Later, during the Middle Ages, these tings, or assemblies, evolved nto the local assemblies of rural districts and towns, and they acquired important functions in relations between the king and the common people. Moreover, it was at specific regional assemblies that a pretender to the throne was customarily acclaimed and "taken" as king. When Norway was united as a kingdom (900 - 1030 AD), the first lagtings were constituted as superior regional assemblies. These were representative assemblies at which delegates from the various districts in each region met to award legal judgments and pass laws.

The first germs of democratic evolution appeared in matters of law. The ancient regional assemblies - Frostating, Gulating and Eidsivating - were eventually joined into a single jurisdiction, and King Magnus Lagabøte had the existing body of law put into writing (1263-80). This compilation of codified law which applied throughout the realm was exceptional for its time, and remained in force until Frederik III, king of the Danish-Norwegian union, promulgated absolute monarchy in 1660. This was codified in the King Act of 1665 which functioned as the constitution of the Union of Denmark-Norway until 1814.

In 1807, Sweden, Denmark and Norway were swept up into the Napoleonic Wars which raged in full force on the Continent, with Denmark-Norway and Sweden on opposite sides of the conflict. Napoleon's defeat in Russia in 1812 was the beginning of the end for the emperor and for the Union of Denmark-Norway. Sweden sided with Napoleon's adversaries, and the Allies promised the successor to the Swedish throne, Karl XIV Johan, Norway if he joined them in subduing France. Following the decisive victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, Karl XIV Johan hurried north to inflict a final defeat on Denmark. Frederik VI of Denmark yielded quickly, and on 14 January 1814 he signed the Treaty of Kiel, ceding Norway to the King of Sweden. The Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederik, who came to Norway in May 1813 as vice regent, played a prominent role in the drama which subsequently unfolded in 1814. He repudiated the Treaty of Kiel, and on 16 February 1814, called together the most influential men in Norway to an assembly at Eidsvoll, the purpose of which was to discuss Norway's future. At this assembly, Christian Frederik was dissuaded from his original intention to assert his hereditary title to the throne of Norway and have himself acclaimed king.

The delegates to this assembly called for a liberal constitution and a new king to be chosen by the people. They decided that the people should elect deputies to a constituent national assembly. The idea of the sovereignty of the people had prevailed. Christian Frederik was to govern the country for the time being as regent.

Of the 112 representatives to the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll, 25 represented the towns, 33 represented the army and navy, and 54 represented the rural districts (amt). By occupation they included 37 landowning farmers, 13 merchants, 5 industrialists and 57 government officials. Due to its remoteness and the shortness of time, northern Norway was not represented.

The assembly celebrated Easter Sunday together on 10 April 1814, and the following day, the Prince Regent convened the Constituent Assembly. The assembly had to work swiftly in order to draft and adopt a national constitution before the Great Powers stepped in.

On Tuesday the 17th of May, the constitution was signed and sealed. On the same day, Christian Frederik was elected King of a free, sovereign and independent Norway - unanimously, though 16 delegates expressed some reservations. On 19 May, the newly-elected King presented himself to the Constituent Assembly and swore an oath on the Constitution. The Constituent Assembly held its last meeting the following day, and in closing, all the delegates joined hands and raised their voices with the cry, "United and faithful until the Mountains of Dovre should crumble!".

With this, Norway had established its Constitution and founded its national assembly - the Storting.

The Constitution of 17 May 1814

To see the Constitution in full text, go to The Constitution

The main principles of the Constitution were founded, for the most part, on the same ideals expressed in the constitutions of the United States of America (1776) and of the French Republic (1791, 1793, 1795):

Sovereignty of the people
Separation of powers
Human rights (inspired by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, from the French Revolution in 1789)

The Principle of the Sovereignty of the People: The people of a nation are entitled to govern themselves. The will of the people should determine the actions of the governing power, and the governing power governs on behalf of the people. The people elect representatives to a national assembly which is entrusted, among other things, with enacting the laws held to be in force in that society.

The Principle of Separation of Powers: The power of the State is divided between several branches of government which are independent of each other and act as checks and balances on each other. The aim of this principle is to prevent the concentration and abuse of power. In 1814, legislative, executive and judicial powers were divided between the Storting, the King and the courts.

