ACT OF UNION
1. The Kingdom of Norway shall be a free, independent, indivisible,
and inalienable kingdom, united with Sweden under one King.
Its form of government'shall be a limited and hereditary monarchy.
2. The order of succession shall be lineal and agnatic, as appointed
in the Order of Succession of the 26th of September 1810,
passed by the Estates of the Kingdom of Sweden and adopted by
the King.
Among those entitled to the succession is reckoned also the
child unborn, who takes his proper place in the line of succession
the moment he, after the death of his father, is bom into the world.
When a Prince entitled to succeed to the united Crowns of
Norway and Sweden is born, his name and the time of his birth
shall be notified to the first Storthing thereafter held, and entered
in the record of its proceedings.
3. If there is no Prince entitled to the succession, and an
election of a successor to the Throne of both kingdoms has to be
held, the Storthing in Norway and the Riksdag in Sweden shall be
summoned for one and the same day. The King, or, if the election of
a successor to the Throne occur when the Throne is vacant, the
lawful interim Government of both kingdoms, shall, within eight days
after the date when the Storthing in Norway has been lawfully
opened and the Riksdag in Sweden has been opened in the Rikssal,
on the same day in both places make a proposal anent the succession
to the Throne.
Members of the Norwegian Storthing as well as members of the
Swedish Riksdag shall have the right to propose a successor to the
Throne. If any of them desires to exercise this his right of motion,
he shall be bound to avail himself of it within this appointed time.
The Norwegian Storthing and the Estates of the Kingdom of'
Sweden shall thereafter appoint the day of election, each body for
itself; but the election of a successor to the Throne must take place
without fail not later than the twelfth day after the term appointed
for the making of the proposal.
On the day before- that which has thus been appointed for
election of a successor to the Throne by the Norwegian Storthing
and the Estates of the kingdom of Sweden, the Norwegian Storthing,
as well, as the Estates of the kingdom of Sweden, shall, from
among their own members, elect the committee that is charged, in
case the choice of the Norwegian Storthing and the Estates of the
kingdom of Sweden should fall Upon different persons, to meet and,
Vith the rights of the representatives of both kingdoms, choose by
vote one person.
On the day'appointed for the election, the Storthing of Norway
and the Estates of the kingdom of Sweden shall, in the manner appointed
by the several constitutions of the two kingdoms, each elects
only one person from among the proposed candidates. „ If the choice
of both kingdoms has fallen upon the same person, then he is lawfully
elected succesor to the Throne. Should, on the other hand,
each of the kingdoms have chosen a different' person, this variance
is disposed of by the vote of the joint committee of the two
kingdoms.
This committee shall consist of thirty-six persons from each
kingdom, as well as eight deputy-members, elected in the manner
-specially ordained by the Storthing of Norway and the Estates of
the kingdom of Sweden. The deputy-members shall take part in
the proceedings in fixed order, but only in the event of any of the
ordinary members not being present at the election.
Karlstad shall be the place of meeting for the committees of
both kingdoms. Before the several committees set out from the place
where the Storthing in Norway and the Riksdag in Sweden are held,
each shall elect a chairman from its own number.
- It is the duty of the King, or, in the event of his decease, of
the lawful interim Government of both kingdoms, within the shortest
possible time after having received information of the separate election
of each kingdom, and having regard to the distance between
the place of meeting and the places where the Storthing in Norway
and the Riksdag in Sweden are held, to fix the day pjpon which the
committees of both kingdoms shall meet in Karlstad, but not later
than on the twenty-first day after the twelfth day hereinbefore appointed
for the Norwegian Storthing and the Swedish Riksdag as the
latest term for the election..
The chairmen of the committees for both kingdoms shall, immediately
after their arrival, jointly prepare a summons to, assemble
in the forenoon of the day after that which has been appointed for
the arrival of the committees at the place of meeting.
At the meeting the chairman of each committee shall first read
out his own and his colleagues’ credentials; after which the two chairmen
shall draw lots as to which of - them shall preside at the election.
The joint committee for both kingdoms, thus united under
one chairman, who is also entitled to vote; shall thereupon proceed
forthwith, and without discussion, to take the vote.