| NORWAY Kingdom of Norway Kongeriket Norge Joined United Nations: 27 November 1945 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 29 August 2012 |
Article 2
All inhabitants of the Realm shall have the right to free exercise of their religion.
The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion of the State. The inhabitants professing it are bound to bring up their
children in the same.
Article 20
The King shall have the right in the Council of State to pardon criminals after sentence has been passed. The criminal shall have the choice
of accepting the King's pardon or submitting to the penalty imposed.
In proceedings which the Odelsting causes to be brought before the Court of Impeachment, no pardon other than deliverance from the
death penalty may be granted.
C. Rights of citizens and the Legislative Power
Article 49
The people exercises the Legislative Power through the Storting, which consists of two departments, the Lagting and the Odelsting.
Article 50
Those entitled to vote are Norwegian citizens, men and women, who, at the latest in the year when the election is held, have completed
their 18th year.
The extent, however, to which Norwegian citizens, who on Election Day are resident outside the Realm but who satisfy the
aforementioned conditions, are entitled to vote shall be determined by law.
Rules may be laid down by law concerning the right to vote of persons, otherwise entitled to vote, who on Election Day are manifestly
suffering from a seriously weakened mental state or a reduced level of consciousness.
Article 51
The rules on the keeping of the poll list and on the registration in the poll list of persons entitled to vote shall be determined by law.
Article 52
(Repealed)
Article 53
The right to vote is lost by persons:
a) sentenced for criminal offences, in accordance with the relevant provisions laid down by law;
b) entering the service of a foreign power without the consent of the Government;
c) (repealed)
d) demonstrably guilty of having bought votes, of having sold their own vote, or of having voted at more than one polling station.
e) (repealed)
Article 60
Whether and in what manner those entitled to vote may deliver their ballot papers, without personal attendance at the polls, shall be
determined by law.
Article 61
No one is eligible as a representative to the Storting unless he has resided for 10 years in the Realm, as well as being entitled to vote.
Article 62
Officials who are employed in government departments, except however the State Secretaries, or officials and pensioners of the Court,
may not be elected as representatives to the Storting. The same applies to officials employed in the diplomatic or consular services.
Members of the Council of State may not attend meetings of the Storting as representatives while holding a seat in the Council of State.
Nor may the State Secretaries attend as representatives while holding their appointments.
Article 63
It is the duty of anyone who is elected as a representative to accept such election, unless:
a) He is elected outside the constituency in which he is entitled to vote.
b) He has as a representative attended all the sessions of the Storting following the previous election.
c) He has completed his sixtieth year at the latest in the year when the General Election is held.
d) He is a member of a political party and he is elected on a list of candidates which has not been issued by that party.
If anyone is elected as a representative without being bound to accept such election, he must, within the time and in the manner
prescribed by law, make a declaration stating whether or not he accepts election.
It shall similarly be prescribed by law by what date and in which manner anyone who is elected as representative for two or more
constituencies shall state which election he will accept.
Article 64
The representatives elected shall be furnished with credentials, the validity of which shall be adjudged by the Storting.
Article 65
Every representative and proxy called to the Storting shall be entitled to receive from the Treasury such reimbursement as is prescribed by
law for travelling expenses to and from the Storting, and from the Storting to his home and back again during vacations lasting at least
fourteen days.
He shall further be entitled to remuneration, likewise prescribed by law, for attending the Storting.
Article 66
Representatives on their way to and from the Storting, as well as during their attendance there, shall be exempt from personal arrest,
unless they are apprehended in public crimes, nor may they be called to account outside the meetings of the Storting for opinions
expressed there. Every representative shall be bound to conform to the rules of procedure therein adopted.
Article 67
The representatives elected in the aforesaid manner shall constitute the Storting of the Kingdom of Norway.
E. General provisions
Article 92
To senior official posts in the State may be appointed only Norwegian citizens, men or women, who speak the language of the Country,
and who at the same time
a) either were born in the Realm of parents who were then subjects of the State;
b) or were born in a foreign country of Norwegian parents who were not at that time subjects of another State;
c) or hereafter have resided for ten years in the Realm;
d) or have been naturalized by the Storting.
Others may, however, be appointed as teachers at the university and institutions of higher learning, as medical practitioners and as consuls
in places abroad.
