PP390
Analítico de Periódico
LOUREIRO, João Carlos
A constituição da Noruega : uma fonte do constitucionalismo luso-brasileiro : nótula (tardia) por ocasião do bicentenário da constituição do reino da Noruega (1814-2014) e dos 150 anos do caso Wedel-Jarlsgberg (1866-2016) / João Carlos Loureiro
Boletim da Faculdade de Direito, Coimbra, v.93 n.2 (2017), p.969-1012
DIREITO CONSTITUCIONAL / Noruega, CONSTITUIÇÃO / Noruega, CONSTITUCIONALISMO / Portugal / Brasil
Bearing in mind the commemorations of the bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution, two issues are addressed: a) the influence of the 1814 Norwegian Constitution on the Brazilian Imperial Constitution of 1824, and on Portugal’s Constitutional Chart of 1826; b) Norway’s ground-breaking judicial review initiative, notwithstanding the fact that the Portuguese 1911 Constitution was “a pioneer constitutional document in Europe”, as Cardoso da Costa has argued. As for the first topic, it is reminded that an early Brazilian constitution drew upon a Project from 1823, which in turn was indebted to the Norwegian constitutional text. The 1824 Constitution lies at the source of the 1826 Constitutional Chart, with a number of norms literally copied from the former and pasted into the latter. In the Brazilian case, article 61º about the solution to be adopted in case a difference between Chambers exists, admittedly drew upon the Norwegian constitution, no matter how different the Brazilian solution proved to be; in Portugal, though, a different path was followed ab initio. Some of the contributions are examined to assess how influential the Norwegian constitution might have been, but the A. concludes that such influence is arguably small. For that matter, given the framework of constitutions in circulation at the time (from Cádiz to Lisbon, from Eidsvoll to Rio de Janeiro and from Rio to Lisbon), a map of influences could hardly be reconstructed. Concerning judicial review of the constitution, the pioneering character of European countries’ reception of that concept is acknowledged, and the relevance of the Wedel Jarlsberg case (1866), notwithstanding judicial review in Norway goes back to the 1920 decade. However, the 1911 Portuguese constitution pioneered in Europe the explicit enshrinement of judicial review, owing to republican Brazilian constitutionalism and the national experience.