Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - International Position, by Ebbe Hertzberg
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about «not by force of arms, but of free will,» and in the same
year, the king in his communication to the Swedish Diet
concerning the union, and the Diet itself still more in its reply, expressed
themselves with great clearness in similar terms.
The main points in the union, which had been brought about
through this chain of events and through documents, based upon a
voluntary agreement, are as follows:
According to the first paragraph of her own Constitution and
of the Act of Union, Norway is «free, independent, indivisible
and inalienable kingdom, united with Sweden under one king.»
In case of the king’s absence, illness or minority it is provided
that the country be ruled, until the national assembly shall have
arranged otherwise, by the next heir to the throne, or by a
provisional government, composed of an equal number of members from each
kingdom. Should the royal dynasty become extinct, a new one shall
be chosen by the Norwegian Storthing and the Swedish Riksdag,
or if these cannot agree, by a committee composed of an equal
number of Norwegians and Swedes.
The king shall be crowned in each kingdom separately, and
he is bound to reside for «some time» each year in Norway.
The constitutions of the two countries, each of which rests
upon its own fundamental laws, differ greatly from one another in
a number of important points.
The principal point is that while Sweden has a legislative
assembly, consisting of two chambers, the Norwegian Storthing is in
reality a one-chamber institution, which only divides into two
sections in purely legislative matters and in cases of impeachment
of the ministry. The smaller section can thus only be regarded as
a revising legislative committee, furnished with certain
prerogatives, and also, more especially, as a component part of the High
Court of the Realm.
From the foregoing it is also clear, that the ordinary
legislation in the two countries is wholly distinct, and in principles it is,
in many respects, fundamentally different.
This is also the case in a marked degree with the military
and naval organisations of the two kingdoms, for both army and
fleet are separate for each country without any other point of
contact than the king in his character of Commander-in-chief.
Lastly, all the other important state institutions of the two
countries are separate in the same manner, thus:
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