The Norwegian Constitution of 17 May 1814—international influences and models

Abstract

SUMMARY In this article Kåre Tønnesson presents an analysis of the framing of the Norwegian Constitution of 1814 at the constituent convention which met in the manor house of Eidsvoll. The context was the threat of the enforced transfer of the sovereignty over Norway from the Danish monarchy to the Swedish. The aim of the constitution was to pre-empt this change and secure the recognition of an independent Norwegian state, based upon the principle of national sovereignty. The article shows how the Norwegian legislators drew on a broad spectrum of ideas found in the existing constitutions and political theories of eighteenth-century North America and Europe to define the internal balance of power between executive and legislature, the scope of the proposed franchise and the definition of the rights of the citizens. Out of the materials they had collected from abroad they created a consensus for a constitution that has survived, although considerably modified by amendments and constitutional practice, for nearly two hundred years.