations.
Each person shall have the right to choose, the health system he wishes to join, either State or private controlled.
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 preferential right and duty to educate their children. The State shall provide special protection for the exercise of this
right.
Basic education is mandatory; to that effect, the State must finance a gratuitous system designed to ensure access thereto by the entire
population. It is, likewise, the duty of the State to promote the development of education at all levels, encourage scientific and
technological research, artistic creation, and the protection and increase of the cultural patrimony of the Nation.
It is the duty of the community to contribute to the development and improvement of education;
11.- Freedom of teaching includes the right to open, organize and maintain educational establishments.
Freedom of education has no other limitations but those imposed by morals, good customs, public order and national security.
Officially recognized education cannot be directed towards propagating any type of political-partisan tendency.
Parents have the right to choose the educational establishment for their children.
A constitutional organic law shall establish the minimum requirements for each of the levels of primary and secondary education and shall
provide for the objective norms of general application, that may enable the State to watch over compliance therewith. Said law shall,
likewise, establish the requirements for obtaining official recognition of educational establishments at all levels;
12.- Freedom to express opinions and to disseminate information without prior censorship in any form and by any means, without
prejudice to assuming the responsibility for any crimes or abuses committed in the exercise of such freedoms, in conformity with the law
which is to be passed by a qualified quorum.
In no case may the law establish a state monopoly over the mass media.
Any individual or body corporate offended or unjustly alluded to in a mass medium, has the right to have his declaration or rectification
gratuitously disseminated, under the conditions determined by law, by the mass medium having issued such information.
All individuals or bodies corporate shall have the right to establish, edit or maintain newspapers, magazines and periodicals, under the
conditions prescribed for by law.
The State, such universities and other persons or entities as prescribed by the law, may establish, operate and maintain television stations.
There shall be a National Council for Radio and Television, having autonomy and legal status, which shall be in charge of supervising the
proper functioning of these mass media. A law passed by a qualified quorum shall determine the organization and other functions and
authorities of said Council.
The law shall establish a system of censorship for the exhibition and publicity of motion picture production and the general norms
governing public expression of other artistic activities;
13.- The right to assemble peacefully without prior permission and carrying no weapons.
Meetings at 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 legal status, associations must be organized in accordance with the law.
No one can be obliged to belong to an association.
Associations contrary to morals, public order and Security of the State are prohibited.
Political parties may not intervene in other than their own activities or have any privilege or monopoly on civic participation; its records
and accounts must be public; its financing cannot emanate from foreign currency, assets, donations, contributions or credits; its by-laws
must provide for norms ensuring an effective internal democracy. A constitutional organic law shall regulate other matters pertaining
thereto, and shall provide for the penalties to be applied for non-fulfillment of its precepts, which may include dissolution thereof. The
associations, movements, organizations or groups of persons engaged in or performing activities pertaining to political parties without
conforming to the aforementioned norms are illegal and shall be subject to penalties provided for in the above-mentioned constitutional
organic law;
16.- Freedom to work and protection of that freedom.
Any person has the right to free employment and free selection of his work, with a just compensation.
Any discrimination which is not based on personal skills or capability is prohibited, although the law may require Chilean citizenship or age
limits in certain cases.
No type of work can be prohibited except where it is contrary to morals, or public security and health, or where it should be so required
by the national interest as declared by the law. No law or provision from the public authority may demand affiliation to any organization or
entity whatsoever, as a requirement for undertaking certain activity or work, nor can it demand that any such affiliation be discontinued as
a condition to perform such activities or keep such work. The law shall determine which professions require a title or university degree
and the conditions to be met in order to engage in them.
Workmen have the right to collective bargaining with the company for which they work, except where the law should expressly prohibit
negotiations. The law shall establish the procedures for collective bargaining and the appropriate procedures for reaching a just and
peaceful solution. The law shall provide for the instances in which collective bargaining is to be submitted to mandatory arbitration; this
arbitration should be entrusted to special courts of experts, the organization and authority of which shall be established by the law.
Neither State or municipal employees may go on strike; nor may people working for corporations or enterprises, regardless of the nature,
objectives or functions thereof, which provide public utility services or the paralyzation of which might seriously harm health, the
economy of the country, the supplies to the population or the national security. The law shall establish the procedures to determine the
corporations or enterprises whose workers will be covered by the prohibition set forth in this paragraph;
17.- Admission to all public positions and employments with no requirements other than those imposed by the Constitution and the laws;
18.- The right to social security.
The laws regulating the exercise of this right shall be passed by a qualified quorum.
The action of the State shall be intended to guarantee access of all inhabitants to uniform basic benefits whether granted by public or
private institutions. The law may establish compulsory social security quotations.
The State shall supervise the adequate exercise of the right to social security;
19.- The right to affiliation to unions tn the cases and in the manner prescribed for by the law. Union affiliation shall always be voluntary.
Union organizations shall have legal status by mere registration of their by-laws and constitutive acts, in the manner and conditions
prescribed for by law.
The law shall provide for the mechanisms to ensure the autonomy of these organizations. Union organizations and their leaders may not
intervene in political partisan-activities;
20.- Equal distribution of taxes in proportion with individual income or in the progressive manner established by law, and equal distribution
of other public charges.
In no case may the law establish obviously disproportionate or unjust taxes.
