Acts Touching the Swedish-Norwegian Crisis
1 Extracts From the Constitution of Norway
§ 1. The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible, and inalinenable realm united with Sweden under one King.
§ 5. The King’s person is sacred. He must not be blamed nor accused. The responsibility is incumbent on His Council.
§15. — — — — — The Prime Minister reports the matters and is responsible for the documents issued being in accordance with the resolutions adopted.
§ 30. All matters dealt with in the Cabinet Council should be recorded. Each number of the Cabinet Council is bound to express, fearlessly, his opinion which the King is obliged to listen to. But it is reserved for the latter to take these resolutions according to His own judgment.
If a member of the Cabinet Council should find the Kings’ resolution incongruous with the form of government, or the public laws of the country, or else obviously harmful to the realm, it is his duty to make strenuous remonstrance and to have his opinon recorded. He who has not issued a protest in this way, is considered to have agreed with the King and is responsible for it in the way subsequently indicated, and the Odelsthing can proeced against him before the Court of impeachment.
§ 31. All orders (ezcepting matters of military command) issued by the King himself, should be countersigned by one of the Prime Ministers.
§ 76. Each law shall first be moved in the Odelsthing, either by its own members or by the Government through a Cabinet Minister. — — — — —
§ 77. When a resolution passed by the Odelsthing has been approved of by the Lagthing, or by the assembled Storthing, it is sent to the King if present, or else to the Norwegian Government with the request of obtaining the sanction of the King.
§ 78. If the King approves of the resolution he shall attach His signature to it, through which it passes into law. If He does not approve of it, He shall send it back to the Odelsthing with the declaration that He does not find it suitable, at present, to sanction it. In this case the resolution must not again be laid before the King by the Storthing then assembled.
§ 79. If a resolution has, in unaltered form, been passed by three ordinary Storthings constituted after three different consecutive general Elections and separated from each other by at least two intermediate ordinary Storthings without that, in the interval between the first and the last adoption of the resolution, a divergent resolution has been passed by a Storthing, and if it is then submitted to the King with the request that His Majesty may be pleased not to negative a resolution regarded as useful by the Storthing after mature consideration, then it passes into law, even if the King’s sanction should not be obtained before the break-up of the Storthing.
§ 112. If experience should teach that some part of the Constitution of the realm of Norway ought to be altered, the motion for it shall be made at the first ordinary Storthing after a new general election and be issued from the press. But it can only to be one of the ordinary Storthings after the next general election, to decide as to whether the amendment moved should be accepted or not. Such an amendment, however, must never be contrary to the principles of this Constitution, but should only regard a modification of particular regulations, not affecting the spirit of this Constitution, and such an amendment should be seconded by two thirds of the Storthing.