Constitution Day greeting from Tvøroyri

In the Faroe Islands we still celebrate the Danish Constitution Day, although many like to remind that the Faroese never gave their consent to its implementation in the Faroe Islands. There are also nationalist citizens on Tvøroyri. But these days we are learning about the Constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark!

Now that Frederick X is on his way to Faroe Islands and not least Tvøroyri, it is worth remembering that it was Frederick VII who signed the Constitution on 5 June 1849. Then there was a transition from dictatorship to so-called democracy.

The Constitution laid the foundation for our freedom of existence, we got the right to vote, freedom of speech and writing and, as Hans Pauli Strøm so well puts it today, “we also got freedom to organize ourselves into associations, freedom of assembly, freedom of work, the right to work for a living, to earn a living property rights, the protection of our personal rights and the right to support in social distress.”

The question may be asked, how is this constitution, the Constitution, successfully implemented in Denmark – and in the Faroe Islands?

In Denmark, only once in the past 176 years has a Supreme Court ruling confirmed that principles in the Constitution have been violated.

It was in 1999, when the political power of so-called singular legislation launched itself into a legal dispute between the Danish Ministry of Education and the independent school Tvind. Most people know that there is and should be a watertight gap between the political and judicial branches to ensure against corruption and corruption, but in this case the Folketing took the judiciary out of control.

The result was that, after citizens appealed against the political authorities in a legal dispute, the Supreme Court on 19 February 1999 annulled the Folketing Act, appropriately called Lex Tvind. This is according to the Constitution § 3 para. 3, which provides that it is only the judiciary to decide substantial legal disputes.

The Tvind judgment, which annulled the bill of the Folketing (U 1999.841 H), is the only judgment that has set aside and annulled a parliamentary law for violating the main provisions of the Constitution. Lex Tvind is the biggest shortcoming in the history of the Danish Parliament since Frederick VII signed the Constitution on 5 June 1949. And how have the Faroese managed to administer this part of the Danish Constitution? Is there an equally grim example of what happened in 1999 in the Folketing? Well, unfortunately it can be confirmed that the parliament on 15 March 2013 committed exactly the same scandal as the Folketing in 1999, when the parliament got involved in a substantial legal dispute between the Ministry of the Interior and the municipality of Tvøroyri and approved the singular law, which was for the purpose of building permit to P/F Varðin Pelagic on Tvøroyri. The battle came because Tvøroyri municipality had given a building permit for the construction of a cold storage and therefore a filling of the quay, which was in conflict with the Town Planning Act, because the area intended for construction was not laid out in a building permit. The result was, after a citizen had appealed the case, that the Board of Appeal canceled the building permit. And so it was, as they say on Tvøroyri, The devil is free!

The mayor of Tvøroyri, who was also a member of parliament at the time, played on the parliamentary rostrum with the threat of hundreds of millions that were in danger if Varðin Pelagic did not get the building permit on time. The Governor gave in to the threat and submitted a bill to amend the Town Planning Act, which, like Lex Tvind, took the judiciary out of control, among other things. by removing the possibility of appeal in connection with changes in building permits.

A great battle broke out in the parliament. Legal experts publicly warned lawmakers against voting for the bill. However, on 18 March 2013, the Attorney General signed a decree amending the Town Planning Act. The Parliament and the Government thus engaged in a substantial legal dispute and then committed a violation of principles in the Danish Constitution.

However, one lawyer did not want to let this constitutional violation go by. The respected and recognized, despite his young age, lawyer, who is unfortunately no longer among us, then wrote a letter with a request to be sent to a Danish lawyer and an application for free process, because it was a very serious and fundamental matter.

He wrote:

The claim may be: that the Governor and the Board of Inland Revenue recognize that the Act of Parliament amending the Act of Parliament on Town Planning is invalid as a singular law and interference in a specific legal dispute, a violation of the Constitution, sections 3 and 63, the Administrative Procedure Act, sections 1 and 40, and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, section 85.

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In 1849 we left the dictatorship and got democracy. But on 13 March 2013, citizens of Tvøroyri lost their protection of property rights, protection of personal rights to have decent conditions and to live in living conditions. This was overturned in favor of unrestricted freedom of trade.

The fact that the property and housing of dozens of families are being divided and unusable for subsistence and that our daily existence in an urban environment with schools, services, health and nursing is being enslaved in the most gross way, apparently does not affect the municipal government, and even less the national government, which has let everything go.From Lex Tvind, which was annulled in 1999, however, the parliament, the government and the prime minister should expect to receive a visit from a Supreme Court judge, who together with a state representative will annul the largest shortcoming in the history of the parliament, Lex Varðan § 6 stk. 6 and 7 of the Town Planning Act. According to the Danish Constitution.

Happy Constitution Day!