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 comes of age at eighteen. His authority is exercised through, and responsibility for his official acts rests with, a council of state consisting of a minister and councillors, who are the heads of finance, public accounts, church and education, defence, public works, agriculture, commerce, navigation and industry and foreign affairs. The king appoints these councillors and high officials generally in the state, church, army, navy, &c. He can issue provisional ordinances pending a meeting of parliament, can declare war (if a war of offence, only with the consent of parliament) and conclude peace, and has supreme command of the army and navy. The legislative body is the parliament (storthing), the members of which are elected directly by the people divided into electoral divisions, each returning one member. Until the election of 1906 the members were chosen by electors nominated by the voters. Elections take place every three years. The franchise is extended to every Norwegian male who has passed his twenty-fifth year, has resided five years in the country, and fulfils the legal conditions of citizenship. Under the same conditions, and if they or their husbands have paid taxes for the past year, the franchise is extended to women under a measure adopted by the Storthing in June 1907. Members of parliament must possess the franchise in their constituency, and must have resided ten years in the country; their age must not be less than thirty. The Storthing meets at Christiania, normally for two months in each year; it must receive royal assent to the prolongation of a session. After the opening of parliament the assembly divides itself into two sections, the upper (lagthing) consisting of one-quarter of the total number of members, and the lower (odelsthing) of the remainder. Every bill must be introduced in the Odelsthing; if passed there it is sent to the Lagthing, and if carried there also the royal assent gives it the force of law. If a measure is twice passed by the Odelsthing and rejected by the Lagthing, it is decided by a majority of two-thirds of the combined sections. The king has a veto, but if a measure once or twice vetoed is passed by three successive parliaments it becomes law ipso facto. This occurred when in 1899 the Norwegians insisted on removing the sign of union with Sweden from the flag of the mercantile marine. Members of parliament are paid 13s. 4d. a day during session and their travelling expenses. Parliament fixes taxation, and has control of the members of the council of state, who are not allowed to vote in either house, though they may speak.

History.

Early History.—Archaeological and geological researches have revealed a fishing and hunting population in Norway, possibly