Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 constitutional father, statesman, jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

, and historian. He was an important member of the constitutional assembly

Riksforsamlingen

Norwegian Constituent Assembly is the name given to the 1814 Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that voted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark...

 and was one of the writers of the constitutional laws.

Christian Magnus Falsen was born at Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. He was the son of Enevold de Falsen

Enevold De Falsen

Enevold de Falsen was a Danish-Norwegian lawyer, poet, actor and statesman.-Family:The family 'de Falsen' has been extensively documented...

 (1755–1808), a dramatist and author of a famous war song "Til vaaben". In 1808 he became circuit judge at Follo

Follo

Follo is one of three districts in the county of Akershus, Norway. It is located between Oslo and Østfold and includes the southwestern part of the county's area east of Oslo, namely the municipalities Frogn, Oppegård, Ski, Vestby, Ås, Nesodden, and Enebakk...

, and after Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 ceded Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 to Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in 1814 he played an important part in politics. He upheld King Christian Frederick

Christian VIII of Denmark

Christian VIII , was king of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, king of Norway in 1814. He was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born in 1786 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen...

 and, after the separation of Norway from Denmark, assisted in drafting a constitution for Norway, which was modeled upon that adopted by France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1791 and which was approved on 17 May 1814 by the Eidsvold

Eidsvoll

is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.-Name:...

. He was also strongly inspired by Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 and the Constitution of the United States of America. He is often called The Father of the Norwegian Constitution - "Grunnlovens far".
In 1822 he was appointed Attorney General of the Kingdom, a post which he held for three years. In 1825 he became bailiff for Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, and in 1827 president of the Supreme Court. In 1828 he suffered from a stroke and did not return to the office. Christian Magnus Falsen is buried at Gamlebyen Churchyard. Next to his gravestone is the gravestone of his second wife.

In 1804 he married Anna Birgitte Munch (1787-1810), with whom he had the son Enevold Munch Falsen (1810–80). In 1811, after her death, he married Elisabeth Severine Böckmann (1782-1848). She was the widow of Brede Stoltenberg, a brother of the tradesman Gregers Stoltenberg. With her he had the children Henrik Anton Falsen (1813–66) and Elisabeth Christine Falsen (1820–76).

His principal work is Norges Historie (1823–24), a history of Norway to 1319 AD.

From 1825 to 1827 he was County Governor of Hordaland.

Publications

• Daa, (Biography of C. M. Falsen) (Christiana, 1860)
• Vullum, (Biography of C. M. Falsen) (Christiana, 1881)