Article 93
In order to safeguard international peace and security or to promote the international rule of law and cooperation between nations, the
Storting may, by a three-fourths majority, consent that an international organization to which Norway adheres or will adhere shall have the
right, within objectively defined fields, to exercise powers which in accordance with this Constitution are normally vested in the
Norwegian authorities, although not the power to alter this Constitution. For the Storting to grant such consent, at least two thirds of the
Members of the Storting shall be present, as required for proceedings for amending the Constitution.
The provisions of this Article do not apply in cases of membership in an international organization, whose decisions only have application
for Norway purely under international law.
Article 94
The first, or if this is not possible, the second ordinary Storting, shall make provision for the publication of a new general civil and
criminal code. However the currently applicable laws of the State shall remain in force, provided they do not conflict with this
Constitution or with such provisional ordinances as may be issued in the meantime.
The existing permanent taxes shall likewise remain operative until the next Storting.
Article 95
No dispensations, protection from civil arrest, moratoriums or redresses may be granted after the new general code has entered into force.
Article 96
No one may be convicted except according to law, or be punished except after a court judgment. Interrogation by torture must not take
place.
Article 97
No law must be given retroactive effect.
Article 98
When special fees are paid to officials of the Courts of Justice, no further payment shall be made to the Treasury in respect of the same
matter.
Article 99
No one may be taken into custody except in the cases determined by law and in the manner prescribed by law. For unwarranted arrest, or
illegal detention, the officer concerned is accountable to the person imprisoned.
The Government is not entitled to employ military force against citizens of the State, except in accordance with the forms prescribed by
law, unless any assembly disturbs the public peace and does not immediately disperse after the Articles of the Statute Book relating to
riots have been read out clearly three times by the civil authority.
Article 100
There shall be liberty of the Press. No person may be punished for any writing, whatever its contents, which he has caused to be printed
or published, unless he wilfully and manifestly has either himself shown or incited others to disobedience to the laws, contempt of
religion, morality or the constitutional powers, or resistance to their orders, or has made false and defamatory accusations against anyone.
Everyone shall be free to speak his mind frankly on the administration of the State and on any other subject whatsoever.
Article 101
New and permanent privileges implying restrictions on the freedom of trade and industry must not in future be granted to anyone.
Article 102
Search of private homes shall not be made except in criminal cases.
Article 103
Asylum for the protection of debtors shall not be granted to such persons as hereafter become bankrupt.
Article 104
Land and goods may in no case be made subject to forfeiture.
Article 105
If the welfare of the State requires that any person shall surrender his movable or immovable property for the public use, he shall receive
full compensation from the Treasury.
Article 106
The purchase money, as well as the revenues of the landed property constituting ecclesiastical benefices, shall be applied solely to the
benefit of the clergy and to the promotion of education. The property of charitable institutions shall be applied solely to the benefit of the
institutions themselves.
Article 107
Allodial right and the right of primogeniture shall not be abolished. The specific conditions under which these rights shall continue for the
greatest benefit of the State and to the best advantage of the rural population shall be determined by the first or second subsequent
Storting.
Article 108
No earldoms, baronies, entailed estates or fideicommissa may be created in the future.
Article 109
As a general rule every citizen of the State is equally bound to serve in the defence of the Country for a specific period, irrespective of
birth or fortune.
The application of this principle, and the restrictions to which it shall be subject, shall be determined by law.
Article 110
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling every person capable of work to earn a living by his
work.
Specific provisions concerning the right of employees to co-determination at their work place shall be laid down by law.
Article 110 a
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language,
culture and way of life.
Article 110 b
Every person has a right to an environment that is conducive to health and to natural surroundings whose productivity and diversity are
preserved. Natural resources should be made use of on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations whereby this right will be
safeguarded for future generations as well.
In order to safeguard their right in accordance with the foregoing paragraph, citizens are entitled to be informed of the state of the natural
environment and of the effects of any encroachments on nature that are planned or commenced.
The State authorities shall issue further provisions for the implementation of these principles.
Article 110 c
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to respect and ensure human rights. Specific provisions for the implementation of
treaties hereof shall be determined by law.
All inhabitants of the Realm shall have the right to free exercise of their religion.
The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion of the State. The inhabitants professing it are bound to bring up their
children in the same.
Article 20
The King shall have the right in the Council of State to pardon criminals after sentence has been passed. The criminal shall have the choice
of accepting the King's pardon or submitting to the penalty imposed.
