Bylov

The Bylov of King Magnus Håkonsson Lagabøte (1263–1280) follows on from the greatest legislative achievement of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, the Landslov , and was valid until modern times.

prehistory

After the turmoil of the long Norwegian civil war , a period of inner peace began for Norway. The kingship rose to a power that it had never had before. King Magnus wanted to be equal to the rulers of the west and the continental south not only in power and royal rights, but also in way of life. So he imported the way of life of the royal courts serving as models. He was in regular contact with the English royal court, he married a daughter to the Spanish royal court, his envoys came to North Africa and a friendship connected him with the Hohenstaufen emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Frederick II.

The desire to introduce courtly customs of the continent came into play in Hirðskrá's allegiance . An integral part of his efforts to come culturally on par with the continental rulers was the modernization of law. To this end, he sent capable people like Audun Hugleiksson to continental universities and trained them in the sciences that are essential for the organization of a state. After their return, the legal work began.

Lore

The laws are not all handed down. Most manuscripts contain only those passages that differ from Landslov. Some manuscripts contain the city law anonymously, i.e. without reference to a specific city. The version for the city of Bergen is completely preserved.

Amendment work

Connection with the Landslov

First the Landslov (land law) was renewed. This law covered the legal matters of criminal and civil law relevant for the whole country. However, there were legal matters that were only relevant for cities with extensive trade. So he gave the cities of Nidaros, Bergen, Oslo and Tønsberg their own identical city rights. Here too, the king's legislative work was largely shaped by the great lawyer of the time in Norway, Audun Hugleiksson . The Landslov was widely adopted and formed the basis. At most, it was adapted to urban conditions in places.

particularities

The specialty compared to the Landslov are two new sections: the city law and the maritime law; instead, the sections on Odal Law and land lease were omitted.

City rules

The sixth part ( bæjarskipan ) does not provide a description of the city's constitution, nor is a summary description of the responsibilities and duties of city officials. Rather, the emphasis is on police regulations.

City government

But there are some organizational regulations. The city's governing body, based on the German model, is called the “Council” ( Rað ), where the law spokesman and the raðmenn , i.e. the council members, rule the city. They are born members of the law things and 12 of them are members of the løgretta. They are not just judges, they check the weapons on the weapon hanging and the fireplaces and heating systems. They supervised the streets, alleys, jetties and jetties, and in general the entire construction industry.

At the head of the council stood the gjaldkeri , who corresponds to the German mayor . A person with his function can be proven in almost all cities. In Anglo-Saxon he was called sculthéta , in the town charter of Schleswig it was the exactor . He was originally a royal official who primarily had to collect the fines due to the king. He later became a municipal official, with the royal functions being transferred to the Sýslumaður (district administrator). Now the term gjaldkeri has been replaced by the German loan word býfógiti, býfógt or byfouget . The port police were subordinate to him. The skippers turned to him when the ships were to be brought ashore or at sea. When he blew the horn, everyone in town had to come, including foreign merchants, if they were in town for more than three days. Foreign merchants were also obliged to keep watch. Later, the German-speaking merchants were exempted from their duty by a special privilege.

The Sýslumaður, on the other hand, exercised the rights of the king, was his agent and collected the penalties due to him. He worked closely with the mayor, checked the fire signals with him and was involved in the roll call for weapons. Like the mayor, he also monitored the weights and measures. He was responsible for the guard on the tower of Nikolai Church, who was not only responsible for the fire, but also for the alarm in the event of an enemy attack. In addition to the mayor, he dealt with suspicious ship movements, carried out corporal sentences and carried out executions.

The third important official was the law spokesman (Løgmaður). He was appointed by the king and his agent. Anyone who killed him (e.g. because of an adverse decision) fell victim to the worst eight, from which one could not free oneself by repentance. Because that was an attack on the legal system itself. The Løgmaður was subject to the obligation to make decisions, ie he could not refuse the decision of a case in his area of responsibility. The Løgmenn had previously been obliged to provide legal advice on a legal issue. But they used to be not judges themselves, only appraisers. Judge was the thing assembly. Now he was also a judge. He was the highest authority. Only the king was above him. Those who did not stick to their decision made themselves liable to prosecution. However, an application for a decision by the citizens' assembly was also possible against his verdict, which was actually not an appeal; because the Løgmaður participated in this decision by presenting the facts and casting his vote. The normal weights and measures were in his care. He convened the law thing.

