Portuguese Constitution of 1838

This was agreed, and Maria II swore an oath to it on 4 April 1838.

[2] Its main features were the separation of legislative, judiciary and executive powers, a two chamber (Senate and Chamber of Representatives), the royal veto and administrative decentralisation.

[1] In addition, article 98 excluded from the royal succession the absolutist pretender Miguel I and all his successors (Miguelistas).

The 1838 constitution was also the first in Portugal to recognise the right to freedom of assembly.

On his arrival in Porto on 10 February 1842 Costa Cabral was hailed with popular calls for the return of the Constitutional Charter of 1826, which he restored following a coup d’état on his return to Lisbon.