In proceedings which the Odelsting causes to be brought before the Court of Impeachment, no pardon other than deliverance from the
death penalty may be granted.
C. Rights of citizens and the Legislative Power
Article 49
The people exercises the Legislative Power through the Storting, which consists of two departments, the Lagting and the Odelsting.
Article 50
Those entitled to vote are Norwegian citizens, men and women, who, at the latest in the year when the election is held, have completed
their 18th year.
The extent, however, to which Norwegian citizens, who on Election Day are resident outside the Realm but who satisfy the
aforementioned conditions, are entitled to vote shall be determined by law.
Rules may be laid down by law concerning the right to vote of persons, otherwise entitled to vote, who on Election Day are manifestly
suffering from a seriously weakened mental state or a reduced level of consciousness.
Article 51
The rules on the keeping of the poll list and on the registration in the poll list of persons entitled to vote shall be determined by law.
Article 52
(Repealed)
Article 53
The right to vote is lost by persons:
a) sentenced for criminal offences, in accordance with the relevant provisions laid down by law;
b) entering the service of a foreign power without the consent of the Government;
c) (repealed)
d) demonstrably guilty of having bought votes, of having sold their own vote, or of having voted at more than one polling station.
e) (repealed)
Article 60
Whether and in what manner those entitled to vote may deliver their ballot papers, without personal attendance at the polls, shall be
determined by law.
Article 61
No one is eligible as a representative to the Storting unless he has resided for 10 years in the Realm, as well as being entitled to vote.
Article 62
Officials who are employed in government departments, except however the State Secretaries, or officials and pensioners of the Court,
may not be elected as representatives to the Storting. The same applies to officials employed in the diplomatic or consular services.
Members of the Council of State may not attend meetings of the Storting as representatives while holding a seat in the Council of State.
Nor may the State Secretaries attend as representatives while holding their appointments.
Article 63
It is the duty of anyone who is elected as a representative to accept such election, unless:
a) He is elected outside the constituency in which he is entitled to vote.
b) He has as a representative attended all the sessions of the Storting following the previous election.
c) He has completed his sixtieth year at the latest in the year when the General Election is held.
d) He is a member of a political party and he is elected on a list of candidates which has not been issued by that party.
If anyone is elected as a representative without being bound to accept such election, he must, within the time and in the manner
prescribed by law, make a declaration stating whether or not he accepts election.
It shall similarly be prescribed by law by what date and in which manner anyone who is elected as representative for two or more
constituencies shall state which election he will accept.
Article 64
The representatives elected shall be furnished with credentials, the validity of which shall be adjudged by the Storting.
Article 65
Every representative and proxy called to the Storting shall be entitled to receive from the Treasury such reimbursement as is prescribed by
law for travelling expenses to and from the Storting, and from the Storting to his home and back again during vacations lasting at least
fourteen days.
He shall further be entitled to remuneration, likewise prescribed by law, for attending the Storting.
Article 66
Representatives on their way to and from the Storting, as well as during their attendance there, shall be exempt from personal arrest,
unless they are apprehended in public crimes, nor may they be called to account outside the meetings of the Storting for opinions
expressed there. Every representative shall be bound to conform to the rules of procedure therein adopted.
Article 67
The representatives elected in the aforesaid manner shall constitute the Storting of the Kingdom of Norway.
E. General provisions
Article 92
To senior official posts in the State may be appointed only Norwegian citizens, men or women, who speak the language of the Country,
and who at the same time
a) either were born in the Realm of parents who were then subjects of the State;
b) or were born in a foreign country of Norwegian parents who were not at that time subjects of another State;
c) or hereafter have resided for ten years in the Realm;
d) or have been naturalized by the Storting.
Others may, however, be appointed as teachers at the university and institutions of higher learning, as medical practitioners and as consuls
in places abroad.
Article 93
In order to safeguard international peace and security or to promote the international rule of law and cooperation between nations, the
Storting may, by a three-fourths majority, consent that an international organization to which Norway adheres or will adhere shall have the
right, within objectively defined fields, to exercise powers which in accordance with this Constitution are normally vested in the
Norwegian authorities, although not the power to alter this Constitution. For the Storting to grant such consent, at least two thirds of the
Members of the Storting shall be present, as required for proceedings for amending the Constitution.
