In such matters the opinion of the Norwegian Government-ought
also to be obtained, unless the business requires to be disposed of in
such haste that time will not allow of it. As often as the King in
the Norwegian Council of State, whenever and wherever it is assembled,
transacts business which concerns both kingdoms, three members
of the Swedish Council of State shall also have seats and votes.
6. If the King dies, and the Heir to the Throne is still under
age, the Norwegian and Swedish Councils of State shall at once
assemble in order jointly to summon a meeting of the Storthing in
Norway and of the Riksdag in Sweden.
7. Until the representatives of both kingdoms are assembled and
have taken measures for the conduct of the government during the
King’s minority, a Council of State, consisting of an equal number
■of Norwegian and Swedish members, shall conduct the government
of the kingdoms under the name of the interim Government of Norway
and Sweden, with due regard to the different constitutions of
the two kingdoms.
This joint Council of State shall consist of ten members from
each kingdom, namely: from Norway, the Norwegian Minister and
the two Councillors of State in attendance upon the King at Stockholm,
together with seven Councillors of State, whether ordinary or
specially appointed, who, in the event of a vacancy of the Throne,
or during the King’s minority, shall be elected by the Government
in Norway from among its own members, in whose place at least
three Councillors of State in Norway shall be nominated; and from
Sweden, the two Ministers and eight Councillors of State.
With regard to the preliminary preparation and investigation of
Norwegian as well as Swedish affairs, the regulations in force in each
of the kingdoms shall be observed.
At the meetings of the interim Government the Norwegian business
shall be introduced by the Norwegian Minister of State, and
entered upon the minutes and dispatched in the Norwegian language,
and the Swedish, business shall be introduced by the member of the
Swedish Ministry to whose department they belong, and entered upon
the minutes and dispatched in the Swedish language.
Business -that- concerns both kingdoms, that does not by its nature
belong to the affairs of any special department, shall be introduced
by the Minister of1 State for Foreign Affairs, and shall be
dispatched to each of the kingdoms in their respective languages, to
Norway by its Minister of- State, and to Sweden by the aforesaid
Minister.
Diplomatic business shall also be introduced by the Minister of
State for Foreign Affairs, and be entered in separate minutes.
The business shall be disposed of by a majority of votes, and,
when the votes are equal, the vote of the president shall decide the
question.
All resolutions that are to be dispatched shall be signed by each
and all of the members.
The joint Council of State (the interim Government) shall have
its seat in Stockholm.
The Norwegian Minister of State [in attendance upon the King
at Stockholm], and the Swedish Minister of Justice, shall, at the
first meeting of the two Councils of State, cast lots as to which of
them shall take the chair.
- According to the order first settled by this casting of lots, the
chairman shall afterwards be changed every eighth day, so that each
of the Ministers of State, the one after the other, and only for a
week at a time, may take the chair.
On all occasions when, according to the Constitutions of Norway
and Sweden, the government of each kingdom is conducted by the
Council of State, the joint Council of State of the two kingdoms shall
meet in equal numbers and on the basis hereinbefore mentioned.
8. The election of guardians, who shall carry on the government
for the King during his minority, shall take place according to
the same regulations and in the same manner as already prescribed
in § 3 for the election of a successor to the Throne.
9. The persons who - in the above case are conducting the
government shall take the following oath :
«I. promise and swear to carry on the government in accordance
with the Constitution and the laws, so truly help me God and His
Holy Word!»
The 'Norwegians shall take the oath before the Storthing of
Norway ; the Swedes before the Estates of the kingdom of Sweden.
If the Storthing or the Riksdag is not sitting at the time, the
oath shall be delivered in writing to the Council of State, and be
repeated afterwards to .the next Storthing or Riksdag.
10. The conduct of the King’s education during his minority
shall be determined in the manner prescribed in § 8.
It shall be an invariable rule that the King, during his minority,
be given sufficient instruction in the Norwegian language.
11. If the Royal family in the male line becomes extincfc, and
no successor to the Throne has been elected, then shall a new Royal
house be chosen in the manner prescribed in § 3.
12. As the provisions contained in this Rigsakt [Act of Union]
are partly repetitions of the Constitution of Norway and partly additions
thereto on the basis of the authority given for that purpose to
this' Storthing in the Constitution, they shall, so far as Norway is
concerned, have and retain the same power as the Constitution of
that kingdom, and cannot be altered except in the manner prescribed
in § 112 of the same.