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HISTORY The Norwegian constitution was inspired by the United States Declaration Of Independence in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789 and the subsequent U.S. and French constitutions, and is considered one of the most radical constitutions in the world at that time. After a Campaign Against Norway by its neighbor Sweden , Norway in the Convention Of Moss was forced to enter into a Personal Union with Sweden, forming Sweden-Norway , and amend its constitution accordingly November 4 1814 . Those amendments were revoked after the dissolution of the ninety-one-year-old union in 1905 . Several other amendments have been adopted since 1814, the most recent on 30 September 2004 . To keep the constitution as consistent as possible, changes are written in a language close to that introduced in the linguistic revision of the constitution in 1903 , that is a very conservative Dano-Norwegian. After World War II and the restoration of peace and constitutional rule, there was much debate on how to handle the events of the previous 5 years. None of this led to any changes in the constitution – it had withstood the test of hard times. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION The constitution of 1814 was a product of its age, and 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 Storting (the parliament). With the introduction of Parliamentarism in the 1880s and early 1890s, 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 of 2000, when the governing coalition felt unable to accept the introduction of gas power stations, 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. Perhaps the most famous is the removal of the " Jew paragraph". 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 Monk ish orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm."'' In 1851 the last sentence was struck, and in 1897 also the next but last sentence. Universal ''male'' Suffrage was introduced in Norway in 1898 and Universal Suffrage in 1913 by amendments of the constitution. CURRENT TRENDS From time to time proposals are made to separate the church from the state, which would imply an amendment of § 2 of the constitution. This has never been supported by a majority in the Storting but is constantly a matter of debate. The Norwegian High Court of the Realm is warranted by the constitution and was frequently (mis)used by the Storting as a political tool to control the government in the 19th century, but no judges and 6 lay judges appointed by the Storting, instead of the whole Supreme Court plus the Lagting (1/4 of the Storting). Some constitutional scholars hold that it may be necessary to change the constitution if Norway is to enter the European Union . However, the debate on the EU has been relatively quiescent since the referendum in 1994 , so such a change is not likely to occur for some years. It has also been proposed to change the language of the constitution to better reflect current usage, or at least harmonise the language throughout the document. Several different approaches have been suggested:
A parliamentary report has recently been made regarding the correction of language errors without formally amending the constitution ( {Link without Title} ). SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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