The executive power is vested in a President chosen indirectly by electors who are themselves popularly elected. Ilis term is four years. and by a constitutional amendment of IhS7 he is eli gible for rei;lection for any number of consecutiVe terms. fiiis qualitivitt ions ore eit izenship by hirt the full enjoyment of the civil right, and the at tainment of the thirty-tifth year. Ecelesiosties arc disqualified. No provision is made for a Vice President except that, in ease of the disability or absence of t he President. Congress has power to choose an acting President to discharge the executive ditties temporarily. The office of Presi dent cannot be resigned except for grave cause, and then only with the approval of Congress. Ilis chief powers are: to promulgate and execute the laws; to appoint and remove most of the military and civil officers of the Republic. the approval of Congress being necessary in some eases; to declare war with the consent of Con gress: to dispose of the army and naval forces; to grant letters of marque and reprisal; to ne gotiate treaties with foreign countries: to re ceive ambassadors and ministers; to call special sessions of Congress with the consent of the Perinanent Deputation; to grant pardons: and to grant exclusive privileges to diseoverers and inventors. In carrying out the work of tration the President ;lets through a Cabinet composed of seven seeretaries, who serve as heads of the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Interior. Justice and Thildie Instruction, Colonization and industry, Communieat ion and Public Works, Finance and Public and \Var and Marine. Every order. decree, or regulation of the Presi dent must be signed by one of the Cabinet secre taries in order to be valid. The members of the Cabinet do not occupy seats in Congress and their responsibility to that body extends only to crin• inol acts.
The judieial power of the Republic is vested in a Supreme Court and in District and Circuit courts. At present the Supreme Court consists of 15 judges chosen by electors for a term of six years. lutist he native horn citizens thirty live years of age, and learned in prudence. They ore required to take oath: simi• lar to that prescribed for the president of the Republic. and may resign only with the approval of emwress. The organization of the distriet and circuit courts is determined by statute. The jurisdiction of the Federal courts extends to eases involving the application of Federal to moritime eases; to cases in which the Republic is a party; to cases in which a State is a party; to cases arising under treaties with foreign Pow ers: and to cases concerning diplomatic In those cases in which the Republic or a State is a party, and in those cases in which the question of jurisdiction arising between the State and Federal courts is involved. the Supreme Court
has original jurisdiction. In all other cases it has appellate jurisdiction.
The individual States of the Mexican Republic have a large degree of local autonomy, although the Federal Constitution requires that they shall adopt the popular. representative. republican form of government. They have their own con ,titutions and codes of laws; their own Gov ernor, and legislatures, and local officials. They are allowed to regulate with one another their owu boundaries subject to the approval of Con gress, but may not form or treaties with one another, grant letters of marque and reprisal, coin money or issue paper currency, lay duties on interstate commerce, or without the consent of t ongre-s levy tonnage duties. keep troops or ship, of war, or wage war except in case of inva or peril so imminent as to admit of no delay. Each State is under an obligation to de liver without delay criminal from other States and to give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. It is made the duty of the State executives to publish the Federal laws and valise them to be obeyed. 1)11. the other hand. it is made the constitutional duty of the Federal Gov ernment to protect the States against invasion or domestic insurrection upon request of the Legis lature of the State concerned or of the execu tive if the Legislature be not in session. As in the United States, all power, not expressly con ferred upon the Federal authorities are reserved to the individual States. Similarly the Federal Constitution. the laws of Congress. and all treaties made in pursuanee thereof are declared to he the supreme law of the whole Union, and the judges are bound thereby. anything in the constitutions or laws of the States to the con trary not Wit h,tanding.
Amendments to the Federal Constitution may be proposed by Congress, two-thirds of all mem bers present concurring. If approved by a ma jority of the State legislatures, they -hall be a valid part of the Constitution.