Article 16. The King shall prescribe rules for all public religious and church service, and for all meetings and conventions relating to religious affairs, and he shall take care that the public instructors of religion adhere to the standards prescribed them.
Article 17. The King may enact and repeal ordinances relating to commerce, customs, industrial pursuits and public order, not, however, in conflict with the Constitution or the laws of the Storthing, passed pursuant to the provisions of Article 77, 78 and 79 of this Constitution. Such acts of the King shall remain provisionally in force until the next Storthing.
Article 18. The King shall, ordinarily, cause the taxes and imposts, levied by the Storthing, to be collected. The Norwegian Treasury shall remain in Norway, and its revenue shall be devoted to the requirements of Norway alone.
Article 19. The King shall take care that the estates and regalia of the State be used and managed in the manner prescribed by the Storthing, and for the greatest advantage of the public.
Article 20. The King shall have power, in council, to pardon offenders after conviction. The offender shall, however, have the option to accept the pardon of the King or to suffer the punishment adjudged. No pardon or reprieve, except the remission of the death penalty, shall be granted in cases prosecuted by the Odelsthing in the Court of Impeachment.
Article 21. The King, after hearing his Ministry in Norway, shall appoint and induct all civil, ecclesiastical and military officials, who shall take an oath of obedience and fealty to the Constitution and the King, or who, if relieved by law from such an oath, shall solemnly declare their fealty to the same. Royal Princes shall hold no civil office.
Article 22. The King may, after taking the advice of the Ministry, without the warrant of judicial decree, remove from office the Ministers and Secretaries of State, together with officials in the bureaus of the Ministry, Ambassadors and Consuls, the chief civil and ecclesiastical officials, and the chiefs of fortifications and ships of war. Whether pensions shall be granted to officials thus removed shall be determined by the next Storthing, but, in the meantime, they shall continue to receive two-thirds of their former salary. Other officials are only liable to suspension by the King, and, when suspended, shall at once be proceeded against in the courts, and shall not, without judgment, be removed, nor transferred without their consent.
Article 23. The King, at his pleasure, may confer orders of merit, in recognition of distinguished services, to be publicly announced, but no other rank or title than that conferred by an office occupied. Such orders shall relieve no one from the duties and burdens common to all citizens, nor shall they confer any preference in securing admission to the public service. Officials, honorably discharged, shall retain the title and rank of the office they occupied. No personal or mixed hereditary prerogatives shall hereafter be conferred on any one.
Article 24. The King may, at pleasure, select and dismiss the employees and officers of his royal household.
Article 25. The King shall be Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the realm. These forces shall neither be increased nor diminished without the consent of the Storthing. They shall not be placed in the service of foreign powers, nor shall the military forces of any foreign powers, except auxiliary troops to repel hostile attack, be brought within the realm without the consent of the Storthing. In times of peace, none but Norwegian troops shall be stationed in Norway, and no Norwegian troops shall be stationed in Sweden. The King, however, may retain in Sweden a Norwegian guard of volunteers, and he may, for a short time not exceeding six weeks in any year, assemble for manœuvres, within the limits of either country, the nearest troops of the armies of both realms; but in no case, in times of peace, shall more than three thousand soldiers, of all arms combined, of the military force of one country, be brought within the limits of the other country. Norway’s troops and coast flotilla shall not be employed in offensive war without the consent of the Storthing. The Norwegian fleet shall have its dock yards, and in times of peace its stations or havens in Norway. The ships of war of one country shall not be manned with sailors of the other country, except by voluntary enlistment. The home guard and the other Norwegian troops, not classed as troops of the line, shall never be employed outside of the boundaries of Norway.