The Principle of Human Rights: It is essential to safeguard the fundamental and inalienable rights of the people. The Constitution establishes the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of assembly and the rule of law, but the implementation of these civil rights came about only gradually. For instance, prohibitions against lay preachers and religious minorities existed for many years.

The Union with Sweden (1814-1905)

Having declared Norway as a free, sovereign and independent country, the Norwegians were dependent on the acceptance from the major power in Europe, Great Britain.
In spite of intense Norwegian diplomatic activity towards the British government, Britain stood by its former allied, Sweden, and the Treaty of Kiel.
Karl XIV Johan of Sweden invaded Norway in the summer of 1814 and the Norwegian had to settle for a peace treaty accepting a union with Sweden under the Swedish king.
Norway was to keep its new constitution (with some amendments) and a Norwegian parliament. The Swedish king appointed his Norwegian government.

There was to be a continuous struggle for power between the Norwegian parliament and the Swedish king for the duration of the union. The union was dissolved in 1905.

1884 - Parliamentarism

"The moment that all power and authority are gathered here in this chamber, to decide on matters of highest and most august import, a great revival will spread through the land... The power of government will no longer be wielded without the Storting, it will perforce be wielded in accord with the Storting." (Johan Sverdrup, 1872)

Parliamentarism achieved a breakthrough in 1884, when the Government was forced to resign after a long and bitter political conflict.

The political strife of the latter half of the 19th century was an important aspect of the struggle of the landowning farmers and the emerging middle class against arbitrary government by officials and representatives of the King.

Improvements in schools and general education had awakened the political consciousness of the population in general. The Aldermen's Acts, which in 1837 introduced local self-government based on elected councils, took much of the control of local government away from government officials and gave it to elected representatives.

Officials appointed by the King or his Cabinet had long held power in the Storting, but the end of the 1860s marked a turning point. The opposition achieved a majority in the Storting, and it acted with greater unity than before. The conflict came to ahead in the 1870s and 1880s with the dramatic clashes on parliamentarism. On the surface, the controversy concerned the right of cabinet ministers to participate in the proceedings of the Storting, but in reality, it was a fight to determine who was to wield the real power in society.

Johan Sverdrup (1816-92) emerged as the leader of the struggle for parliamentary rule. In 1869, he took the initiative in a collaboration with Søren Jaabæk, leader of the agrarian opposition. The decision to hold Storting sessions every year, instead of every third year as formerly, strengthened the position of the Storting substantially.

The rise of parliamentarism led to abandonment of the principle of separation of powers as adopted in its original form, and the King was no longer free to choose his advisers. Cabinet ministers were now politicians in reality, and government by officials of the Crown had come to and end.

The constitutional conflict also led to the formation of political parties. The Liberal and Conservative parties were formally founded in 1884, and the political interest of the public at large was kindled. The Labour Party was founded in 1887, but it did not win any seats in the Storting until 1903.

Parliamentarism, or the principle of parliamentary rule, is the form of government which gives the parliament (Storting) authority over the executive branch (the ministerial Government). The Government is accountable to the Storting and dependent on retaining its confidence. A number of constitutional usages govern relations between the Storting and the Government, violation of which incurs political consequences, which may go so far as to require the resignation of a minister or even an entire Government. None of this is spelled out in the Constitution, but the principles have been created by political precedence and are considered fully as binding as if they had been (constitutional precedence).

Under parliamentary rule the majority in the Storting determines who will fill the offices of the ministers in Government. This does not always mean that a sitting Government will be backed by a majority, but it cannot continue to rule if it is opposed by a majority. It is the latter statement that defines the fundamental characteristic of parliamentarism. If the Storting votes that the Government does not have the confidence of the Storting, the Government must resign. It is the lack of the Storting's confidence which makes it necessary for the Government to step down.

A Government, for its part, may call a vote of no-confidence, and in doing so, threaten to step down if the Storting does not accept its proposal on a specific issue. In practice, a Government also renders its resignation in the event of an electoral defeat, i.e. when the majority in the Storting shifts as a result of an election, thereby creating a parliamentary imperative for the formation of a new Government.