Serious flaws in the Danish constitution
October 10, 2006I had lunch the other day with some people at a client and I was talking about the difference between the Danish and the US constitution. To my horror people pretty much unanimously thought that the constitution wasn’t of any importance. I had to explain the basic concepts that I think most Americans learn pretty early on in school.
While I have read the Danish constitution several times, I hadn’t really analyzed it in detail before. I will analyze several of what I find are really serious flaws in the constitution over the next few blog posts. For English speakers I’ve posted the official English translation of the Danish constitution. Danes should follow the Danish language Grundloven.
I am not a lawyer, but I am of the serious belief that law is way to important to be kept under wraps by lawyers and politicians.
The first major flaw in the constitution is all the BS covering the royal family. Most Danes think about the constitution only when talking about royal succession. If you start skimming it you can see why. The equivalent of a bill of rights are well hidden in it. These I will cover in the next post.
Comments:
Hello!
Let me thank you for publishing an English translation of the Danish Constitution. You would think there would be a comprehensive source containing all the world's constitutions in one place in all world languages (hmmm... if only there was a world body for something like that). As I am undergoing a study of Constitutional systems and their human rights assurances, it has become a real trial to find copies in English if, in fact, there is an electronically published version at all.
I would like to link back to your blog for the full text of the Constitution and republish your translation of the Bill of Rights on my website. Like you, I am not a lawyer, but it astonishes me how most people (particlarly Americans) seem to have little understanding,aweness or concern for constitutional safeguards and the role they play in guaranteeing their freedom and security.
Thanks for the good work. We may be a small cadre of people who care about these issues but, if not us, who would?
Dave Carroll
Posted by: Dave Carroll at December 10, 2006 05:05 PM
