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The Constitutional Act

The Constitutional Act is the Danish constitution. It describes, among other things, the organisation of the Danish democracy, the citizen's rights and duties, and the tripartition of power.

Større

Denmark has roughly 1,300 laws. The most important law is the Constitutional Act. It outlines the fundamental rules of the Danish democracy. The Constitutional Act is made up of 11 chapters and 89 sections.

Denmark has been a democracy since the country’s first Constitutional Act was passed in 1849. The passing of the Constitutional Act was the end of absolute monarchy. The King’s power was limited and more of the citizens gained the right to vote.

All other laws must comply with the Constitutional Act. For that reason, the Constitutional Act is more difficult to change or amend than any other law. There have only been 4 amendments since 1849.

The monarch only has formal power

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. This form of government is described in section 2 of the Constitutional Act. It means that the monarch has governing power, but the power is limited by the rules of the Constitutional Act.

Today, the monarch’s power is limited to a very far extent. The monarch has no independent power. The country is governed by a government that is not opposed by a majority of Parliament.

The power is split in three

The partition of power in Denmark is stated in the Constitutional Act section 3: »Legislative authority shall be vested in the King and the Parliament conjointly. Executive authority shall be vested in the King. Judicial authority shall be vested in the courts of justice.«

The tripartition of power is meant to prevent the abuse of power.

Today, section 3 is understood a little differently than in 1849. The King has been replaced by a government. The legislative power is thereby vested in both the Government and Parliament. But the fundamental principle of the tripartition of power is still a core principle upon which the Danish democracy rests.

The Government depends on the support of Parliament

A government in Denmark must not be opposed by a majority. If 90 or more members of Parliament are opposed to the Government, it can be overthrown and must resign.

This is called negative parliamentarism and is established in section 15 of the Constitutional Act. Here it says that the Government must resign or call a general election if the Parliament expresses mistrust in the Prime Minister.

This parliamentarism has indirect significance for the relations of power between the Government and Parliament: The Government must pursue policies that can be generally supported by a majority of Parliament.

Parliamentarism has been a principle of the Danish democracy since 1901, but it was not written into the Constitutional Act until 1953.

The citizens have rights and duties

The citizens have a number of rights stated in the Constitutional Act. These are rights such as:

  • personal freedom – the right to believe and think what you want
  • freedom of speech – the right to say what you want
  • freedom of assembly – the right to gather and demonstrate your views
  • freedom of association – the right to establish and be a member of associations

The Constitutional Act also grants all children the right to education – either in a public school, private school or in their home. All healthy men also must do compulsory military service.

Women in Parliament

The first citizen-elected parliament in Denmark was established in 1849. But only a small section of the population – and only men – had the right to vote.

From the end of the 19th century, thousands of people across the country participated in the fight for suffrage – the right to vote. Women gathered in new organizations that had as part of their main purpose the introduction of political rights for women.

In 1908, women gained the right to vote in and to stand for municipal elections. On June 5th 1915 – after more than 25 years of political fight – »Rigsdagen« amended the Constitutional Act. »Rigsdagen« was the name of the Danish Parliament from 1849 to 1953 and was made up of two chambers: »Folketinget« and »Landstinget«.

Following this, women could both vote and stand for election in Parliament. In 1918, 4 women were elected to »Folketinget« and 5 were elected to »Landstinget«. This made up 2.9 percent and 6.9 of the total number of members, respectively.

The first women in the highest roles were:

  • 1924: First female minister Nina Bang (the Social Democratic Party)
  • 1943: First female member of the Presidium of the Danish Parliament Inger Gautier Schmit (the Liberal Party)
  • 2005: First female Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (the Social Democratic Party)
  • 2009: First female Danish EU commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel (the Liberal Party)
  • 2015: First female Speaker of Parliament Pia Kjærsgaard (the Danish People's Party)