The taxes collected, whatever their nature, shall be deposited in the Nation's treasury and cannot be earmarked for specific use.
The law may authorize, however, that certain taxes be set aside for national defense needs, or may authorize that taxes levied on activities
or assets of a clear local nature be established within the framework of this law, by municipal authorities and that they be allocated to
works of community development;
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.
The State and its bodies may develop entrepreneurial activities or participate therein only provided such activities or participation be
authorized by a law passed by a qualified quorum. In such case, those activities shall be subjected to the common legislation applicable to
private individuals, without prejudice to exceptions for justifiable motives established by a law, being also passed by a qualified
quorum.
22.- A non-discriminatory treatment arbitrarily imposed, to be granted by the State and its bodies in economic matters.
Only by virtue of a law, and provided it does not imply discrimination, certain direct or indirect benefits accorded to any sector, an
activity or a geographical region, may be authorized; or special charges affecting one or the other may be established. In case of
franchises or indirect benefits, the estimated cost thereof must be annually included in the Budgetary Law;
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. The above is without prejudice to what is prescribed in other precepts of this
Constitution.
When the national interest demands it, a law passed by a qualified quorum may establish limitations or requirements for acquiring
ownership over specific property;
24.- The right of ownership in its diverse aspects over all classes of corporeal and incorporeal property.
Only the law may establish the manner to acquire property and to use, enjoy and dispose of it, and the limitations and obligations derived
from its social function. Said function includes all the requirements of the Nation's general interests, the national security, public use and
health, and the conservation of the environmental patrimony.
In no case may anyone be deprived of his property, of the assets affected or any of the essential faculties or powers of ownership, except
by virtue of a general or a special law which authorizes expropriation for the public benefit or the national interest, duly qualified by the
legislator. The expropriated party may protest the legality of the expropriation action before the ordinary courts of justice and shall, at all
times, have the right to indemnification for patrimonial harm actually caused, to be fixed by mutual agreement or by a sentence
pronounced by said courts in accordance with the law.
In the absence of an agreement, the indemnification shall be paid in cash.
Material possession of the expropriated property will take place following total payment of the indemnification which, in the absence of an
agreement, shall be provisionally determined by experts in the manner prescribed for by law. In case of protest regarding the justifiability
of the expropriation, the judge may, on the merit of the information adduced, order the suspension of the material possession.
The State has absolute, exclusive, inalienable and imprescriptible domain over all mines, including guano deposits, metalliferous sands, salt
mines, coal and hydrocarbon deposits and the other fossil substances, with the exception of superficial clays, despite the ownership held
by individuals or body corporates over the land in which the above should be contained. The superficial landed property shall be subject to
the obligations and limitations prescribed for by law to facilitate exploration, exploitation and development of said mines.
The law is to determine what substances of those referred to in the preceding paragraph, excepting liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, may
be the subject to exploration or exploitation concessions. Such concessions shall always be constituted by court decision and shall have
the duration, shall confer the rights and impose the obligations prescribed by a law; this law shall be of a constitutional organic character.
The mining concession obligates the owner to undertake the necessary activity to satisfy the public interest which justifies the granting
thereof. Its mining rights shall be established by said law, tending directly or indirectly to obtain fulfillment of that obligation, and
providing the grounds for caducity in case of nonfulfillment or for simple extinguishment of domain over the concession. In any case,
such grounds and effects thereof, must have been established at the time when the concession is granted.
The authority to declare the expiry of such concessions shall rest exclusively with the ordinary courts of justice. They shall settle the
controversies which may arise with respect to the caducity or expiry of the domain over the concession; in the case of caducity, the
affected party may request the courts of justice for a declaration of the subsistence of his rights.
The domain of the owner of record over his mining concession is protected by the constitutional guarantees herein dealt with.
The exploration, exploitation or development of deposits which contain substances not susceptible to concession, may be performed
directly by the State or by its agencies or by means of administrative concessions or special operation contracts, with the requirements
and under the conditions which the President of the Republic may establish, for each case, by supreme decree. This norm shall also be
applicable to the deposits of any kind existing in sea waters subject to national jurisdiction and those, wholly or partly, situate in zones
which, according to law, are declared to be of importance to the national security. The President of the Republic may, at any time,
without stating the reason therefor and with the corresponding indemnification, terminate administrative concessions or operating
contracts relative to exploitation in zones declared to be of importance to the national security.
The rights of private citizens over waters, recognized or constituted in conformity with the law, shall grant proprietorship to the owners
thereof;
25.- The right of the author to his literary and artistic creations of any type, for the period of time fixed by law and which is not to be
inferior to that of the life of the owner.
The rights of the author include the ownership of the works and other rights such as authorship, the edition and the completeness of the
work; all this in conformity with the law.
Guarantee is also granted to industrial ownership of invention patents, trademarks, models, technological processes or other analogous
creations, for the period established by law.
The conditions set forth in the second, third, fourth and fifth paragraphs of the preceding number are applicable to the ownership of the
literary and artistic creations as well as to industrial ownership; and
26.- The assurance that the legal precepts which, by mandate of the Constitution, regulate or complement the guarantees established
therein or which should limit them in the cases authorized by the Constitution, may not affect the rights in their essence nor impose
conditions, taxes or requirements which may prevent their free exercise.
