Seathorn
14-02-2006, 22:59
§ 77. Enhver er berettiget til på tryk, i skrift og tale at offentliggøre sine tanker, dog under ansvar for domstolene. Censur og andre forebyggende forholdsregler kan ingensinde påny indføres.
Okay, here's a rough translation:
Everyone is entitled in press, writing and speech to publicly express their thoughts, but they can be held responsible before the courts. Censor and other pre-emptive rules/laws can never again be introduced.
Any other dane is free to come with suggestions for corrections.
Now notice the following aspects:
they can be held responsible before the courts.
Censor ... can never again be introduced.
What does this mean? well, it means there is a nifty law in the criminal law of Denmark which can give a maximum of four months (it's in the 140s in paragraph number) or a fine in case you insult a religion (basically). However, this law cannot be exercised on the press: only the editor (since he agrees to publish it, he can refuse) and the author(s) (since they made it).
So why hasn't this law been exercised?
I believe it's because they've been going about it the wrong way. Instead of targetting the editor and the authors, they targetted the newspaper and the countries. The country is powerless and the newspaper cannot, under any circumstance, be censored, even if the editor and the authors get fined/imprisoned.
Also note the never again. No, we don't want to go back to the middle ages when we didn't have this.
§ 140. Den, der offentlig driver spot med eller forhåner noget her i landet lovligt bestående religionssamfunds troslærdomme eller gudsdyrkelse, straffes med bøde eller fængsel indtil 4 måneder.
roughly translated:
The person, who publicly (something insulting) or insults any legal existing beliefsociety (very rough translation), religion teachings or worship in the country, will be punished with a fine or prison for four months.
Okay, here's a rough translation:
Everyone is entitled in press, writing and speech to publicly express their thoughts, but they can be held responsible before the courts. Censor and other pre-emptive rules/laws can never again be introduced.
Any other dane is free to come with suggestions for corrections.
Now notice the following aspects:
they can be held responsible before the courts.
Censor ... can never again be introduced.
What does this mean? well, it means there is a nifty law in the criminal law of Denmark which can give a maximum of four months (it's in the 140s in paragraph number) or a fine in case you insult a religion (basically). However, this law cannot be exercised on the press: only the editor (since he agrees to publish it, he can refuse) and the author(s) (since they made it).
So why hasn't this law been exercised?
I believe it's because they've been going about it the wrong way. Instead of targetting the editor and the authors, they targetted the newspaper and the countries. The country is powerless and the newspaper cannot, under any circumstance, be censored, even if the editor and the authors get fined/imprisoned.
Also note the never again. No, we don't want to go back to the middle ages when we didn't have this.
§ 140. Den, der offentlig driver spot med eller forhåner noget her i landet lovligt bestående religionssamfunds troslærdomme eller gudsdyrkelse, straffes med bøde eller fængsel indtil 4 måneder.
roughly translated:
The person, who publicly (something insulting) or insults any legal existing beliefsociety (very rough translation), religion teachings or worship in the country, will be punished with a fine or prison for four months.