The provisions of this Article do not apply in cases of membership in an international organization, whose decisions only have application
for Norway purely under international law.
Article 94
The first, or if this is not possible, the second ordinary Storting, shall make provision for the publication of a new general civil and
criminal code. However the currently applicable laws of the State shall remain in force, provided they do not conflict with this
Constitution or with such provisional ordinances as may be issued in the meantime.
The existing permanent taxes shall likewise remain operative until the next Storting.
Article 95
No dispensations, protection from civil arrest, moratoriums or redresses may be granted after the new general code has entered into force.
Article 96
No one may be convicted except according to law, or be punished except after a court judgment. Interrogation by torture must not take
place.
Article 97
No law must be given retroactive effect.
Article 98
When special fees are paid to officials of the Courts of Justice, no further payment shall be made to the Treasury in respect of the same
matter.
Article 99
No one may be taken into custody except in the cases determined by law and in the manner prescribed by law. For unwarranted arrest, or
illegal detention, the officer concerned is accountable to the person imprisoned.
The Government is not entitled to employ military force against citizens of the State, except in accordance with the forms prescribed by
law, unless any assembly disturbs the public peace and does not immediately disperse after the Articles of the Statute Book relating to
riots have been read out clearly three times by the civil authority.
Article 100
There shall be liberty of the Press. No person may be punished for any writing, whatever its contents, which he has caused to be printed
or published, unless he wilfully and manifestly has either himself shown or incited others to disobedience to the laws, contempt of
religion, morality or the constitutional powers, or resistance to their orders, or has made false and defamatory accusations against anyone.
Everyone shall be free to speak his mind frankly on the administration of the State and on any other subject whatsoever.
Article 101
New and permanent privileges implying restrictions on the freedom of trade and industry must not in future be granted to anyone.
Article 102
Search of private homes shall not be made except in criminal cases.
Article 103
Asylum for the protection of debtors shall not be granted to such persons as hereafter become bankrupt.
Article 104
Land and goods may in no case be made subject to forfeiture.
Article 105
If the welfare of the State requires that any person shall surrender his movable or immovable property for the public use, he shall receive
full compensation from the Treasury.
Article 106
The purchase money, as well as the revenues of the landed property constituting ecclesiastical benefices, shall be applied solely to the
benefit of the clergy and to the promotion of education. The property of charitable institutions shall be applied solely to the benefit of the
institutions themselves.
Article 107
Allodial right and the right of primogeniture shall not be abolished. The specific conditions under which these rights shall continue for the
greatest benefit of the State and to the best advantage of the rural population shall be determined by the first or second subsequent
Storting.
Article 108
No earldoms, baronies, entailed estates or fideicommissa may be created in the future.
Article 109
As a general rule every citizen of the State is equally bound to serve in the defence of the Country for a specific period, irrespective of
birth or fortune.
The application of this principle, and the restrictions to which it shall be subject, shall be determined by law.
Article 110
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling every person capable of work to earn a living by his
work.
Specific provisions concerning the right of employees to co-determination at their work place shall be laid down by law.
Article 110 a
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language,
culture and way of life.
Article 110 b
Every person has a right to an environment that is conducive to health and to natural surroundings whose productivity and diversity are
preserved. Natural resources should be made use of on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations whereby this right will be
safeguarded for future generations as well.
In order to safeguard their right in accordance with the foregoing paragraph, citizens are entitled to be informed of the state of the natural
environment and of the effects of any encroachments on nature that are planned or commenced.
The State authorities shall issue further provisions for the implementation of these principles.
Article 110 c
It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to respect and ensure human rights. Specific provisions for the implementation of
treaties hereof shall be determined by law.
On 17 May 1814, the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll adopted the Constitution of the Kingdom of
Norway. It has been amended numerous times since, the most recent on 23 July 1995. Fundamental
rights are not set forth in one particular section but are instead scattered throughout the document but,
with the most recent amendments, fully complies with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of which Norway is a signatory. Following are those articles specifically related to human rights. For a
full English translation of Norway's constitution, click here.
Norway. It has been amended numerous times since, the most recent on 23 July 1995. Fundamental
rights are not set forth in one particular section but are instead scattered throughout the document but,
with the most recent amendments, fully complies with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of which Norway is a signatory. Following are those articles specifically related to human rights. For a
full English translation of Norway's constitution, click here.