The norms relative to conditions of constitutional exception and others which the Constitution itself contemplates are excepted.
Article 20.- He who should, due to arbitrary or illegal actions or omissions, suffer privation, disturbance or threat in the legitimate exercise
of the rights and guarantees established in Article 19, numbers 1, 2, 3 (paragraph 4), 4, 5, 6, 9 (final paragraph), 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
relative to freedom to work and the right of freedom of choice and freedom of contract, and to what is established in the fourth paragraph
and numbers 19, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, may on his own, or through a third party, resort to the respective
Court of Appeals, which shall immediately take the steps that it should deem necessary to re-establish the rule of law and ensure due
protection to the person affected, without prejudice to the other rights which he might assert before the authorities or the corresponding
courts.
The appeal for protection in the case of No 8 of Article 19, shall also be applied when the right to live in a contamination-free atmosphere
has been affected by an arbitrary or unlawful action imputable to an authority or a specific person.
Article 21.- Every individual who should be arrested, detained or imprisoned in violation of the constitutional provisions or the law may
appeal on his own or through a third party to the judicature indicated by the law, so that the latter may order that the legal formalities be
complied with and may immediately adopt the measures deemed necessary to reinstate the rule of law and ensure proper protection of the
affected individual.
Said judicature may order that the individual be brought before it and its order shall be fully obeyed by everyone in charge of jails or places
of detention. Following cognizance of the facts, the court shall decree the immediate release of the individual or shall instruct that the legal
faults be righted, or shall bring the individual before the competent judge, in a brief and summary manner, thereby correcting such
faults or referring them to whomever should have to correct them.
The same recourse may be lodged in the same manner on behalf of all persons who illegally suffer any other privation, perturbation or
threat to his right to personal freedom and individual security. In such case, the respective judiciary shall order the measures indicated by
the aforementioned paragraphs deemed conducive to the reinstatement of the rule of law and to due protection of the affected individual.
Article 22.- Each inhabitant of the Republic owes respect to Chile and to her national emblems.
Chileans have the fundamental duty to honor their fatherland, defend its sovereignty and contribute to the preservation of national security
and the essential values of the Chilean tradition.
Military service and other personal obligations which the law prescribes are compulsory on the terms and manner set forth therein.
Chileans able to bear arms must be inscribed in the Military Registers, unless they should be legally exempt from this requirement.
Article 23.- Intermediate groups of the community and their leaders who make ill use of the autonomy
accorded by the Constitution, intervening unduly in activities alien to specific objectives, shall be penalized in conformity with the law.
The position of trade union leader shall be incompatible with militancy in a political party.
The law shall establish the corresponding penalties to be applied to union leaders who intervene in political partisan activities and to the
leaders of political parties who interfere in the functioning of union organizations and other intermediate groups indicated by law.
Bases of Institutionality
Article 1.- Men are born free and equal, in dignity and rights.
The family is the basic core of society.
The State recognizes and defends the intermediate groups through which society organizes and structures itself and guarantees them the
necessary autonomy to fulfill their own specific objectives.
The State is at the service of the individual and its goal is to promote common welfare. To this effect, it must contribute to the creation of
the social conditions which permit each and every one of the members of the national community to achieve the greatest possible spiritual
and material fulfillment, with full respect for the rights and guarantees established by this Constitution.
It is the duty of the State to safeguard the national security, to provide protection for the people and the family, to promote the
strengthening of the latter, to further the harmonious integration of all the sectors of the Nation and to ensure everyone the right to
participate in the national life with equal opportunities.
Article 2.- The national flag, the coat of arms of the Republic and the national anthem are the emblems of the Nation.
Article 3.- The State of Chile is unitary. Its territory is divided into regions. The law shall provide that administration thereof be functional
and territorially decentralized.
Article 4.- Chile is a democratic republic.
Article 5.- Sovereignty rests essentially with the Nation. It is exercised by the people through the plebiscites and periodic elections, as well
as by the authorities established by this Constitution. No sector of the people nor any individual may assume its exercise. The exercise of
sovereignty recognizes as a limitation the respect for the essential rights originating from human nature.
Article 6.- The action of the bodies of the State must be subject to the Constitution and to the norms enacted in conformity therewith.
Both the incumbent officers of said bodies or members thereof, as well as all persons, institutions or
groups, are bound by the precepts of this Constitution.
The breach of this principle shall generate responsibilities and penalties to be determined by the law.
Article 7.- The bodies of the State operate validly within their field of competence, and in the manner prescribed by law, after their
members have been properly invested.
No judicature, person or group of persons may assume, even on the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, any other authority or rights
than those expressly conferred upon them by the Constitution or by law.
Any act contravening this article is null and void and shall give rise to the responsibilities and penalties indicated by law.
Article 8.- Any action by an individual or group intended to propagate doctrines attempting against the family, or which advocate violence
or a concept of society, the State or the juridical order, of a totalitarian character or based on class warfare, is illegal and contrary to the
institutional code, of the Republic.
The organizations and political movements or parties which, due to their purposes or the nature of the activities of their members, tend
toward such objectives, are unconstitutional.
The cognizance of violations of the provisions set forth in the preceding paragraphs shall rest with the Constitutional Court.
