In recent years, the Norwegian National Law of King Magnus the Lawmender (ON Lagebøte) (r. 1263-80) from 1274 has been the subject of intense studies leading up to the 750th anniversary. The law was one of the first medieval laws given for a whole realm, and was the product of the work of a law commission. This anthology is a collection of most of the new studies about the National Law, and in addition, the largest collection of research about the law ever published (11). The book consists of two introductions and ten chapters.
The first chapter by the editors sets the scene: the background for the national law is presented in a Norwegian-Icelandic context, as well as how law, according to the editors, should be understood. In the Middle Ages, what mattered was not the letter of the law in a narrow sense, but how that law was understood, which made the author of the legal text and discussion about which manuscript contained the “original” less relevant (14). At the end of the chapter, the remaining contributions are presented.
The second chapter by Mette Refslund Witting focuses on the different law manuscripts situated at the National Library (Nastjonalbiblioteket) in Oslo, and their history. Most of the manuscripts are Danish translations from the sixteenth century, when Norway was in union with Denmark and most officials in Norway were of Danish origin. Witting tries to trace the history of the manuscripts until they became part of the Library.
In the third chapter, Else Mundal discuss whether the relationship with Iceland and Icelandic law has influenced the legislation process in Norway. After having introduced the legislative reforms in Iceland and Norway--Iceland came under the rule of the Norwegian king in 1262/64--she focuses on legislation for the poor. It is her claim that both Magnus Lagabøte and his father, Håkon Håkonsson (r. 1217-63), were influenced by the Icelandic poor law as found in the Icelandic law book Grágás: even if it was not directly borrowed, the influence was substantial. The argument is very convincing, but one could wish that influence from canon law had also had been discussed, since some of the features in both Norwegian and Iceland poor law have parallels in canon law, and hence canon law could also be a common source of influence for the poor laws in both countries.
In the fourth chapter, Anna Catharina Horn presents a study of the law manuscripts from the second half of the thirteenth century. Her study is a combination of a material philological method and a more traditional textual critical study of the laws, with the purpose of getting a better understanding of what happened to legal texts when they were copied.
Bo Alexander Granbo investigates the use of nauðsyn--translated as necessitas in Latin--in the National Law in the fifth chapter. The concept of nauðsyn is not easy to translate into modern languages, because it holds several meanings: it is a measure for justice in the Aristotelian sense, and contains an idea of equity. Granbo shows how the use of nauðsyn is closely linked to canon law, but it is not used unedited in the National Law. Granbo’s results are very interesting, and underline the importance of seeing the National Law, not just in a North Atlantic context, but also as a product of a legal culture influenced by learned law.
In chapter six Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde changes the focus from the law to the administrators of the law--the lagmenn--who in the thirteenth century went from being local representatives at public assemblies to being royal officials with the power to pass judgments. This not only changed the social standing of thelagmenn who now became part of the aristocracy; it also changed the judicial and political setting of the assemblies, because as the king’s representatives they played an active role in the implementation of legal reforms, and due to their long period of service they created judicial stability. Sunde interprets the changed role of the officials very convincingly as an expression of the legal professionalism that not only arose in Norway but all over Europe in the thirteenth century
Else Mundal’s second contribution focuses on women as legal actors in Norway and Iceland. Mundal shows how women in the Norwegian laws had a much more active legal role compared with women in Icelandic laws, an important observation in an international context since Icelandic law has often been used in the English-speaking world as a model for Nordic legal matters in general (237). Mundal has many good observations about women and law, and her interpretation of, for instance, why Icelandic women had such limited legal rights (235-6) is very convincing. The chapter is highly recommended for those who work on gender issues in the North.
Ole-Albert Rønning-Nordby’s contribution focuses on the compurgator oaths in the Norwegian laws. He reflects on why the Norwegian laws in general had few compurgators, and why single oaths of refusal given by the defendant alone became widely used in the National Law. The reason for the limited number of oath helpers and the single oaths, compared with many other Germanic laws where the twelve-men oath dominates, is convincingly explained by Rønning-Nordby as a logical consequence of the pattern of settlement in Norway with very few villages, and the often long distances between the farms.
In the ninth chapter by Brage Thunestvedt Hatløy, the focus becomes strictly legal when he investigates the institution of mortgage in the Norwegian laws. The focus is narrowed onto the Norwegian laws, and the changes that took place with the introduction of the National Law. The article goes through the different kinds of mortgage as mortgage of real estate and pledge. Hatløy shows how the institution of mortgage changed substantially in the National Law, and discuss the political background for these changes.
The last contribution, by Johanne Fjesme Nakrem, takes the reader into the narrative universe of the sagas and the connected fields of law and literature, by analysing the late thirteenth-century Hænsa-Þóris saga (the Saga of Chicken Tore). Legal conflicts are a significant part of the saga written at the same time as Iceland got a new law book--Jónsbók--from the Norwegian king. The conflict is about whether a legal or moral right exists to sell hay to your neighbours in times of need. Nakrem shows how the norms of Jónsbók regarding hay in times of need are presented as being just and fair, whereas the system found in Grágás is not, and hence she reads the saga as a political text praising the values of the new law.
In general, the contributions are all well-written and substantial contributions to the body of research on Scandinavian law. The publication covers a wide range of disciplines, glued together by the focus on thirteenth-century Norwegian and Icelandic laws. Scholars of all levels, as well as generalists interested in Norwegian history, will--regardless of their background--find contributions of interest in this multi-facetted book.
The book is in Norwegian, and hence only for a limited audience, but an English translation of the National Law--the subject of the book--made by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir is planned for publication in 2024.