SECTION III
EXECUTIVE POWER
Art. 39.
The President of the Republic is elected for seven years by the absolute majority of the votes of the Seym and the Senate united in National Assembly. The National Assembly is convoked by the President of the Republic in the last three months of his seven years' term of office. If the convocation has not taken place thirty days before the end of the seven years' term, the Seym and the Senate, upon the invitation of the Marshal of the Seym and under his chairmanship, unite automatically in National Assembly.Art. 40. Should the President of the Republic be unable to perform the duties of his office, or should the office of the President of the Republic become vacant through death, resignation, or some other reason, the Marshal of the Seym will act as his deputy.
Art. 41. In case the office of the President of the Republic becomes vacant, the Seym and the Senate, upon the invitation of the Marshal of the Seym and under his chairmanship, at once unite automatically in a National Assembly for the purpose of electing a President.
Should the Seym be dissolved at the moment when the office of President of the Republic becomes vacant, the Marshal of the Seym will direct without delay new elections to the Seym and the Senate.
Art. 42. If the President of the Republic does not perform the duties of his office for three months, the Marshal will without delay convoke the Seym and submit to its decision the question whether the office of the President of the Republic is to be declared vacant.
The decision to declare the office vacant is taken by a majority of three-fifths of the votes in the presence of at least one-half of the statutory number of deputies; that is, the number prescribed by the Law of Election.
Art. 43. The President of the Republic exercises the executive power through ministers responsible to the Seym and through officials subordinated to the Ministers.
Every official of the Republic must be subordinate to a minister, who is responsible to the Seym for the former's actions.
The President of the Council of Ministers countersigns the appointment of officials of the civil cabinet of the President of the Republic, and is responsible for their actions to the Seym.
Art. 44. The President of the Republic signs the statutes jointly with the competent ministers, and directs the publication of the statutes in the journal of the Laws of the Republic.
The President of the Republic has the right to issue, for the purpose of executing the statutes and with reference to the statutory authorization, executive ordinances, directions, orders and prohibitions, and to insure their execution by the use of force.
The ministers and the authorities subordinate to them have the same right in their respective fields of jurisdiction.
Every governmental act of the President of the Republic requires for its validity the signature of the President of the Council of Ministers and of the competent minister, who, by countersigning the act, assume the responsibility therefor.
Art. 45. The President of the Republic appoints and recalls the President of the Council of Ministers; on the latter's motion he appoints and recalls ministers, and on the motion of the Council of Ministers makes appointments to the civil and military offices reserved by statutes.
Art. 46. The President of the Republic is at the same time the supreme head of the armed forces of the state, but he may not exercise the chief command in time of war.
The Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the state, in case of war, is appointed by the President of the Republic, on the motion of the Council of Ministers, presented by the minister of military affairs who is responsible to the Seym for the acts connected with the command in time of war, as well as for all affairs of military direction.
Art. 47. The right to reprieve and to mitigate punishment, and to destroy the consequences of criminal conviction in individual cases, belongs to the President of the Republic.
The President may not exercise this right in the case of ministers convicted upon impeachment by the Seym.
Amnesty may be granted only by statute.
Art. 48. The President of the Republic represents the state in foreign relations, receives diplomatic representatives of foreign states, and sends diplomatic representatives of the Polish State to foreign states.
Art. 49. The President of the Republic makes treaties with other states and brings them to the notice of the Seym.
Commercial and customs treaties, as well as treaties which impose a permanent financial burden on the state, or contain legal rules binding on the citizens, or change the frontiers of the state, also alliances, require the consent of the Seym.
Art. 50. The President of the Republic may declare war and conclude peace only after obtaining the consent of the Seym.
Art. 51. The President of the Republic is not responsible either to Parliament or at civil law.
For betraying the country, violating the constitution, or for criminal offenses, the President of the Republic may be made responsible only by the Seym by a vote of a majority of three-fifths in the presence of at least one-half of the Statutory number of deputies. The cause is heard and the sentence given by the Court of State, according to the rules of a special statute. Immediately upon his impeachment before the Court of State, the President of the Republic is suspended from office.
Art. 52. The President of the Republic receives a salary according to the rules of a special statute.
Art. 53. The President of the Republic may not hold any other office or be a member of the Seym or the Senate.
