Editing Constitution of Norway (section)

==Development==
While radical in its day, the constitution of 1814 was a product of its age. 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 ({{Lang|no|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]]. With the establishment of [[parliamentarism]] in 1884, 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 2000, when the governing coalition refused introduction of electrical power stations based on natural gas on environmental grounds, which a majority of the Storting supported.<ref>{{cite news|title=Regjeringen går av|url=http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=4600749|access-date=29 November 2013|newspaper=[[Verdens Gang]]|date=9 March 2000}}</ref>

As a relic from the earlier laws of [[Denmark–Norway]], Article 2 in the constitution 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. [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] and monastic orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm."'' In 1851, the [[Jew clause|last sentence]] was struck out after the Norwegian poet [[Henrik Wergeland]] had campaigned for the rights of the Jews, and in 1897 also the next to last sentence. Monastic orders were permitted 1897, but the ban on Jesuits was only lifted in 1956.

Universal ''male'' [[suffrage]] was introduced in Norway in 1898 and [[universal suffrage]] in 1913 by amendments of the constitution.

Some constitutional scholars{{who|date=February 2012}} hold that it may be necessary to change the constitution if Norway is to enter the [[European Union]], as the first article states that Norway is a "free, independent" country. However, the debate on the EU has been relatively quiescent since the referendum in 1994, so such a change is not likely to occur in the immediate future.

The Norwegian High Court of the Realm is warranted by the constitution and was frequently used by the Storting as a political tool to control the government during the 19th century, but no [[impeachment (Norway)|impeachment]]s had been made since 1927. A parliamentary report and a proposition for constitutional amendment was presented in 2004 to change the legal basis of the High Court of the Realm and reduce its political bias.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archived copy|url=http://www.stortinget.no/saker/dokumenter/2003-2004/dok12-200304-001.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529121831/http://www.stortinget.no/saker/dokumenter/2003-2004/dok12-200304-001.pdf|archive-date=2008-05-29|access-date=2005-09-19}}</ref> The proposal was passed by a unanimous Storting on 20 February 2007, and came into effect in 2009. The new court of impeachment is composed of five regular [[Supreme Court of Norway]] judges and six lay judges appointed by the Storting.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-02-27|title=Riksrett|url=https://www.stortinget.no/no/Stortinget-og-demokratiet/Arbeidet/Riksrett/|access-date=2021-05-17|website=Stortinget|language=no}}</ref>

In May 2012, parliament passed a constitutional amendment, for the second time, to separate church and state.<ref>{{cite web|title=Norway makes another step in the long road to separating church and state|url=http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/05/norway-shows-the-way-by-separating-church-and-state|access-date=21 March 2018|website=secularism.org.uk|date=15 May 2012 }}</ref> This formally made Norway a secular country with no official religion, although the Church of Norway is still mentioned in the Constitution. Article 12 in the constitution, which stated that more than half of the persons in the Council of State had to be members of the state church was also repealed.<ref>{{cite web|title='King Harald's faith' - comment in Aftenposten (in Norwegian)|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article2391871.ece|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717190842/http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article2391871.ece|archive-date=17 July 2012|access-date=21 March 2018|website=aftenposten.no}}</ref><ref>Plesner, I.T. "State church and church autonomy." in ''CHURCH AUTONOMY: A COMPARATIVE SURVEY'' (Gerhard Robbers,
ed., Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001). {{cite web|title=Archived copy|url=http://www.iclrs.org/strasbourg/robbers/chapters/ch22.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219043022/http://www.iclrs.org/strasbourg/robbers/chapters/ch22.pdf|archive-date=2008-12-19|access-date=2008-11-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lovdata|url=http://www.lovdata.no/all/hl-18140517-000.html#12|access-date=21 March 2018|website=lovdata.no}}</ref>

In the run-up for the 200th anniversary for the Constitution, work was done to see if the Constitution could be amended to be more in tune with the times. In December 2011, a Committee appointed by the Storting put forth its report, suggesting that human rights be put in a separate chapter in the Constitution.<ref>[http://stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Publikasjoner/Dokumentserien/2011-2012/Dok16-201112/ Dokument 16 (2011-2012), Rapport til Stortingets presidentskap fra Menneskerettighetsutvalget om menneskerettigheter i Grunnloven. Rapport fra Menneskerettighetsutvalget om menneskerettigheter i Grunnloven].</ref>

In 2014, 200 years after the constitution was written, a chapter on human rights was added as well as being rewritten into modern [[Bokmål]] and [[Nynorsk]].<ref name=":0" />