Without prejudice to the other penalties established by the Constitution or by the law, persons who incur or who should have incurred the
aforementioned violations shall not, for a period of ten years from the date of the Court's decision, be eligible for public duties or
positions, regardless as to whether they should or should not be obtained through popular vote. Likewise, they will not become rectors or
directors of educational establishments or teach thereat or exploit any medium of mass communication, or become directors or
administrators thereof, or hold positions therein, related to the broadcast or dissemination of opinions or information. During the
aforementioned period, they will not be able either to act as leaders of political organizations or students associations, and in general,
organizations related to education, or occupy positions in community professional, entrepreneurial, labor or trade unions.
If at the time of the Court's decision, those persons referred to above should be holding a public office or position, whether or not as the
result of a popular vote, they shall lose it as a matter of law.
Persons penalized in accordance with this precept, shall not be eligible for reinstatement during the period indicated in the fourth
paragraph.
The duration of ineligibility as prescribed in this article shall be doubled in case of recurrence of the offense.
Article 9.- Terrorism in any of its forms is essentially contrary to human rights.
A law passed by a qualified quorum shall define terrorist conducts and the penalty to be imposed. Those responsible for such crimes shall,
for a period of fifteen years, be precluded from holding positions or exercising functions or activities as referred to in paragraph four of
the preceding article, without prejudice to other ineligibilities or of those for a longer period established by law.
Neither amnesty or pardon, nor provisional freedom for those tried for such crimes shall be warranted. For all legal effects, such crimes
will always be regarded as common offenses and not as political ones.
CHAPTER II
Nationality and Citizenry
Article 10.- Chileans are:
1.- Persons born in the territory of Chile, with the exception of those children of foreigners who are in Chile serving their government, as
well as those children of transient foreigners. However, all may opt for the Chilean nationality;
2.- Children born abroad, of a Chilean father or mother, who may actually be serving the Republic. To these effects, they shall be
considered to have been born in Chilean territory;
3.- Children-born abroad, of a Chilean father or mother, for the mere fact of having resided in Chile for more than one year;
4.- Foreigners who have obtained naturalization papers in accordance with the law, after expressly renouncing their former nationality.
Such renunciation shall not be required of persons born in a foreign country which, by virtue of an international treaty, offers the same
benefits to Chileans.
Individuals naturalized in accordance with this clause shall be eligible to hold public offices resulting from popular election only after five
years following completion of naturalization papers;
5.- Individuals upon whom the law has, as a special grace, bestowed naturalization.
The law shall provide for the procedures concerning the option of acquiring Chilean nationality, issuance, denial or annulment of
naturalization papers and for the creation of an official register for all these acts.
Article 11.- Chilean nationality is lost:
1.- By naturalization in a foreign country, except those Chileans covered by clauses 1, 2 and 3 of the preceding Article, who should have
obtained another nationality without renouncing their Chilean citizenship, and in accordance with provisions set forth in clause 4 of the
same Article.
The aforementioned grounds for loss of Chilean nationality shall not apply to Chileans who, by virtue of constitutional, legal or
administrative provisions of the State in the territory in which they should reside, adopt the foreign nationality as a condition for remaining
in that country or for attaining juridical equality with nationals of the respective country in the exercise of civil rights;
2.- By means of a supreme decree, in case of services rendered to enemies of Chile or its allies during a foreign war;
3.- By means of a judicial condemnatory sentence for crimes against the honor of the country or the essential and permanent interests of
the State, regarded as such by a law passed by a qualified quorum.
In such proceedings, facts shall always be conscientiously analysed;
4.- By annulment of naturalization papers, and
5.- By a law revoking naturalization granted by special grace.
Individuals who should have lost Chilean nationality on any of the grounds set forth in this Article, may only recover it by virtue of law.
Article 12.- The individual affected by an action or resolution of the administrative authority depriving him of his Chilean nationality or
disregarding it, may, within the term of thirty days, resort, on his own behalf or through a third party, to the Supreme Court, which shall
take cognizance of his case as a jury and in full court. Upon filing the appeal the effects of the action or resolution resorted shall be
suspended.
Article 13.- Citizens are those Chileans who have reached the age of eighteen years and who have never been sentenced to afflictive
punishment.
The status of citizen entails the rights to vote, the eligibility to hold positions subject to popular voting, as well as all other rights granted
by the Constitution or the law.
Article 14.- Foreigners residing in Chile for more than five years and who comply with the requirements prescribed in the first paragraph
of Article 13, may exercise the right to vote in the cases and in the manner determined by law.
Article 15.- In popular voting, vote shall be personal, egalitarian and secret. In addition, for citizens it shall be compulsory.
Popular voting may only be called for in elections and plebiscites expressly provided for in this Constitution.
Article 16.- The right to vote is suspended:
1.- In case of interdiction on grounds of insanity;
2.- When the person is being tried for a crime deserving afflictive punishment or for a crime that the law should define as a terrorist
conduct, and
3.- In case of punishment by the Constitutional Court in conformity with Article 8 of this Constitution.
Those who should, on these grounds, be deprived of the right to vote, may recover such right upon completion of the term of ten years
counted from the date of the Court's decision.
Article 17, The status of citizenship is lost:
1.- Upon loss of Chilean nationality;
2.- On account of a sentence to afflictive punishment, and
3.- On account of a sentence for crimes which the law defines as terrorist conduct.
