2442.16 - Home Rule and the Frame of Government

2442.16

Home Rule and the Frame of Government

10

Bachelor degree or equivalent with adequate component of law

The purpose of the course is to give the students thorough legal knowledge about and ability to interpret and administer the Faroese constitution in a broad sense, especially the Home rule arrangement and the frame (or instrument) of government.

The course is divided in two parts: The part on the Home rule arrangement and the part on the frame (instrument) of government. The part on the Home rule arrangement begins with a historical perspective on the constitutional position of the Faroe Islands. Then the constitutional position of the Faroes is put in comparative perspective with a comparison with other lands (or polities) in the Danish kingdom, in particular Iceland. After this introduction, the course continues with a discussion of the history and the preparatory work to the current Home rule act. Then follows a substantive discussion of the particular provisions in the Home rule act. Next will be discussed and reviewed various opinions and theories on the fundamental constitutional position of the Faroe Islands within the Danish kingdom. Significant is the description and analysis of the fundamental change and broadening of home rule competences that was the result of the two acts in 2005 on the transferral of competences to the Faroese authorities and on the conclusion of international agreements respectively. Methodological questions, as constitutional sources, and how constitutional laws are, and ought to be, interpreted, also enter the first part. The latter part is first about the former ctr. the later frame of government and the differences between the two, and on the political background to the later frame of government and the fundamental values behind it. The provisions and rules that will be covered concern the structure and division of powers and competences between the Landsstýri (government) and the Løgting (parliament), including - The legislative process and the legislative competences of the Løgman (prime minister) and Løgting (parliament). - The rules and procedures for electing the Løgman - The rules on parliamentarianism - The ministerial system, the rules on individual ministerial responsibility, and the provisions on the parliamentary committee reviewing ministerial conduct (Landsstýrismálanevndin) and other review bodies. Other important topics that will be covered include i.a. the rules on the public budget, tax collection and foreign policy and the relations between the municipalities and the central authorities of the Faroes.

36 hours. The main classes will consist of presentations from teacher and exercises in addition to potential student presentations.

The students shall among other things be able to: - Explain the constitutional position of the Faroe Islands in historical and (within the boundaries of the Danish kingdom) comparative perspective. - Account for different conceptions of the Danish unitary state theory (“rigsenheden”) and the theory of delegated powers, and how these theories are grounded in the Danish constitution (grundlov) and other constitutional sources. - Demonstrate a thorough substantive knowledge of the Home rule act and the two supplementing acts on the transferral of competences to the Faroese authorities and on the conclusion of international agreements respectively. - Describe what the re-arrangement in 2005 was all about, and why it was of great significance as a matter of principle. - Explain what, if anything, is special about constitutional interpretation as opposed to normal legal interpretation, and account for how law and politics interact in the Home rule area of Danish constitutional law. - Clarify the tensions between the metropolitan authorities and the sub-unit that are particular to the Home rule area of Danish constitutional law, and explain how this might be a challenge to traditional constitutional law notions of hierarchy. - Explain the substantive difference between the older contra the later frame of government - Explicate the political and social preconditions for the later frame of government. - Critically evaluate the importance of the doctrine of the separations of powers, and checks and balances, for the later frame of government. - Understand and be able to perform legal advise in terms of the main substantive provisions in the later frame of government and the Home rule act as altered in 2005. - Analyze how the transition from the current (later) frame of government to the Faroese (draft) constitution can be seen as the birth of a sub-state constitution, and how this process poses a challenge to traditional Danish constitutional law.

External examination (together with teacher). Oral exam. Preparing for the exam the student will have half an hour and will be allowed to bring all the course material and other materials from the classes.

External

7-

Bárður Larsen: Materials – available on the FirstClass network. About 700 pages.

Bárður Larsen