Constitution

Argentina 1853 Constitution (reinstated 1983, reviewed 1994)

Table of Contents

CHAPTER II. THE POWERS OF THE JUDICIARY

Article 116

The Supreme Court of Justice and the lower courts of the Nation have jurisdiction over and decide all cases that deal with matters governed by the Constitution and the laws of the Nation, except as provided in clause 12 of article 75, and over treaties with foreign nations, in cases concerning ambassadors, public ministers and foreign consuls, in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, in suits in which the Nation is a party, in cases arising between two or more Provinces, between one province and the citizens of another, between citizens of different Provinces, and between a Province or its citizens against a foreign State or citizen.

Article 117

In these cases the Supreme Court shall exercise appellate jurisdiction, according to the rules and exceptions that Congress may prescribe; but in all matters concerning ambassadors, foreign ministers and consuls, and those in which a Province shall be a party, the Court shall exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction.

Article 118

All ordinary criminal trials not resulting from the power of impeachment granted to the Chamber of Deputies shall be concluded by juries, once this institution is established in the Republic. The proceedings in these trials shall take place in the same Province where the crime was committed; but when the crime is committed outside the borders of the Nation, in violation of international norms, Congress shall determine by a special law the place where the trial is to be held.

Article 119

Treason against the Nation shall consist only in bearing arms against it, or in joining its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Congress shall establish by a special law the punishment for this crime; but the punishment shall not go beyond the person of the offender nor shall the infamy of the criminal be transmitted to his relatives of any degree.

SECTION IV. THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

Article 120

The Office of the Public Prosecutor is an independent body with functional autonomy and financial self-sufficiency, whose function is to promote the intervention of the judicial [system] in defense of lawfulness and of the general interests of society, in coordination with the other authorities of the Republic.

It is composed of a Chief Prosecutor of the Nation and a Chief Public Defender of the Nation and the other members that the law may establish.

Its members enjoy functional immunities and noninterference with their remuneration.

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