Rættarmálið í Føroyum

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Published Jan 1, 1989
Jógvan Andreassen

Abstract

Originally there was no doubt about the language of law in the Faroe Islands. The language people spoke was also used in the
context of legal proceedings. At some point in the late Middle Ages, probably around the time of the Reformation, this changed, and Danish became the sole language of law.

When the Danish law of 1919 concerning judicial process came into effect in the Faroe Islands, the question of using Faroese as the language of law was raised. The result was that, in 1943, Faroese was recognised as a valid language of law, but on equal footing with Danish.

After the Home Government act was passed in 1948, there was still no change in the status of Faroese as the language of law, and many years went by before the matter was discussed again. When the law of judicial process was last under parliamentary review, in the mid-1980's, the question of the language of law was discussed. This resulted in a change in the wording of article 149 in the law of judicial process concerning the language of law, such that it now agrees with the wording in the Home Government act.

In praxis this has probably not led to any significant changes so far, but it is nevertheless a recognition of the fact that the
Faroese language should be used in the context of legal proceedings to a much greater extent than has been the case until
now.

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Section
Linguistics