Individuals who should have lost their citizenship on the grounds described in number 2, may appeal to the Senate for recovery thereof,
once their criminal liability has been extinguished. Those who should have lost citizenship on the grounds described in number 3, may
only secure its recovery by virtue of a law passed by a qualified quorum once the sentence has been served.
Article 18.- There shall be a public electoral system. Regarding matters not provided for by this Constitution, a constitutional organic law
shall determine the organization and operation thereof, shall regulate the manner in which electoral processes and plebiscites will be
conducted, and shall, at all times, guarantee full equality between independents and members of political parties, both with regard to the
presentation of candidacies and to their participation in said processes.
Responsibility for safeguarding public order during electoral acts and plebiscites shall rest with the Armed Forces and the Armed Police in
the manner prescribed for by law.
CHAPTER III
Constitutional Rights and Obligations
Article 19.- The Constitution guarantees to all persons:
1.- The right to life and to the physical and psychological integrity of the individual.
The law protects the life of those about to be born.
The death penalty may only be instituted for a crime considered in a 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 those who should set foot
on her territory become free.
Neither the law nor any authority may establish arbitrary differences;
3.- Equal protection under the law in the exercise of their rights.
All persons have the right to legal defense in the manner indicated by law and no authority nor individual may impede, restrict or perturb
the due intervention of an attorney, should it have been sought. As regards the members of the Armed Forces and of Public Order and
Security, this right will be governed, in connection with administrative and disciplinary matters, by the relevant norms of their respective
statutes.
The law shall provide for the means whereby legal counsel and defense may be rendered to those who should have been unable to obtain
them on their own.
No one can be judged by special commissions, but only by the court specified in the law, and provided such court has been established
prior to the enactment of said law.
Sentences decreed by a court vested with jurisdiction must be based upon previous legally held proceedings. It will be the responsibility of
the legislator to establish, at all times, the guarantees for a rational and just procedure.
The law cannot presume de jure criminal liability.
No crime shall be subject to penalties other than those prescribed for by a law enacted prior to the perpetration of the crime, except where
a new legislation might favor the interested party.
No law may establish penalties for crimes which have not been expressly described therein;
4.- Respect for and protection of private and public life and the honor of the individual and his family.
Violation of this precept, committed through a mass medium, whereby a false deed or action is imputed unjustifiably causing harm or
discredit to an individual or his family, shall constitute a crime and shall be punished as determined by law. However, the mass medium
may claim exception by proving, before the corresponding court, the truth of the imputation, unless it should constitute in itself a libel
against private individuals. Furthermore, the proprietors, editors, directors and administrators of the respective mass medium shall be
jointly responsible for the appropriate indemnifications;
5.- Inviolability of homes and all forms of private communication. Homes may be searched and private communications and documents
intercepted, opened or inspected only in the case and in the manner prescribed for by law;
6.- Freedom of conscience, manifestation of all creeds and the free exercise of all cults which are not opposed to morals, good customs
or public order;
Religious communities may erect and maintain churches and their facilities in accordance with the conditions of safety and hygiene as
established by the laws and ordinances.
With respect to assets, the churches and religious communities and institutions representing any cult shall enjoy the rights granted and
acknowledged by the laws currently in force. Churches and their facilities assigned exclusively for religious activities shall be exempt
from all taxes;
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 impaired.
(b) No one may be deprived of his personal freedom nor may such freedom be restricted except for the cases and in the manner
determined by the Constitution and the laws.
(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 served in the manner prescribed for by law. However, an individual caught in the act of committing a crime may
be detained provided that he be brought before the competent judge within the following twenty-four hours. Should the authority order the
arrest or detention of an individual, the competent judge must be served, within forty-eight hours following the arrest or detention, and the
individual is to be brought before him. By virtue of a well founded decision, 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 on preventive arrest or prison, in places other than his home or the public premises
established to that effect.
Those in charge of prisons may not accept any one who has been arrested or detained, or who is being tried or sentenced to prison,
without recording the appropriate order issued by a legally authorized official, in a public register.
No incommunication order may prevent the official in charge of the place of detention from visiting the individual under arrest or
detention, subject to trial proceedings or sentenced to prison, held in such place of detention. This officer is obliged, provided it is so
requested by the arrested person or detainee, to send a copy of the detention warrant to the competent judge, or to demand that such
copy be given to him, or to make an attestation by himself that the individual is being detained, in the event this requirement should have
been omitted at the time of the detention.
(e) Release on bail shall apply unless the judge considers the detention or preventive imprisonment necessary for investigation proceedings
or for the security of the victim of the offense, or the society.
The law shall establish the requirements and formalities for obtaining such release.
(f) In criminal cases the defendant shall be obliged to testify under oath on acts of his own; nor shall he be obliged to testify against the
defendant, his ascendants, descendants, spouse or any other persons who, according to cases or circumstances, should be specified in
the law.
(g) No penalty of confiscation shall be imposed, without prejudice to any seizure in the circumstances determined by law; however, 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 definitive stay of proceedings has been decreed, or when absolutory 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 patrimonial and moral losses which he may have suffered. The indemnification shall be judicially
determined in a brief, summary proceeding in which the evidence shall be conscientiously analysed;
8.- The right to live in an environment free from contamination. It is the duty of the State to watch over the protection of this right and
the preservation of nature.
