constitutions and codifications, 1667–2017 Constitutions and codifications are among the great inventions. In the contemporaryworld, most states have aconstitution in the modern sense of the word; a constitution in the sense of being the normative foundation for the state and the relationship between the state and its citizens. This new type of constitution came about in the decades before 1800, and became the standard legal-political form of modern constitutionalism, be it in its authoritarian or liberal forms.11 The same goes for codifications. Even though there are notable exceptions, surprisingly many states built their legal system upon a codified form in its comprehensive sense. From 1800 on, constitutions and codifications alike transformed the form and content of the law. Both became global phenomena – and if there is anything that we may regard as a theme in the global legal history of the modern world, then certainly constitutions and codifications belong to that story. It is important to underline the fact there were close connections between successive waves of codifications and constitutions, both legally and politically.12 The connections were not necessary, being choices made by lawyers and politicians. An example to which I will return is that the Nordic region has constitutions but nominally no codifications. In reality, however, a great deal of work went into the codification projects in the Nordic states in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The general idea of the connection between constitutions and codifications was this: Through codification, new law emerged and thus swept away older traditions much in same way that the constitution represented a new legalpolitical order, setting the old ones aside. Above all, legally only codifications could fulfil the demand of constitutions as to the form and con11 For the classic account, see Charles McIlwain, Constitutionalism: Ancient andModern(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1940). See also Raoul van Caenegem, ‘Constitutional History: Chance or Grand Design’, European Constitutional LawReview5 (2009), 448–55; Eirik Holmøyvik, ‘The Changing Meaning of “Constitution” inNorwegian Constitutional History’, in Eirik Holmøyvik & Karen Gammelgaard (eds.), Writing Democracy: The Norwegian Constitution 1814–2014 (New York: Berghahn, 2014), 42–59. 12 For Norway, see Michalsen & Sandvik 2013. 333 Temporality in action
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