Christian Adolph Diriks (1 November 1775 – 16 December 1837) was a Norwegian lawyer and statesman. He served as a representative at the

Norwegian Constitutional Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

in 1814.

Biography

Christian Adolph Diriks was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of maritime captain Boye Boyesen Dyriks (1744–80) and Marie Elisabeth Stoppel (d. 1797). After studying law at the University of Copenhagen, he earned his

cand. jur. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5 ...

in 1795. He worked for some years in the city court of Copenhagen. In 1806, Diriks was appointed

Assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property), an expert who calculates the value of pr ...

in Kristiansand. In 1812, he was made Director of the Justice Court ( ''Justisråd'') for Laurvig (now Larvik). Diriks was Magistrate in Laurvig and

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

from 1812 to 1815. It was from Laurvig that he was elected to the Constitutional Assembly. As the legal secretary of the Constitutional Committee, he played an important part in shaping the language of the Norwegian Constitution. Diriks was the Assembly's resident expert on foreign constitutions, and emphasized civil liberties. He was responsible for the inclusion of §100, concerning

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, and §102, guarding against unreasonable

searches and seizures Search and seizure is a procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person's property and confiscat ...

. He was later made president of the Assembly, with responsibility for passing the Constitution. Shortly after the dissolution of the Assembly, Diriks was appointed professor of law at the newly founded Royal Frederick University (today's University of Oslo), but continuing government responsibilities prevented him from taking up the position. Among the positions he held were Minister of the Police and Minister of Justice from 1814 to 1818, and Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1825 to 1836. He did not enjoy the support of Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, however and when Wedel-Jarlsberg was appointed Governor-general of Norway in 1836, Diriks was forced to retire.

Personal life

Christian Adolph Diriks was married to Maren Cathrine Tax (1772-1848). They were the parents of nine children including Norwegian government minister

Christian Ludvig Diriks Christian Ludvig Diriks (16 October 1802 – 9 July 1873) was Norway, Norwegian government minister and general auditor. Diriks was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Norwegian statesman Christian Adolph Diriks. He grew up in Laur ...

and Norwegian maritime officer Carl Frederik Diriks. Christian Adolph Diriks was also the grandfather of the artist

Edvard Diriks Karl Edvard Diriks (9 January 1855 – 17 March 1930) was a Norwegian painter. Biography He was born in Christiania (now Oslo, Norway) to Christian Ludvig Diriks and Benedicte Henriette Munch. He was a grandson of government minister Christian ...

.''Christian Adolph Diriks'' (lokalhistoriewiki.no)
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References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150813165401/http://eidsvollsmenn.no/english ''Men of Eidsvoll'' (eidsvollsmenn)

Biography

Personal life

References

External links

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