The law may establish specific restrictions on the exercise of certain rights or freedoms in order to protect the environment;
9.- The right to protection of health.
The State protects the free and egalitarian access to actions for the promotion, protection and recovery of the health and rehabilitation of
the individual.
The coordination and control of activities related to health shall likewise rest with the State.
It is the prime duty of the State to guarantee health assistance, whether undertaken by public or private institutions, in accordance with
the form and conditions set forth in the law which may establish compulsory health quotations.
Each person shall have the right to choose, the health system he wishes to join, either State or private controlled.
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 preferential right and duty to educate their children. The State shall provide special protection for the exercise of this
right.
Basic education is mandatory; to that effect, the State must finance a gratuitous system designed to ensure access thereto by the entire
population. It is, likewise, the duty of the State to promote the development of education at all levels, encourage scientific and
technological research, artistic creation, and the protection and increase of the cultural patrimony of the Nation.
It is the duty of the community to contribute to the development and improvement of education;
11.- Freedom of teaching includes the right to open, organize and maintain educational establishments.
Freedom of education has no other limitations but those imposed by morals, good customs, public order and national security.
Officially recognized education cannot be directed towards propagating any type of political-partisan tendency.
Parents have the right to choose the educational establishment for their children.
A constitutional organic law shall establish the minimum requirements for each of the levels of primary and secondary education and shall
provide for the objective norms of general application, that may enable the State to watch over compliance therewith. Said law shall,
likewise, establish the requirements for obtaining official recognition of educational establishments at all levels;
12.- Freedom to express opinions and to disseminate information without prior censorship in any form and by any means, without
prejudice to assuming the responsibility for any crimes or abuses committed in the exercise of such freedoms, in conformity with the law
which is to be passed by a qualified quorum.
In no case may the law establish a state monopoly over the mass media.
Any individual or body corporate offended or unjustly alluded to in a mass medium, has the right to have his declaration or rectification
gratuitously disseminated, under the conditions determined by law, by the mass medium having issued such information.
All individuals or bodies corporate shall have the right to establish, edit or maintain newspapers, magazines and periodicals, under the
conditions prescribed for by law.
The State, such universities and other persons or entities as prescribed by the law, may establish, operate and maintain television stations.
There shall be a National Council for Radio and Television, having autonomy and legal status, which shall be in charge of supervising the
proper functioning of these mass media. A law passed by a qualified quorum shall determine the organization and other functions and
authorities of said Council.
The law shall establish a system of censorship for the exhibition and publicity of motion picture production and the general norms
governing public expression of other artistic activities;
13.- The right to assemble peacefully without prior permission and carrying no weapons.
Meetings at 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 legal status, associations must be organized in accordance with the law.
No one can be obliged to belong to an association.
Associations contrary to morals, public order and Security of the State are prohibited.
Political parties may not intervene in other than their own activities or have any privilege or monopoly on civic participation; its records
and accounts must be public; its financing cannot emanate from foreign currency, assets, donations, contributions or credits; its by-laws
must provide for norms ensuring an effective internal democracy. A constitutional organic law shall regulate other matters pertaining
thereto, and shall provide for the penalties to be applied for non-fulfillment of its precepts, which may include dissolution thereof. The
associations, movements, organizations or groups of persons engaged in or performing activities pertaining to political parties without
conforming to the aforementioned norms are illegal and shall be subject to penalties provided for in the above-mentioned constitutional
organic law;
16.- Freedom to work and protection of that freedom.
Any person has the right to free employment and free selection of his work, with a just compensation.
Any discrimination which is not based on personal skills or capability is prohibited, although the law may require Chilean citizenship or age
limits in certain cases.
No type of work can be prohibited except where it is contrary to morals, or public security and health, or where it should be so required
by the national interest as declared by the law. No law or provision from the public authority may demand affiliation to any organization or
entity whatsoever, as a requirement for undertaking certain activity or work, nor can it demand that any such affiliation be discontinued as
a condition to perform such activities or keep such work. The law shall determine which professions require a title or university degree
and the conditions to be met in order to engage in them.
Workmen have the right to collective bargaining with the company for which they work, except where the law should expressly prohibit
negotiations. The law shall establish the procedures for collective bargaining and the appropriate procedures for reaching a just and
peaceful solution. The law shall provide for the instances in which collective bargaining is to be submitted to mandatory arbitration; this
arbitration should be entrusted to special courts of experts, the organization and authority of which shall be established by the law.
Neither State or municipal employees may go on strike; nor may people working for corporations or enterprises, regardless of the nature,
objectives or functions thereof, which provide public utility services or the paralyzation of which might seriously harm health, the
economy of the country, the supplies to the population or the national security. The law shall establish the procedures to determine the
corporations or enterprises whose workers will be covered by the prohibition set forth in this paragraph;
17.- Admission to all public positions and employments with no requirements other than those imposed by the Constitution and the laws;
18.- The right to social security.
The laws regulating the exercise of this right shall be passed by a qualified quorum.
The action of the State shall be intended to guarantee access of all inhabitants to uniform basic benefits whether granted by public or
private institutions. The law may establish compulsory social security quotations.
The State shall supervise the adequate exercise of the right to social security;
19.- The right to affiliation to unions tn the cases and in the manner prescribed for by the law. Union affiliation shall always be voluntary.
