2016 Global Review of Constitutional Law

Iceland
DEVELOPMENTS IN ICELANDIC CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, Dean of the School of Law, Reykijavik University
Anna Lísa Ingólfsdóttir
82 | I•CONnect-Clough Center
ICELAND
INTRODUCTION
From a constitutional perspective, the year
2016 was a tumultuous one in Iceland. However,
the events of the year mostly played
out in elections and on TV, not in courts. In
early April, the Prime Minister resigned after
a scandal concerning his off-shore property
broke on national television, and parliamentary
elections to take place in the fall were
announced. In June, a new president was
elected. In the parliamentary elections on
October 7, parties had representatives elected
to Parliament, which meant that forming
a government was no easy task and the year
ended without one. These events will be discussed
in more detail below.
Iceland has, in spite of the financial crisis
of 2008, which hit the country severely, remained
a stable democratic state. To some
extent, the constitutional drafting process
begun in 2011 is still underway although it is
unclear to what extent changes will be made.
This will also be discussed further below. So
will seminal court cases decided in 2016.
THE CONSTITUTION AND THE
COURTS
Iceland’s constitutional history from the late
19th century is characterized by constitutional
continuity. In spite of the important
changes to the constitutional system, which
have taken place since the first undisputedly
Icelandic Constitution of 1874, only three
Constitutions have entered into force (1874,
1920 and 1944).
The current Constitution of Iceland dates
from 1944 (no. 33/1944). In 1942, it was decided
that a republic would be founded once
it became possible to end the association
with Denmark after 1943. A constitutional
committee was set, charged with drafting a
constitution for the republic, but expressly
forbidden to make any amendments except
those directly following the dissolution with
the Danish monarch and the founding of the
republic. Consequently, the only changes
made to the constitution of the monarchy
at the founding of the Republic were those
directly related to the head of state and the
mode of government. The constitution of
1944 was viewed as provisional. Constitutional
committees were at work from 1944
onwards. That project was abandoned in the
50s, to be taken up again in the early 1970s
(a new Constitution draft was introduced in
1983 but was not adopted) and then again
in 2009. In 2011, a Constitutional Council
drafted a new Constitution, but this draft has
not been adopted either.
This does not mean, however, that the Constitution
has remained unchanged from 1944.
In 1959, the electoral system was drastically
changed; in 1968, the rules on eligibility to
vote were altered; in 1984, the electoral system
was amended once again; in 1991, Althing
(the Icelandic Parliament) was made
unicameral and the distinction between the
executive and judicial powers made clearer.
In 1995, a completely revised chapter on human
rights was adopted and the fiscal control
of Parliament was clarified. In 1999, the
electoral system was amended once again
and in 2013, an amendment to simplify the
amendment procedure entered into force, adopted
in order to make it easier to pass any
amendment based on the constitutional drafting
that took place in 2011-2013.
Throughout this time, Iceland has been—
and still remains—a representative democracy
with an elected head of state that holds a
largely ceremonial role, a parliamentary sys-