POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC
PART I. Of fundamental guarantees
TITLE I. Of the Portuguese Nation
Art. 1. The territory of Portugal is that which
at present belongs to it and comprises : I) in Europe : the mainland and the archi pelagos of Madeira and the Azores ; II) in West Africa : the Cape Verde archi pelago, Guinea, S. Tome and Principe and their dependencies, S. Joao Baptista de Ajuda, Cabinda and Angola; III ) in East Africa : Mozanibique ; IV) in Asia: the State of India and Macao and their respective dependencies ; 3 V) in Oceania: Timor and its depen dencies. Sole § The nation does not renounce the rights which it has or may hereafter acquire over any other territory. . ..... Art. 2. No part of the national territory may be acquired by the government or any public body of a foreign nation, save for the installation of diplomatic or consular' missions, provided there is reciprocal treatment for the Portuguese State. Art. 3. The nation consists of all Portuguese citizens resident within or outside its territory and they shall be considered as subject to the State and Portu guese laws, without prejudice to the rules of interna tional law which may be applicable. Sole § Foreigners sojourning or resident in Por tugal are also subject to the State and Portuguese laws, without prejudice to the provisions of interna tional law. Art. 4. The Portuguese nation is an independent State. Its sovereignty recognises in the internal sphere morality and law as the only limitations ; in the inter national field it recognises only those limitations which are derived from conventions or treaties freely entered into, or from customary law freely accepted. It is the duty of the nation to co-operate with other states in preparing and adopting measures making for peace among people and for the progress of mankind. Sole § Portugal advocates arbitration as a means of settling international disputes. 4 v Art. 5. The Portuguese State is a unitary and corporative republic founded upon the equality of all its citizens in the eyes of the law, upon the free access for all classes to the benefits of civilisation, and upon the participation of all the constituent forces of the nation in its administrative life and in the making of laws. Sole § Equality before the law implies the right to be employed in public service according to ability or services rendered; it also involves no recognition of privilege of birth, nobility, title, sex or social position, save only the distinction due to women by reason of their nature and in the interests of the family; in regard to the obligations and benefits of citizens, it involves those differences imposed by diversity of cir cumstances or arising out of natural conditions. Art. 6. It is the duty of the State : 1. To promote the unity and establish the juridical order of the nation by defining and enforcing respect for the rights and guarantees of morality, justice or the law, in the inte rest of the individual, of the families, and the local autonomous and the public or private bodies; 2. To co-ordinate, stimulate and direct all social activities in order to promote a proper harmony of interests within the lawful subordination of private interests to the general good; 3. To strive for the improvement of the social condition of the least favoured classes of society and to prevent their standard of life from falling below an adequate human level. S