Union organizations shall have legal status by mere registration of their by-laws and constitutive acts, in the manner and conditions
prescribed for by law.
The law shall provide for the mechanisms to ensure the autonomy of these organizations. Union organizations and their leaders may not
intervene in political partisan-activities;
20.- Equal distribution of taxes in proportion with individual income or in the progressive manner established by law, and equal distribution
of other public charges.
In no case may the law establish obviously disproportionate or unjust taxes.
The taxes collected, whatever their nature, shall be deposited in the Nation's treasury and cannot be earmarked for specific use.
The law may authorize, however, that certain taxes be set aside for national defense needs, or may authorize that taxes levied on activities
or assets of a clear local nature be established within the framework of this law, by municipal authorities and that they be allocated to
works of community development;
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.
The State and its bodies may develop entrepreneurial activities or participate therein only provided such activities or participation be
authorized by a law passed by a qualified quorum. In such case, those activities shall be subjected to the common legislation applicable to
private individuals, without prejudice to exceptions for justifiable motives established by a law, being also passed by a qualified
quorum.
22.- A non-discriminatory treatment arbitrarily imposed, to be granted by the State and its bodies in economic matters.
Only by virtue of a law, and provided it does not imply discrimination, certain direct or indirect benefits accorded to any sector, an
activity or a geographical region, may be authorized; or special charges affecting one or the other may be established. In case of
franchises or indirect benefits, the estimated cost thereof must be annually included in the Budgetary Law;
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. The above is without prejudice to what is prescribed in other precepts of this
Constitution.
When the national interest demands it, a law passed by a qualified quorum may establish limitations or requirements for acquiring
ownership over specific property;
24.- The right of ownership in its diverse aspects over all classes of corporeal and incorporeal property.
Only the law may establish the manner to acquire property and to use, enjoy and dispose of it, and the limitations and obligations derived
from its social function. Said function includes all the requirements of the Nation's general interests, the national security, public use and
health, and the conservation of the environmental patrimony.
In no case may anyone be deprived of his property, of the assets affected or any of the essential faculties or powers of ownership, except
by virtue of a general or a special law which authorizes expropriation for the public benefit or the national interest, duly qualified by the
legislator. The expropriated party may protest the legality of the expropriation action before the ordinary courts of justice and shall, at all
times, have the right to indemnification for patrimonial harm actually caused, to be fixed by mutual agreement or by a sentence
pronounced by said courts in accordance with the law.
In the absence of an agreement, the indemnification shall be paid in cash.
Material possession of the expropriated property will take place following total payment of the indemnification which, in the absence of an
agreement, shall be provisionally determined by experts in the manner prescribed for by law. In case of protest regarding the justifiability
of the expropriation, the judge may, on the merit of the information adduced, order the suspension of the material possession.
The State has absolute, exclusive, inalienable and imprescriptible domain over all mines, including guano deposits, metalliferous sands, salt
mines, coal and hydrocarbon deposits and the other fossil substances, with the exception of superficial clays, despite the ownership held
by individuals or body corporates over the land in which the above should be contained. The superficial landed property shall be subject to
the obligations and limitations prescribed for by law to facilitate exploration, exploitation and development of said mines.
The law is to determine what substances of those referred to in the preceding paragraph, excepting liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, may
be the subject to exploration or exploitation concessions. Such concessions shall always be constituted by court decision and shall have
the duration, shall confer the rights and impose the obligations prescribed by a law; this law shall be of a constitutional organic character.
The mining concession obligates the owner to undertake the necessary activity to satisfy the public interest which justifies the granting
thereof. Its mining rights shall be established by said law, tending directly or indirectly to obtain fulfillment of that obligation, and
providing the grounds for caducity in case of nonfulfillment or for simple extinguishment of domain over the concession. In any case,
such grounds and effects thereof, must have been established at the time when the concession is granted.
The authority to declare the expiry of such concessions shall rest exclusively with the ordinary courts of justice. They shall settle the
controversies which may arise with respect to the caducity or expiry of the domain over the concession; in the case of caducity, the
affected party may request the courts of justice for a declaration of the subsistence of his rights.
The domain of the owner of record over his mining concession is protected by the constitutional guarantees herein dealt with.
The exploration, exploitation or development of deposits which contain substances not susceptible to concession, may be performed
directly by the State or by its agencies or by means of administrative concessions or special operation contracts, with the requirements
and under the conditions which the President of the Republic may establish, for each case, by supreme decree. This norm shall also be
applicable to the deposits of any kind existing in sea waters subject to national jurisdiction and those, wholly or partly, situate in zones
which, according to law, are declared to be of importance to the national security. The President of the Republic may, at any time,
without stating the reason therefor and with the corresponding indemnification, terminate administrative concessions or operating
contracts relative to exploitation in zones declared to be of importance to the national security.
The rights of private citizens over waters, recognized or constituted in conformity with the law, shall grant proprietorship to the owners
thereof;
25.- The right of the author to his literary and artistic creations of any type, for the period of time fixed by law and which is not to be
inferior to that of the life of the owner.
The rights of the author include the ownership of the works and other rights such as authorship, the edition and the completeness of the
work; all this in conformity with the law.
Guarantee is also granted to industrial ownership of invention patents, trademarks, models, technological processes or other analogous
creations, for the period established by law.
