Danish Council of State

Table of contents

1 The Council of State (Statsr�det)

1.1 � 17 of the Constitution
1.2 The primary function of the Council
1.3 From Council Presidium to Prime Ministers Office

The Council of State (Statsr�det)

The Council of State (or Statsr�det as it is known in Danish) is the Danish privy council.
It is comprised of the ministers, the king/queen and the heir to the throne (the Crown Prince). When unavailable at council meetings, the king is represented by a Lord Protector (Rigsforstander).
The Council is mentioned in �� 17 and 18 of the Danish Constitution. However, � 18 is no longer in effect.

� 17 of the Constitution

� 17
(1) The body of Ministers shall form the Council of State, in which the Heir to the Throne shall have a seat when of age. The Council of State shall be presided over by the King except in the instance mentioned in section 8, and in instances where the legislature in pursuance of section 9 may have delegated the conduct of government to the Council of State.
(2) All Bills and important government measures shall be discussed in the Council of State.

The primary function of the Council

The primary function of the Council of State today is the giving of royal assent and the counter-signature of the minister, which enacts a law. As far at � 17, section 2 goes, no bills and/or government measures are discussed in the Council. The relevant minister explains the general aim of a bill followed by the giving of assent etc.

From Council Presidium to Prime Ministers Office

From 1848 to 1918 the Prime Minister (Statsministeren) wore the title of President of the Council (Konseilspr�sident), since he was in charge of the council's presidium (Konseilspr�sidiet).
The presidium was the de facto cabinet office and the Presidents secretariat. In 1918 the presidium was reformed to a normal ministry and was called the Prime Ministers Office or the Ministry of State (Statsministeriet).