2016 Global Review of Constitutional Law

Norway
DEVELOPMENTS IN NORWEGIAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Anine Kierulf, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Oslo School of Law
NORWAY
INTRODUCTION
Developments in Norwegian constitutional
law 2016 were marked by courts’ adjustments
to a major constitutional reform of
2014. In it, the 1814 Norwegian Constitution
was amended with a bill of rights, thus
constitutionalizing international human
rights that had until then been incorporated
by ordinary legislation. Questions of rights
dominated constitutional adjudication. The
political debate saw some discussion of two
separation of power issues: one, the preparations
towards the separation between church
and state, a constitutional alteration of 2012
effectuated from January 1, 2017; 1 the other
questions of parliamentary competence to
instruct the government in concrete cases in
connection with a government decision to reduce
quotas in the licensed hunt of wolves. 2
Norway is a monarchy functioning as a constitutional
democracy. It was established as
a state independent from Denmark in 1814,
enacted its Constitution, and was then unionized
by Sweden until 1905. In the 1800s,
the Norwegian Constitution was considered
positive law and played a significant role in
adjudication, both due to the lack of statutes
in the new country and to its symbolic value
as a Norwegian base of law. Less used in
legal adjudication through the 1900s, it has
remained a central political and legal document.
While not a party to the EU, 3 EU legal influence
is significant due to the Norwegian
membership in the European Economic Area
(EEA), which grants access to the internal
market on the condition that Norway implements
relevant EU legislation. 4 The core international
Human Rights conventions, and
the European Convention of Human Rights
(ECHR) are incorporated into Norwegian
law through the Human Rights Act of 1999
(HRA), and influences Norwegian law in a
constitution-like way as the provisions of
these instruments take precedence before
conflicting Norwegian law. 5
In politics, 2016 was Prime Minister Erna
Solberg’s (Conservative) third of her fouryear-term
coalition government. The minority
right-of-centre government, comprising
the Conservatives and the right wing Progress
Party (FrP), is reliant on parliamentary
support from two centrist parties, the Liberal
Left and the Christian Democrats. Areas of
1
Parliamentary enactment of May 21, 2012.
2
Following the Constitution § 75 a) and d), Parliament regulates the Government through legislation
and budgetary dispositions. Legal foundations for instructing the Government in concrete cases are
less clear, but the tendency of Parliament to “invite” the Government to (re)consider concrete cases
has been rising since 2000, with a particular surge in 2015-2016, see Meld. St. 17 (2016–2017), https://
www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/meld.-st.-17-20162017/id2538216/sec1 (retrieved April 5, 2017).
3
Two referenda, in 1972 and 1994, voted “no” to the EU by slim majorities (53.5% and 52.2%).
4
The EEA agreement was incorporated into Norwegian law by Lov av 27. november 1992 nr. 109.
By its § 2 EU-legislation has prevalence before Norwegian law in cases of conflict. About 70% of
EU directives are also relevant to Norway under the EEA, see NOU 2012:2, 25.3.3 In addition to the
influence of the directives and other EU regulations come the decisions of the EU and EFTA courts. See
http://www.europautredningen.no/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NOU201220120002000EN_PDFS.pdf
(retrieved March 15, 2017).
5
The Human Rights Act 1999 (lov av 21. mai 1999 nr 30) § 3.The other conventions are the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (both 1966), the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and Convention on the Rights of
the Child (1989).
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