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Eirik Holmøyvik's picture

Eirik Holmøyvik

Professor
Faculty of Law
  • E-mailEirik.Holmoyvik@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 95 34
  • Visitor Address
    Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1
    5010 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7806
    5020 Bergen
  • Constitutional law
  • Human rights law
  • Legal history

* Explanatory translations of titles of Norwegian language publications are given in [].

 

Books

  • [The Government] Regjeringen: Historien, makten og hverdagen (Jostein Askim, Yngve Flo, Eirik Holmøyvik, Kristoffer Kolltveit, Marte Mangseth, Bjørn Erik Rasch), Fagbokforlaget: Bergen 2024.
  • [Regulating crisis. Legislation during the corona pandemic] Kriseregulering. Lovgivning under koronakrisen (Benedikte M. Høgberg, Eirik Holmøyvik, Christoffer C. Eriksen, eds.), Fagbokforlaget: Bergen 2023.
  • [Textbook in Norwegian Constitutional History] Lærebok i forfatningshistorie, Oslo 2015. With Dag Michalsen. (Website at Pax Forlag)
  • [Sources and dates in constitutional history] Kilder og årstall i forfatningshistorien, Oslo 2015. Selection by Eirik Holmøyvik and Dag Michalsen.
  • Writing Democracy: The Norwegian Constitution 1814-2014 (Karen Gammelgaard and Eirik Holmøyvik, eds.), New York: Berghahn Books 2014. (Website at Berghahn Books)
  • [Separation of powers and the Norwegian 1814 constitution] Maktfordeling og 1814, Bergen 2012. (Website at Fagbokforlaget)
  • [Union and sovereignty - Norway's international legal status before 1905] Union og suverenitet - Noreg si folkerettslege stilling før 1905, Rettshistoriske studier no. 14, Oslo 2004.

 

Selected articles and book chapters (see Norwegian website for a complete list of publications)

«Constitutional History», in: Research Methods in Constitutional Law: A Handbook, David Law and Malcom Langford, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing (forthcoming 2023). With Dag Michalsen.

[Customary constitutional law] «Konstitusjonell sedvanerett», in: Jussens Venner 2023, p. 151-207.

[New election act with constitutional innovations] «Ny vallov med konstitusjonelle nyvinningar: Klageordning og beredskap», in: Lov og rett 2023, p. 145-168.

[The Norwegian Supreme Court's adivsory opinion to the Parliament on the EU's 4th railway package: a constitutional derailment] «Høyesteretts jernbanebetenkning: en statsrettslig avsporing», in: Lov og rett 2022, p. 28-52. With Christoffer Conrad Eriksen.

«The Right to an Effective (and Judicial) Examination of Election Complaints», in: European Yearbook of Human Rights 2021, Philip Czech, Lisa Heschl, Karin Lukas, Manfred Nowak, Gerd Oberleitner, eds., Intersentia: Cambridge 2021, pp. 541-567.

«§§ 3, 12, 14, 27, 29, ans 121», in: Grunnloven, Historisk kommentarutgave 1814-2020 [Historical commentary to the Norwegian Constitution 1814-2020], Ola Mestad and Dag Michalsen, eds., Universitetsforlaget: Oslo 2021, pp. 132-151, 212-220, 228-230, 394-396, 1359-1400. 

[War and control: Parliament's role in Norwegian wars] «Krig og kontroll: Stortingets rolle i norske kriger», in: Stortinget og den lange krigen 1991-2021, Tormod Heier and Micheline Egge Grung, eds., Oslo 2021, p. 44-66. With Christoffer Conrad Eriksen.

E. Holmøyvik, C.C. Eriksen & B.M. Høgberg, ‘Norway’ in J. King, O. Ferraz (et. al) (eds), The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to Covid-19 (Oxford University Press, 2021)

«Electoral dispute resolution and the rule of law», in: Election dispute resolution. Tookit for strengthening electoral jurisprudence, Council of Europe 2020 p. 11-14.

