DECREE on the
application of the State Language and the languages of majority and minority populations at the state
institutions. (ADOPTED AT
THE SECOND SESSION OF THE SECOND CONVOCATION OF THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF GEORGIA on 27 February 1924)
For implementation of paragraph 3 of the
Declaration on the Language adopted by the Central Executive Committee of the
Trans-Caucasus, the Central Executive Committee of Georgia Decrees:
1. Georgian shall be the state language of the
2. On the basis of this Decree the language of
non-Georgian residents representing the majority can be used at the state
institutions of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia (Article 7) and also
the language of the minority (Article 8) as Russian, Armenian and Turkish
languages.
3. The Legal Acts, also the administrative Acts
adopted by the Central Organ of the Government that are binding on the whole
territory of the Republic, shall be published in state language, as well as in
the languages of the aforementioned minorities.
Note. In
case of suspicion to the interpretation of the aforementioned acts the Georgian
text shall be considered as original.
4. The decrees, instructions or declarations
issued by the local organs that are binding to the population shall be issued
in state language, as well as in the language of the majority of the district
population (Article 7) and in the minority language specified for in Article 2
of this Decree (Art.8)
5. The paperwork at the state institutions
shall be carried out in a state language respecting the exceptions given below.
6. Everyone shall have the right to submit the
written or oral application to the central state organ, besides the state
language, in one of the minority languages specified for in Article 2 and also
ask for the document or information in one of these languages with translation.
7. In the institutions of districts, where
according to the latest statistic data the majority of population are not
Georgian ethnic, the paperwork shall be carried out in the language of this
majority. This rule shall be authorized by the Central Executive Committee upon
submission of the District Executive Committee.
8. The minority language used at the district
institutions by the minority population shall be one of the languages specified
for in Article 2 of this Decree if the number of this minority upon the latest
statistic data exceeds 15 percent of the total population; this shall be
authorized by the Central Executive Committee upon submission of the District
Executive Committee.
9. The citizen, applying to the District
institution or district official may use everywhere in the Republic the state
language; in the Districts where the majority of population is non-Georgian
they may use the language of this minority and also the language that is
authorized as the language of application in this District upon Article 8
within the competence specified for in Article 6 of this Decree.
10. The inter-communication between the
District institutions where the language of paperwork is established under
Article 7 of this Decree and the Central organs of the government shall be
carried out in a language of paperwork authorized for this district. In the Districts, where the languages of application
are different, the intercommunication shall be carried out in state language or
in one of the languages specified for in Article 2.
11. The administrative organ, lower than the
District Organ may carry out the paperwork in a state language or in one of the
languages specified for in Article 2 upon the special decision made by the
relevant executive committee; but the communication with the central or
district institutions shall be carried out in a language applied to the
paperwork in this particular district, and the communication with the
populations shall be carried out according the rule specified for in Article 9
of this Decree.
12. Persons belonging to the nationality whose
language is not applied to the whole of the territory or to the certain
district shall be authorized to use Russian in every institution according to
the rule specified for in Article 6.
13. The language of proceedings at the judicial
institutions shall be determined by the criminal and civil procedural
codes. The side of the proceeding, which
has no command in a state language or the language of majority of the certain
district, shall be authorized: a) to submit the application, information or any
other document relating to the proceedings in a language of minority used in this
language; b) to give a verbal explanation in the same language; c) to ask for
interpreter from the court to make understandable any act of the proceedings,
the bill of indictment and motion, the conclusion of prosecutor’s supervision,
the court judgment, decision or ruling, witness’s testimony and the conclusion
of the expert; d) to ask for the copy of court judgment, decision or ruling, as
well as the protocol or other acts of the proceedings translated into that
language; and e) to receive the summon
or application in that language.
14. The Decree shall come in to force from 1
May of 1924.
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of
the Georgian SSR M. Tskhakaia
Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of
the Georgian SSR P. Sabashvili
(Collection of Law and Decrees issued by the
Workers and Peasants Government of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia, N
1, 1924, p. 19-21)