Development
While radical in its day, the constitution of 1814 was a product of its age. As Norwegian democracy developed, some parts of it began to look increasingly dated. For example, the executive power, which in the constitution is consistently attributed to the King, came increasingly to rest in his Council of State (statsråd). Similarly, the King originally had the right to appoint members of the Council, who were answerable to him alone, and they could not be chosen from the members of the Parliament of Norway. With the establishment of parliamentarism in 1884, the Council was effectively chosen by general election, in that the King appointed only members of the party or coalition having a majority in the Storting. Further, the Council became answerable to the Storting, in the sense that a failed vote of confidence would cause the government to resign. This last happened in March 2000, when the governing coalition felt unable to accept the introduction of natural gas power stations (considering it dangerous to the environment), which a majority of the Storting supported.
In addition to these changes in practice, there have been many amendments and changes to the actual text. A relic from the earlier laws of Denmark-Norway, Paragraph 2 originally read, "The Evangelical-Lutheran religion remains the public religion of the State. Those inhabitants, who confess thereto, are bound to raise their children to the same. Jesuits and monastic orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm." In 1851 the last sentence was struck after the Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland had campaigned for the rights of the Jews, and in 1897 also the next but last sentence. Monastic orders were permitted 1897, but the ban on Jesuits was only lifted in 1956. §12 in the constitution still states that more than half of the persons in the Council of State have to be members of the state church, a paragraph that has grown more controversial.
Universal male suffrage was introduced in Norway in 1898 and universal suffrage in 1913 by amendments of the constitution.
Read more about this topic: Constitution Of Norway
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