The conditions set forth in the second, third, fourth and fifth paragraphs of the preceding number are applicable to the ownership of the
literary and artistic creations as well as to industrial ownership; and
26.- The assurance that the legal precepts which, by mandate of the Constitution, regulate or complement the guarantees established
therein or which should limit them in the cases authorized by the Constitution, may not affect the rights in their essence nor impose
conditions, taxes or requirements which may prevent their free exercise.
The norms relative to conditions of constitutional exception and others which the Constitution itself contemplates are excepted.
Article 20.- He who should, due to arbitrary or illegal actions or omissions, suffer privation, disturbance or threat in the legitimate exercise
of the rights and guarantees established in Article 19, numbers 1, 2, 3 (paragraph 4), 4, 5, 6, 9 (final paragraph), 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
relative to freedom to work and the right of freedom of choice and freedom of contract, and to what is established in the fourth paragraph
and numbers 19, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, may on his own, or through a third party, resort to the respective
Court of Appeals, which shall immediately take the steps that it should deem necessary to re-establish the rule of law and ensure due
protection to the person affected, without prejudice to the other rights which he might assert before the authorities or the corresponding
courts.
The appeal for protection in the case of No 8 of Article 19, shall also be applied when the right to live in a contamination-free atmosphere
has been affected by an arbitrary or unlawful action imputable to an authority or a specific person.
Article 21.- Every individual who should be arrested, detained or imprisoned in violation of the constitutional provisions or the law may
appeal on his own or through a third party to the judicature indicated by the law, so that the latter may order that the legal formalities be
complied with and may immediately adopt the measures deemed necessary to reinstate the rule of law and ensure proper protection of the
affected individual.
Said judicature may order that the individual be brought before it and its order shall be fully obeyed by everyone in charge of jails or places
of detention. Following cognizance of the facts, the court shall decree the immediate release of the individual or shall instruct that the legal
faults be righted, or shall bring the individual before the competent judge, in a brief and summary manner, thereby correcting such
faults or referring them to whomever should have to correct them.
The same recourse may be lodged in the same manner on behalf of all persons who illegally suffer any other privation, perturbation or
threat to his right to personal freedom and individual security. In such case, the respective judiciary shall order the measures indicated by
the aforementioned paragraphs deemed conducive to the reinstatement of the rule of law and to due protection of the affected individual.
Article 22.- Each inhabitant of the Republic owes respect to Chile and to her national emblems.
Chileans have the fundamental duty to honor their fatherland, defend its sovereignty and contribute to the preservation of national security
and the essential values of the Chilean tradition.
Military service and other personal obligations which the law prescribes are compulsory on the terms and manner set forth therein.
Chileans able to bear arms must be inscribed in the Military Registers, unless they should be legally exempt from this requirement.
Article 23.- Intermediate groups of the community and their leaders who make ill use of the autonomy
accorded by the Constitution, intervening unduly in activities alien to specific objectives, shall be penalized in conformity with the law.
The position of trade union leader shall be incompatible with militancy in a political party.
The law shall establish the corresponding penalties to be applied to union leaders who intervene in political partisan activities and to the
leaders of political parties who interfere in the functioning of union organizations and other intermediate groups indicated by law.
Chile was conquered by Spain and settled on 12 February 1541. On 12 February 1818,
Argentina declared its independence from Spain, wrestling control of the last Spanish held
stronghold in 1826. The Constitution of the Republic of Chile was adopted in 1833 . In 1925 a
new constitution was approved. Although it did not deviate substantially from previous
constitutional doctrine, it was designed to shift the balance of power from Congress back to
the president. Though constantly jostled by left and right regimes, constitutional integrity
was maintained until a violent military coup deposed President Salvador Allende and
establish a junta under Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, suspending the
constitution. With the ratification of the constitution of 1980, in a highly irregular and
undemocratic plebiscite characterized by the absence of registration lists, Pinochet
achieved his objectives and was granted absolute authority for an eight-year transitional
period. Fifty-four reforms to the constitution were approved on 30 July 1989. It has been
amended nine times since, the most recent in 2005 when 50 reforms were implemented.
Human rights are enumerated beginning with Article One and have been amended to
conform with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Chile is a signatory.
The following are those amendments specifically pertaining to human rights. For a full
English translation of the Chile's Constitution, click here.
Argentina declared its independence from Spain, wrestling control of the last Spanish held
stronghold in 1826. The Constitution of the Republic of Chile was adopted in 1833 . In 1925 a
new constitution was approved. Although it did not deviate substantially from previous
constitutional doctrine, it was designed to shift the balance of power from Congress back to
the president. Though constantly jostled by left and right regimes, constitutional integrity
was maintained until a violent military coup deposed President Salvador Allende and
establish a junta under Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, suspending the
constitution. With the ratification of the constitution of 1980, in a highly irregular and
undemocratic plebiscite characterized by the absence of registration lists, Pinochet
achieved his objectives and was granted absolute authority for an eight-year transitional
period. Fifty-four reforms to the constitution were approved on 30 July 1989. It has been
amended nine times since, the most recent in 2005 when 50 reforms were implemented.
Human rights are enumerated beginning with Article One and have been amended to
conform with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Chile is a signatory.
The following are those amendments specifically pertaining to human rights. For a full
English translation of the Chile's Constitution, click here.