The parliament in its present form was
first constituted at
Eidsvoll in 1814, although its origins can be traced back to the allting, as early as the 9th century, a type of
thing, or common assembly of free men in
Germanic societies that would gather at a place called a thingstead and were presided over by
lawspeakers. The alltings were where legal and political matters were discussed. These gradually were formalised so that the things grew into regional meetings and acquired backing and authority from the Crown, even to the extent that on occasions they were instrumental in effecting change in the monarchy itself. As oral laws became codified and Norway unified as a geopolitical entity in the 10th century, the lagtings ("law things") were established as superior regional assemblies. During the mid-13th century, the by then archaic regional assemblies, the
Frostating, the
Gulating, the
Eidsivating and the
Borgarting, were amalgamated and the corpus of law was set down under the command of King
Magnus the Lawmender. This jurisdiction remained significant until King
Frederick III proclaimed absolute monarchy in 1660; this was ratified by the passage of the
King Act of 1665, and this became the constitution of the
Union of Denmark and Norway and remained so until 1814 and the foundation of the Storting. The
Storting building opened in 1866.
World War II On 27 June 1940 the presidium signed an appeal to King Haakon, seeking his abdication. (The presidium then consisted of the presidents and vice-presidents of parliament,
Odelstinget and
Lagtinget.
Ivar Lykke stepped in (according to mandate) in place of the president in exile,
C. J. Hambro; Lykke was one [of the six] who signed. The division was also used on very rare occasions in cases of
impeachment. The original idea in 1814 was probably to have the Lagting act as an actual upper house, and the senior and more experienced members of the Storting were placed there. Later, however, the composition of the Lagting closely followed that of the Odelsting, so that there was very little that differentiated them, and the passage of a bill in the Lagting was mostly a formality. 's parliamentary group. The Lagting was discontinued in 2009. Bills were submitted by the Government to the Odelsting or by a member of the Odelsting; members of the Lagting were not permitted to propose legislation by themselves. A standing committee, with members from both the Odelsting and Lagting, would then consider the bill, and in some cases hearings were held. If passed by the Odelsting, the bill would be sent to the Lagting for review or revision. Most bills were passed unamended by the Lagting and then sent directly to the king for
royal assent. If the Lagting amended the Odelsting's draft, the bill would be sent back to the Odelsting. If the Odelsting approved the Lagting's amendments, the bill would be signed into law by the King. If it did not, then the bill would return to the Lagting. If the Lagting still proposed amendments, the bill would be submitted to a plenary session of the Storting. To be passed, the bill required the approval of a two-thirds majority of the plenary session. In all other cases a simple majority would suffice. Three days had to pass between each time a chamber voted on a bill. It took effect with the newly elected Storting in 2009.
Number of seats The number of seats in the Storting has varied over the years. In 1882 there were 114 seats, increasing to 117 in 1903, 123 in 1906, 126 in 1918, 150 in 1921, 155 in 1973, 157 in 1985, 165 in 1989, and 169 as of 2005. ==Procedure==