Stone clause is an article of the Federal Constitution that cannot be changed.
A clause is an article of a law, it is part of the legal text that defines rights or obligations. Pétrea is an adjective for what is like stone, unchanging and perpetual.
A stone clause is, therefore, an article (provision) of the constitutional text that is established as a rule and that cannot be changed. According to Constitutional Law, the stone clause is defined as a immutable constitutional device.
Stone clause and proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC)
In general, the provisions of the Constitution can be changed or revised through a proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC). The exception is the stone clauses that cannot be modified or deleted.
In addition to not being able to be changed or deleted from the text, the clauses cannot even be part of a proposed change by a PEC. This means that there cannot be a PEC that somehow proposes to change one of these clauses.
What is the function of a stone clause?
The reason why there are strict clauses in the Constitution of a State is to prevent changes being made to the fundamental rights of citizens. These immutable clauses guarantee the sovereignty of the nation and the continuity of the democratic rule of law.
A change in the stone clauses can only happen if a new Federal Constitution is proposed.
Stone clauses of the Brazilian Federal Constitution
The items listed in items I to IV of §4, article 60, are permanent clauses of the Federal Constitution of 1988.
Cannot be changed in the Constitution:
- the federative form of state,
- the form of voting: direct, secret, universal and periodic,
- the separation of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary Powers,
- the individual rights and guarantees that are guaranteed in the Constitution.
In addition to these four stone clauses, there are other articles of the Constitution that can be interpreted as stone clauses, even if they are not explicitly described as such.
For example: the right to life, which is described in article 5 of the Federal Constitution. It is an individual right and, thus, it is a permanent clause, as Article 60, item IV, determines by "individual rights and guarantees".
The same happens with other fundamental rights and with issues related to the form and limits placed by the Constitution for making constitutional amendments and revisions.
See also the meaning of Provisional Measure, Constitutional amendment and federal Constitution.