Art. 54. Before assuming office, the President of the Republic takes his oath in the National Assembly, in the following terms:
"I swear to Almighty God, One in the Holy Trinity, and I vow to Thee, Polish Nation, that while holding the office of President of the Republic I will keep and defend faithfully the laws of the Republic and above all the constitutional law; that I shall serve devotedly, with all my power, the general good of the nation; that I will avert, watchfully, from the state all evil and danger; that I will guard steadfastly the dignity of the name of Poland; that I will hold justice toward all citizens without distinction as the highest virtue; that I will devote myself individually to the duties of office and service. So help me God and the Holy Martyrdom of His Son. Amen."
Art. 55. The ministers form the Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of the President of the Council of Ministers.
Art. 56. The Council of Ministers bears the joint constitutional and parliamentary responsibility for the general direction of the activities of the government.
Apart from that, each minister is individually responsible, in his domain, for his activities in office; that is, as well for their conformity with the constitution and the other statutes of the state, and for the activities of the subordinate organs, as for the direction of his policies.
Art. 57. Within the same limits, the ministers are jointly and individually responsible for the governmental acts of the President of the Republic.
Art. 58. The parliamentary responsibility of the ministers is enforced by the Seym by an ordinary majority. The Council of Ministers or any individual minister will resign at the request of the Seym.
Art. 59. The constitutional responsibility of the ministers and the way of its realization will be determined by a special statute.
The decision to impeach a minister can be made only in the presence of at least one-half the statutory number of deputies and by a majority of three-fifths of the votes cast.
The causes are heard and judgment is passed by the Court of State. A minister cannot evade his constitutional responsibility by resigning his office. Immediately Upon his impeachment, the minister is suspended from office.
Art. 60. The ministers and officials delegated by them have the right to take part in the meetings of the Seym, and to speak out of the turn of those figuring on the list of speakers; they may take part in the vote if they are deputies.
Art. 61. The ministers may not hold any other office or participate in the governing or controlling bodies of societies and institutions which work for profit.
Art. 62. Should the office of a minister be held by a provisory head of the ministry, he will be subject to all the rules concerning the office of a ministry. The President of the Council of Ministers will, in case of need, appoint one of the ministers his deputy.
Art. 63. A special statute will determine the number, competence, and mutual relation of the Ministers, as well as the competence of the Council of Ministers.
Art. 64. The Court of State is composed of the First President of the Supreme Court as chairman, and of twelve members, eight of whom are elected by the Seym and four by the Senate from outside their own membership.
To membership in the Court of State are eligible persons who do not hold any State office, and are in full possession of civil rights.
The election of the members of the Court of State is carried out by the Seym and the Senate immediately upon the election of their officers for the whole term of the Seym.
Art. 65. For administrative purposes, the Polish State will be divided by statute into Voyevodships, districts, and urban and rural communes, which will at the same time be the units of territorial self-government.
The units of self-government may combine into unions in order to accomplish tasks which belong to the domain of self-government. Such unions may obtain the character of bodies of public law only by special statute.
Art. 66. The administration of the state will be organized on the principle of decentralization, organs of state administration in the individual territorial units being, as far as possible, joined in one official body under one superior, and on the principle that within the limits determined by statutes, citizens elected for this purpose shall participate in the discharge of the duties of such official bodies.
Art. 67. The right of determining affairs belonging to the domain of self-government rests with elected councils. The executive functions of Voyevodship and district self-government rests with organs formed by adding to boards elected by representative bodies, representatives of State administrative authorities, under the chairmanship of the latter.
Art. 68. A special statute will create, in addition to territorial self-government, economic self-government for the individual fields of economic life; namely, chambers of agriculture, commerce, industry, arts and crafts, hired labor and others, united into a Supreme Economic Council of the Republic, the collaboration of which with state authorities, in directing economic life and in the field of legislative proposals, will be determined by statutes.
Art. 69. The sources of revenue of the state and of self-government organizations respectively, will be strictly delimitated by statutes.
Art. 70. The state will exercise supervision over self-government activities through superior self-government boards; such supervision may, however, be partially delegated by statute to administrative courts.
Statutes will determine the cases in which decisions of self-government organs may exceptionally require confirmation by superior self-government organs or by ministries.
Art. 71. An appeal from decisions of state and self-government organs will be allowed only to one superior body, unless other provisions are made by statutes.
Art. 72. Statutes will put into effect the principle that from penal decisions of administrative authorities, made in the first instance, the parties concerned will have the right to appeal to the competent court.
Art. 73. For the purpose of passing upon the legality of administrative acts in the field of state, as well as of self-government administrative, a special statute will create administrative courts, basing their organization on the cooperation of (lay) citizens and (professional) judges, and culminating in a Supreme Administrative Court.