Norway

Justice.

An outstanding characteristic of Norwegian legal procedure is that civil cases are usually brought first before the town or district commission of mediation (forliksraad) from which an appeal lies to the local inferior courts, which are also tribunals of first instance, and are worked by judges on circuit and by assessors. There are three superior courts of appeal (overrettene) at Oslo, Bergen and Trondhjem, and one supreme court (hoiesteret). Criminal cases are tried either in jury courts (lagmandsret) with three judges and io jurors or courts of assize (meddomsret) with one judge and two assistant judges. The first is for more serious offences; the second deals with minor offences and is a court of first instance. Military crimes are dealt with by a military judicial organization. Finally, there is a High Court of the Realm (rigsret) composed of the lagting and the ordinary members of the hoiesteret, before which members of parliament, the Government, etc., are tried for misdemeanours committed in their public capacity.

Local Government,

—The country is divided into 20 dis tricts, viz., 18 counties (fylker) (see population) and the cities of Oslo and Bergen. Other towns are formed into 65 communes, governed by representatives, from whom a council of one quarter of the total representatives is elected by themselves; 672 rural communes (herreder) are similarly administered, and their chair men form a county council (fylkesting) for each county. At the head is the fylkesmann, the county governor. The electoral sys tem for local councils is the same as the parliamentary system, and has been extended to women under similar conditions.

Religion and Customs.

The endowed State religion, to which the king must conform, is Evangelical Lutheran. In 1920 there were but 71,062 dissenters, though all Christian sects except Jesuits are tolerated. The king nominates the clergy of the Established Church.

Norway is divided into seven bishoprics (Bispedommer), Oslo, Hamar, Khristiansand, Bergen, Trondhjem, Tromso, and Stavanger; and these into 91 archdeaconries (prostier) with sub divisions into 514 clerical districts (prestegjeld), parishes, and sub-parishes. The clergy take a leading part in primary educa tion, which, in spite of the difficulties arising in a sparsely popu lated country, reaches a high standard.

Down to the middle of the 19th century drunkenness was a strongly-marked characteristic of Norwegians. A strict licensing system was then introduced with success. Local boards were given a wide control over the issue of licences, and in 1871 in corporated societies (samlag) on the Swedish model were intro duced to monopolize and control the retail trade in spirits.

Their work practically ceased when the existing prohibition came into force. A plebiscite in 1919 gave 487,999 votes for and 304, 297 against prohibition. On account of existing and potential trade treaties with France, Spain and Portugal it was decided that the plebiscite should have an advisory force. At present all produc tion and trade in spirits as beverages is prohibited, and the wine monopoly severely controls the sale of wine and beer even in those districts where the local municipal authorities have issued a licence, without which sale is impossible.

In Norway there is a strongly individual national character, as is shown in the case of modern music and painting, combined with conservatism of ancient rites and practices. Such peculiar customs as those associated with weddings, lighting of the midsummer fires and the attendant celebrations still survive. In coastwise trade and fishing, high-prowed square-sailed boats, the direct descendants of the Viking vessels, are still frequently employed. Examples of the ancient farmstead, composed of a group of single-chambered wooden buildings, are preserved, and mediaeval ornamental woodwork remains important. Wood is the principal building material except in some larger towns. In the rural areas fires have left few really old domestic buildings, but the preservation of ancient wooden houses elsewhere makes sev eral of the Norwegian towns peculiarly picturesque. Norway re tains a few of the peculiar richly carved small wooden churches (stavekirke) dating from the 11th to the 14th century. They have high-pitched wooden shingle roofs rising in tiers so as to give the building something of the form of a pyramid. The roofs overhang so deeply (to offer weather-protection to the wooden walls) that the lowest often shelters a species of external colonnade. The most famous of these churches is that of Borgund —19 m. from Laerdalsoren; another fine example is at Hitterdal on the Kongsberg Telemark road. There are also a few Roman esque and Gothic stone churches. In some of these the influence of English architecture is clear, as in the magnificent metropolitan cathedral of Trondhjem, and the nave of Stavanger cathedral. A good example of the smaller stone church is at Vossevangen, on the Oslo-Bergen railway, and there are several of Late Roman esque character in the Trondhjem district. Remains of pure Early English work are occasionally found, but the later Gothic styles were not developed to any extent in Norway.