In city law, the city has its own law that could pass laws for the city, and its own legal committee (court, løgretta ). Incidentally, this thing passed a law in Bergen shortly after 1280 against the predominance of continental trading houses, which led to Norway's war with the sea-trading cities in the North and Baltic Seas. (See the history of Norway under Erik Magnusson ) The Thing was not held in the open air like in the country, but in Bergen in the hall of the Marian Guild. Members are twelve men from each quarter of the city. Then there are the men of the city council, the senior officials and representatives of the bishop. The Løgretta, the highest judicial authority within the city, consisted of twelve councilors and three men from each district. But - previously unthinkable - there was still a legal move to the king. The king as chief judge was one of the special innovations of the law revision. The law sting stated how many people had been killed in the city in the past year.

The city was a fylke , that is, an administrative district, like the others in the country. The fylkesthing , in which all free men of a county had to take part, corresponded to the mót , the citizens' meeting of all free citizens of the city, to which they were called by the horn of the mayor. Given the large number of participants, the meeting must have taken place in the open air. The participating judges were given their own benches, because according to the old view, a judge had to sit. Therefore they were called bench seat (beðsetar). Because the citizens' assembly was also a judicial authority for matters that the law spokesman (løgmaður) could not deal with and the normal løgretta could not settle. The løgretta of the citizens' assembly was then responsible for this.

The citizens' assembly was responsible for a whole series of legal acts: taking oaths, estimating compensation for pain and suffering in the event of injuries, regulating custody of minors, bringing the thief with the stolen property and executing corporal punishment. The insulted person presented the insult directed against him here. The ostracism of a person and the confiscation of the property was also a matter for the citizens' assembly. The manslaughter was announced at the citizens' meeting, which enabled the contemptible murder charge to be warded off. The freedman announced that the freed man had held his release beer, which gave him full citizenship. Fines were also paid on the mót and enforcement officers were appointed to, for example, tear down an improperly built house.

Here the decisions of the law thing were announced, which is why the mót took place only 8 days after the law thing.

Civic duties

The citizens were responsible for keeping the streets and alleys clear and clean. The width of the traffic routes to be kept clear was precisely prescribed. You can get an approximate impression of mountains at that time (in addition to archaeological sources) from the regulations on the night watchman's city tour and the regulations on where which craft businesses are allowed to settle. The night watch had to prove its vigilance by shouting at every street corner. Incidentally, there was no going out at night. Only drunk people should be brought home or to the next house by the guard, "and you let him lie there until he knows where he has to go." The man required a certain ability to drink (as in land law) for legal capacity must be ølfærr (suitable for beer). In Bergen, however, after the frequent complaints, the drinking and the associated brawls must have been the order of the day. Drunk people also had increased legal protection, just as helpless.

The inhabitants of the city were, like all inhabitants of Norway, conscripted and had to provide for their proper arming themselves according to their wealth. The wage earners without assets had to buy an ax in the first year, a shield in the second year and a spear in the third year. Once a year, during Lent, an arms roll call was held, where the mayor and councilors, with the help of men from the royal entourage who were knowledgeable in arms, checked that the armament was in good order. However , when Cardinal Nikolaus Breakspear raised the diocese of Nidaros to an archdiocese in 1152, he demanded a ban on carrying arms in the trading town. This ban was repeated over and over, which suggests little success. Only the Sýslumaður and the Gjaldkeri were allowed to carry weapons.

The citizens also had to maintain a fire sign on the coast. While it was forbidden in Landslov to involve foreigners in the coast guard, here it was prescribed that the fire should also be guarded by a foreigner.

You can learn a lot about the Bergen-based trade from the orders where they were allowed to do business. There were shoemakers (who also made leather stockings), tailors, goldsmiths, tanners and furriers, blacksmiths and locksmiths, coppersmiths, boilermakers, box makers, joiners, cooperatives, carpenters, swordsmen (cleaned swords and helmets), shield makers, fountain and record masters, plasterers , Millers, bakers, meat and fish dealers, second hand shops ( Klæðamangarar ), weavers, combmakers, painters, gilders, saddlers and rope makers , cloth dealers and various ship carpenters, people who brew beer, tar houses and ships and much more. For everything, prices were set, which only the Gjaldkeri and the council were allowed to change. The German shoemakers in particular soon formed a powerful guild in the city that troubled the council. However, all German craftsmen were summarized under the term “shoemaker”. They took the place of the English, who had previously been strongly represented, but had to vacate the city under Håkon Håkonsson . The city exerted a great attraction on the surrounding area. Therefore, a minimum wealth was required to be admitted to maritime trade.

Shipping law

Cardinal Wilhelm von Sabina said in his speech on the occasion of the coronation of King Håkon Håkonsson in 1246 that he had never seen so many ships together in one port. During the great fire in Bergen in 1248, around 200 ships were in port. From this it becomes clear that a port police and a separate shipping law were required. The trade connections can be found in the provision in Chap. IX No. 6 If a shipmate violates the rules under the skipper read off. The shipmate was not only a member of the crew, but everyone on the ship, including those subject to the contract for freight and cargo.

