The King's Law () or ''Lex Regia'' () (also called the Danish Royal Law of 1665) was the absolutist

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

of Denmark and Norway from 1665 until 1849 and

1814 Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French garrison s ...

, respectively. It established complete

hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

(

agnatic-cognatic primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

) and

absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...

and formalized the king's absolute power, and is regarded the most

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

form of all the European expressions of absolutism. Danish professor in

legal history Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...

of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

, Jens Chr. V. Johansen, asserts that with Europe's least circumscribed form of absolutism, Denmark "may be considered the most absolute of all the absolute

European monarchies Monarchy was the prevalent form of government in the history of Europe throughout the Middle Ages, only occasionally competing with communalism, notably in the case of the Maritime republics and the Swiss Confederacy. Republicanism became more ...

". It is the only formal constitution of any absolute monarchy, and has therefore been the subject of considerable

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

attention. The King's Law comprises 40 articles and is divided into seven main chapters. Articles 1 to 7 determine the royal absolute power, and the following articles contain rules on the king's authority and guardianship, on the king's accession and

anointment Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...

, on the indivisibility of the

kingdoms Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

, on

princes A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some Euro ...

and

princesses Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

, on the king's duty to maintain absolute monarchy, and on the succession. In Denmark the King's Law was replaced in 1849 by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark (June constitution), although two Articles of the King's Law is still applicable; firstly Article 21, requiring the king's permission for the departure and marriage of princes and princesses. And secondly Article 25, according to it, princes and princesses of the blood can only be criminally prosecuted on the king's orders. The King's Law was read aloud during the king's coronation and anointment, but not published until 1709. Two original copies are currently accessible to the public; one at the

Danish National Archives , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = 300px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = File:Rigsarkivet.jpg , picture_width = , picture_cap ...

, and one at

Rosenborg Castle Rosenborg Castle ( da, Rosenborg Slot) is a renaissance architecture, renaissance castle located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV of Denmark, Christian IV's ...

(both in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

). The law at Rosenborg is Queen Margrethe II's private and is stored in the treasury vault among the

Danish Crown Regalia Danish Crown Regalia are the symbols of the Danish monarchy. They consist of three crowns, a Sceptre (symbolizing supreme authority), Globus cruciger (an orb symbolizing the earthly realm surmounted by a cross), the Sword of state and an Ampull ...

Background

After Denmark's catastrophic defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the

Dano-Swedish War Dano-Swedish War may refer to one of multiple wars which took place between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Denmark (from 1450 in personal union with the Kingdom of Norway) up to 1814: List of wars Legendary wars between Denmark a ...

(part of the

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia (Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), 1656–58), Brande ...

) in 1660, an assembly of the

estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

() was summoned to

by king

Frederik III Frederick III ( da, Frederik; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bi ...

, above all in order to reorganize the kingdom's finances. The burghers especially felt that the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

had not lived up to its responsibilities (securing the army and defence of the kingdom), which were the justification for its privileges. In this tense situation, negotiations for various reforms went forward until the beginning of October, but in vain. On 11 October, the king ordered the

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

s of Copenhagen to be closed so that no one could leave without the permission of the king and the mayor. Under intense pressure from the burghers of Copenhagen and through the threat that force might be employed against the Danish nobility, the estates were persuaded to "agree" to transfer absolute power to the crown,

Completion

This new

(''lex fundamentalis'') for Denmark-Norway, which in 40 Articles gave the king absolute power, all the rights of the sovereign and fixed the rules of succession, was influenced by contemporary European political thinking, especially by

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; c. 1530 – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is known for his theory of sovereignty. He was also an influential writer on demonology. Bodin l ...

and

Henning Arnisaeus Henning Arnisaeus (Arniseus) (1570–1636) was a German physician and moral philosopher. http://www.scholasticon.fr/Database/Scholastiques_fr.php?ID=172 He is now known for his writings on political theory. Life He was born in Schlanstedt, a vi ...

. When the constitutional discussions were completed, Schumacher rewrote the new King's Law in duplicate. One was placed in the Privy Council's Archives (), i.e. in the

State Archives State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

(afterwards the

), another at

together with the state crowns ( Christian IV's and Christian V's) and the other crown regalia. Moreover, the fact that Schumacher had a very large part of the credit for the law is evident from the fact that he countersigned it.

Text and publication

The King's Law was published during the reign of Frederick IV, engraved throughout, the royal copy bound in red velvet elaborately embroidered in gold and silver thread with the king's monogram in the centre. Essentially, the King's Law stated that the King was to be 'revered and considered the most perfect and supreme person on the Earth by all his subjects, standing above all human laws and having no judge above his person, ..except God alone'. It effectuated the

divine right of kings In European Christianity, the divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandation is a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy. It stems from a specific metaphysical framework in which a monarch is, before b ...

. A copy of the King's Law published by the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

, may be found a
here

Summary of the King's Law

The law dictated the three primary duties of the Danish absolute monarch: * To worship

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

, according to the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

(

lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

). * To keep the kingdoms ( Denmark-Norway) undivided. * To ensure that the King's power did not deteriorate. In exchange, the king was given unrestricted rights and was, according to the constitution, responsible only to God. For example, he had the unrestrained legislative and executive power, he could

declare war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, in ...

and make peace, and was the head of the church.

Repealing

In the

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

to the June Constitution of 1849, the King's Law was repealed except for Articles 27 to 40 (on the succession) and Articles 21 and 25 (concerning the royal

and

). The King's law's provisions on the succession were repealed by the Act of Succession of 1953. On the other hand, the provisions of Article 25 of the King's Law concerning, inter alia, the

legal immunity Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...

of royal princes and princesses are still applicable. Likewise, the provisions of Article 21 concerning the king's permission for royal marriages and travels, are still applicable. Although the King's Law was repealed, many of the king's prerogatives of the Danish Constitution have a precursor in the King's Law. Thus, several of the prerogatives are directly to be found in the King's Law.

Christian VII

Christian VII of Denmark Christian VII (29 January 1749 – 13 March 1808) was a monarch of the House of Oldenburg who was King of Denmark–Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1766 until his death in 1808. For his motto he chose: "''Gloria ex amore patriae'' ...

ascended the

Danish throne The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was alre ...

in 1766 as absolute monarch. Throughout his reign he suffered from various physiological illnesses including

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

, which made him insane. As the King's Law had no physical or mental

incapacity Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or altogether the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person ( ...

provisions, Christian could not officially be considered insane, as such a view would have constituted

lèse-majesté Lèse-majesté () or lese-majesty () is an offence against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from the French, w ...

({{Lang-da, Majestætsfornærmelse). As a result, he could not be legally dismissed or forced to

abdicate Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

, nor could a

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

be enacted. During the mental illness attacks of Christian's first cousin,

George III of Great Britain George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, Britain's parliamentary system was not met with a similar problem. Christian married

Caroline Matilda of Great Britain Caroline Matilda of Great Britain ( da, Caroline Mathilde; 1751 – 10 May 1775) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1766 to 1772 by marriage to King Christian VII. The youngest and posthumous daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, by Prin ...

, George's sister, in 1766.

References

External Links

Text of Rex Legia in Danish. http://thomasthorsen.dk/dk-lr-1655.html Law of Denmark Legal history of Denmark Constitution of Denmark Succession acts Danish monarchy 1665 establishments in Europe 1665 in Denmark