[The Norwegian election dispute mechanism and European law] «Den norske klageordninga ved stortingsval og europeisk rett», in: Uten sammenligning. Festskrift til Eivind Smith 70 år, Iris Nguyen Duy, Sunniva Bragdø-Ellenes, Inge Lorange Backer, Svein Eng and Bjørn Erik Rasch, eds., Oslo 2020 p. 307-321.

A Stress Test for Europe's Judiciaries», in: European Yearbook of Constitutional Law 2019, Hirsch Ballin, Ernst, van der Schyff, Gerhard, Stremler LLM, Maarten, eds., T.M.C. Asser Press: The Hague 2020 p. 189-312. With Anne Sanders.

[On the parliament's competence to instruct the government with legally binding effect] «Med instruks skal landet byggjast? Om stortingets instruksjonsrett overfor regjeringa og rettsutvikling på statsrettens område», in: Tidsskrift for rettsvitenskap 2018 p. 461-492.

[Reform of the constitutional amendment procedure] «Reform av grunnlovprosedyren», in: Kritisk juss 2018 p. 5-34.

«Constituent Power and Constitutionalism in 19th Century Norway», in: Reconsidering Constitutional Formation II Decisive Constitutional Normativity: From Old Liberties to New Precedence, edited by Ulrike Müßig, 2018, 275-309.

«Europe and Norwegian Constitutionalism 1814-2014: From the Relationship between Parliament and King to the EEA», in: European Law and National Constitutions, edited by Peter-Christian Müller-Graff, Hans-Petter Graver and Ola Mestad, Berlin 2016 pp. 31-48.

«Deux siècles de séparation horizontale des pouvoirs en Norvège», in: Revue française de droit constitutionnel, no 106, 2016 pp. 323-334.

[Judicial review and the constitutional ban on retroactive legislation] «Prøvingsrett og tilbakeverknadsforbod. Borthen-dommen i Rt. 1996 s. 1415 og rettsutviklinga», in: Rettsavklaring og rettsutvikling. Festskrift til Tore Schei (Gunnar Bergby, Magnus Matningsdal, Jens Edvin A. Skoghøy og Toril M. Øie, eds.), Oslo 2016 pp. 210-242.

Book review: Kári á Rogvi, West-Nordic Constitutional Judicial Review - A Comparative Study of Scandinavian Judicial Review and Judicial Reasoning (Copenhagen: DJØF Publishing 2013), in: European Public Law no. 3 2015 pp. 598-604. 

«Norway's Constitutional Acrobatics under the EEA Agreement», in: The European Union's Non-Members: Independence under Hegemony? (Erik Oddvar Eriksen and John Erik Fossum, eds.), London: Routledge 2015 pp. 137-152.

«The changing meaning of 'constitution' in Norwegian constitutional history», in: Writing Democracy: The Norwegian Constitution 1814-2014 (Karen Gammelgaard and Eirik Holmøyvik, eds.), New York: Berghahn Books 2014 pp. 43-59.

«On the Origins of Judicial Independence», in: The Independence of Judges (Nils A. Engstad, Astrid Lærdal Frøseth and Bård Tønder, eds.), The Hague 2014 pp. 45-53.

[The Constitution and Norway's Agreements with the EU: Victory for pragmatism, defeat for constitutional democracy] «Grunnlova og avtalene med EU: Pragmatismens siger, det konstitusjonelle demokratiets tap», in: Det norske paradoks. Om Norges forhold til Den europeiske union (Erik Oddvar Eriksen og John Erik Fossum, eds.), Oslo 2014 pp. 42-59.

[Between revolution and restoration: The struggle for the Norwegian constitution's soul 1824-1884] «Mellom revolusjon og restaurasjon: Striden om Grunnlovas vesen 1824-1884», in: Tolkingar av Grunnlova. Om forfatningsutviklinga 1814-2014 (Eirik Holmøyvik, ed.), Oslo 2013 pp. 307-337.

[Past and present constitutional challenges caused by the use of Norwegian troops abroad] «Bruk av norske styrkar utanfor Noreg - statsrettslege utfordringar i fortid og notid», in:Jussens venner no. 3 2012 pp. 184-215.