"If a shipmate violates the order (about the freight weight) of the skipper within the country (Norway), and it is established by witnesses, he has the skipper 1 silver mark for each load that is too much (over the contractual amount) is carried to pay a fine. And if he violated the order in Denmark or Gautland or Sweden, he would pay two marks of silver, one for the king and one for the skipper, for every load that was carried too much. And if he violates the order in Gotland or Samland, he has to pay four silver marks, half of which goes to the king and the other to the skipper. If someone violates the order in England, the Orkneys, Shetlands or the Faroe Islands, he pays eight silver marks, half to the king, the other half to the skipper. If someone violates the order in Greenland, Iceland or in Russia far to the east, he pays eight Ertog and thirteen silver marks, one half to the king and the other half to the skipper. "

- chap. IX No. 6 (If a shipmate violates order under the skipper)

There is no explanation why German (Saxland) ports are not mentioned. The sale of goods from the ship was forbidden so that the transshipment could take place quickly. The ships were to be unloaded quickly and then had to cast off from the bridge and anchor elsewhere. The only exception was for fresh fish and oysters. They had to be sold from the ship.

They only sailed in summer. So regulations had to be made about what to do if it was too late to travel home and you had to spend the winter in a foreign port. After September 8th it was forbidden to sail from Iceland to Norway. There must be a skipper on every ship, and there can be two on the Iceland trip. Initially, “ shipmates” are understood to mean the crew and passengers without distinction ( hásetar, skiparar are interchangeable terms). Later a distinction is made between the two groups. Both originally formed a legal cooperative and had to work together. The term for the pure passenger ( Farþegar ) does not appear in the law. The case was also dealt with in detail that the ship does not call at its port of destination, but at another port and therefore passengers legitimately leave the ship. The skipper then had to provide for sufficient crew elsewhere at his own expense.

The fellow travelers had to take care of their own food, bring their tent and also carry a bulwark to raise the side wall. This was particularly necessary in the event of attacks from other ships.

During the voyage and in foreign ports, the shipmates formed their own legal community with their own prosecutors, a court meeting and punishments. Prosecutors were the four ship overseers (probably the ship's officer). Mostly it was about failures in the duty to participate in the ship's work. The skipper only intervened in mutiny. In contrast to the Landslov (gauntlet), “tar and feathers” were intended for theft . But the skipper was tied to the ship's discipline: The shipmates were allowed to sail without him when in favorable wind three Ebben had waited for him in vain.

structure

prolog

Thing trip. (These are rules about who has to come to the thing how often, what is negotiated in what way on the thing, about the citizens' assembly, how courts are formed, how a formal summons to the court is made)
Christian Law. (It is about the right creed, the powers of king and bishop, the prohibition of opposing kings, royal succession, over the oaths of the king, the jarl, the baron, the law speakers and the free peasants; identical with the Landslov).
National defense. (These are the mobilization [mobilization, suffering], the shipbuilding, the formal call-up by sending the arrows of war, the watch at the fire signs, the military tax, city taxes, skipper, travel fees and armament, ship's crew and cooks, shooting and others Weapons and equipment, the roll call, treason, beach theft, the duty to help when hoisting the ships and lifting the sails, construction of combat ships by private individuals).
The holiness of men. (Contains the entire complex of manslaughter, assault and assault. Also regulations on the sale of a free man, but also slander and begging, the carrying of arms).
Inheritance law. (It deals with matrimonial law, matrimonial property law, inheritance, the division of inheritance, the treatment of underage poor welfare, wedding and funeral ceremonies).
City rules. (The obligation to take part in the night watch, the nocturnal curfew, building regulations, property traffic, provisions on servants, order of the craftsmen, fire police, wells and water supplies, jetties, tenancy law, ship purchase, behavior in the port).
Sales law. (Regulations on illegal removal, security, street trading, formal requirements, evidence in the case of a sale, assumption of debt, surety, legal remedies, notarization of marriage contracts, security for lending, lien, minimum assets for trading on water, prohibition of games, dimensions and measuring vessels).
Theft (mouth robbery in need, theft, stolen goods, house searches, theft of low value items, finds, oaths and perjury).
Maritime law. (Seaworthiness <requirement: only drain three times in 24 hours; permissible load>, freight contract, major average , emergency rights, assault on the voyage, right to the berth in the port, shore leave, sailing in a formation, ramming, hoisting a foreign anchor, sea trading companies, ship's watch )
Jurisdiction for the determination of punishment in the city.
Improvements to the law (This regulates the reduction of fines, the prohibition of revenge on anyone other than the perpetrator, the limitation of the penance to the king for manslaughter, the abolition of the family's liability for the manslaughter and a list of the legislative changes that were already made in the previous Chapters were made).
The formula for enacting the law.