How should the Constitution be interpreted? For 200 years, Norwegian lawyers asked this question. And constitutional interpretation has often stood at the center of political controversy. The constitutional struggles of the 1800s between King and Parliament are history, but the interpretational questions of the past are replaced by new ones as a result of the challenges of our time.
Today, the Constitution is different from the one in 1814. Not only has the constitutional text been changed many times during the past two centuries. The Constitution has been subject to different and changing interpretations as a result of social development and political change. What role has constitutional interpretation played the constitutional development in Norway, and what role should it play? In this book role of constitutional interpretation in constitutional developments is discussed historically and contemporarily with an eye toward its Nordic neighbors.
Results
The project has been organized as research and a series of seminars and has resulted in an anthology published by PAX Forlag in 2013.
Background
The project is part of the New Perspectives in Constitutional History (NFR / 1814 project). The project builds on established interdisciplinary research and aimed at different forms of communication.
Cooperation
The project is a collaboration between the Faculties of Law at the Universities of Copenhagen, Lund, Oslo and Bergen.