Constitution

The Constitution of Norway from 1814 was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the French revolution in 1789 and subsequent constitutions, and was considered to be one of the most radically democratic constitutions in the world at the time of its adoption. Inspired by Montesqieu’s ideas, the Constitution separates power in three branches of government, the executive, legislative and judiciary. Based on the prevailing ideas during Enlightenment concerning distribution of power, the elected national assembly was only partly supposed to control the government, which was appointed by the King and in turn kept at bay by the independent courts. In 1884, a parliamentary system of government (Norwegian: parlamentarisme) was introduced as customary law, making the Storting the supreme branch of government. In practice, this meant that any government must have sufficient backing in the national assembly, even though executive power is formally vested in the King. However, the Constitution has recently been amended, so today the parliamentary system of government enjoys explicit legal authority. The powers of the national government stem from the Storting, or more accurately, its composition following elections.