[Article 93 of the Constitution and the doctrinal rule on «insignificant» transfers of sovereignty] «Grunnlova § 93 og læra om "lite inngripende" myndigheitsoverføring i lys av nyare konstitusjonell praksis», in: Lov og rett, no. 8 2011 pp. 447-471.

«A little bit of This and a little bit of That - the Complexity of Legal Reception», in: Rendezvous of European Legal Cultures (Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde og Knut Einar Skodvin, eds.), Bergen 2010 pp. 45-59.

[Causes for the different developments of judicial review in Norway and in Denmark] «Årsaker til utviklinga av prøvingsretten i Noreg og Danmark», in: Tidsskrift for Rettsvitenskap, no. 5 2007, pp. 718-779.

«The Theory of Sovereignty and the Swedish-Norwegian Union of 1814», in: Journal of the History of International Law, no. 2 2005 pp. 137-156.

 

Miscellaneous

"No surrender to Poland", blog post on Verfassungsblog, 02.11.2021.

"Norway: voluntary vaccination is the policy, though the law seems to allow for more", blog post on Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 03.05.2021.

"Independent commission finds lack of preparedness for the pandemic, but praises the Nordic Model", blog post on Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 21.04.2021.

"Strasbourg slams old democracies on elections", blog post at Verfassungsblog 1.8.2020.

"For Norway it's Official: The Rule of Law is No More in Poland", blog post at Verfassungsblog 29.02.2020.

"Norway's Heureka Moment?", blog post at Verfassungsblog 11.09.2019.

"A Stress Test for Europe's Judiciaries", blog post at Verfassungsblog 23.08.2017. Eirik Holmøyvik and Anne Sanders.

«Norway's Constitution at 200 years: A story of stability and change», blog post at Verfassungsblog, 17.05.2014.

Nominated three times (2011, 2012, 2013) for the prize Best academic journal article at the publishing house Universitetsforlaget.

 

 

CURRENT POSITION

Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (since 2014).

 

FORMER POSITIONS

2011-2014 Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen

2006-2010 Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen

2004-2006 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen

2003-2004 Research Assistant, Institute of Public and International Law, University of Oslo

 

MOBILITY

2018-2019: 1 year stay as guest researcher at l'Université Paris Nanterre, Centre de Théorie et Analyse du Droit (CTAD)

 

AFFILIATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

2016-2022: Member (substitute) for Norway to The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)

2020-2021: Member of the commission appointed by the Norwegian parliament to review parliament's scrutiny of the government

2017-2019: Member of the government appointed commission to revise the Norwegian election code

2012-2013 Member of the research group “The transformation of international law and Norwegian sovereignty in 1814” at Center for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy for Science and Letters

2012 Appointed by the President of the Norwegian Parliament to an expert committee for the modernisation of the Constitution’s language

 

EDUCATION

Ph.d, University of Bergen, 2011

Licence to practice law in Norway (Bar Exam), 2006

Cand.jur., University of Oslo, 2004

 

Venice Commission

Since 2016 I have been member (2016-2022 substitute member) for Norway to the European Commission for Democracy through Law, commonly known as the Venice Commission. The Commission is the Council of Europe's expert body on constitutional law and evaluates and advises on constitutional and public law reforms in its 61 member states, as well as to national constitutional courts and the European Court of Human Rights. See the Commission's web site www.coe.int for more information.

I have been rapporteur on 27 country specific opinions, one amicus curiae brief to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR and one report on general guidelines and standards.

 

Constitutional reform

 

Judicial reform, judicial independence

 

Amicus curiae brief to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in the case Mugemangango mot Belgia, no. 310/15.

  • CDL-AD(2019)021-f, Mémoire amicus curiae pour la Cour européenne des Droits de l’Homme en l’affaire Mugemangango c. Belgique sur les garanties procédurales qu'un État doit fournir dans le cadre d'une procédure de contestation du résultat d’une élection ou de répartition des sièges

 

Election reform

 

Parliament and government

 

Independent institutions

 

Rule of law, administrative law

 

Guidelines for election dispute resolution

 

Fields of competence 
Comparative constitutional law
Constitutional history
Constitutional law
European Court of Human Rights
Human Rights Law