Frostathingslov

The frostathing law is an old law that king in his own words in the first chapter of Introduction Håkon Håkonsson (1217-1262) for the legal district of Frosta Things in Norway should have adopted.

Frostathing

Building stone for frostathing

The frostathing initially covered an area of ​​eight districts ( Fylke ) in Trøndelag , which no longer exist today. These were the four districts in the inner Trondheimsfjord: Veradal (today Verdal municipality ), Skaun (today Mosvik ), parts of Levanger , Sparbyggja (today the municipalities of Steinkjer with the hamlet of Sparbu and Snåsa) and Eynafylki (today parts of Steinkjer, Inderøy and Verran ) and at four in the outer area, namely Strind (today Strinda, a district of Trondheim , Leksvik , Frosta and Åsen, a district of Levanger), Stjórdælafylki (today Stjørdal , Meråker , Klæbu , Selbu and Tydal ), Gauladalur and Orkadalur (the valley of the Orkla river with Skaun and Byneset, a district of Trondheim). Three or four coastal districts were added later. Three of them are listed in the Historia Norvegiae : Naumdælafylki, Nordmøre and Raumsdælafylki. Frostathingslov X speaks of four Fylki. Maybe Sunnmøre was one of them.

It is assumed that the Frostathing had two precursors, namely the Øyrathing, which included the outer districts and played a special role in the course of history, and a thing that has not been handed down for the four districts in the interior of the Trondheimfjord, from which one assumes it was with Steinkjer. The two things were merged and established at the place of the Øyrathing. The Øyrathing was the thing on which the king was worshiped for all of Norway. So there were Olav Tryggvason , Olav Haraldsson Kyrre , Knut the Great , Sigurd Munn , Øystein Møyla , Sverre Sigurdsson and Skule Bårdsson raised to kings.

Even if the Frostathing on the Frosta Peninsula was responsible for legislation, the Øyrathing had the higher dignity. When in 1115 Sigurd Jorsalfari filed a lawsuit against Sigurd Hranason before the Frostathing, for whom King Øystein stood in the process, this legal dispute was referred to the Øyrathing because only there disputes could be heard by kings. Members of parliament were appointed at the annual frostathing, and every farmer who was required to do something had to appear personally at the Øyrathing.

Origin and tradition

The Frostathingslov is not the oldest recorded law. Rather, this is the gulathingslov . When the Frostathingslov came about can no longer be determined and it also differs from topic to topic. The Christian right has been safely upstream later, but differs from the Christian right in gulating both construction and in the topics discussed.

Originally the laws were only presented orally at the thing meeting. The first mention is in the Heimskringla Snorri Sturlusons for King Håkon the Good , who cleaned it up and put it together with Jarl Sigurd and other men from Trøndelag. This is certainly incorrect, as the king did not have any legislative power at that time. It is true that the kings had the right to initiate legislation, but until the 13th century it was the sole right of the lagging to pass laws. Later, the tracing back to an important ancient king increased the authority of the text. It was certainly not written down at the time.

The Icelandic tradition assumes that shortly before 930 the wise Úlfjótur was sent to Norway to study the law on the Thingordnung from there. After three years he had returned with a detailed collection of laws with adjustments to the conditions in Iceland and thus became Iceland's first law spokesman. This presupposes a well-developed legal tradition in Norway at that time.

Snorri also reports from Olav the Saint that he often had Håkons Frostathingslov performed to him. Around 1280, the Thing's acceptance was only a matter of form and corresponded more to today's act of proclamation in the legal gazette. Snorri reports that Magnus the Good had the law written down and it is being kept in Trondheim under the name “Greylag Goose”. This gray goose is not the grágás under Icelandic law. This greylag goose has been supplemented over time. This can be seen from the fact that the law regulates the archbishop's retinue, which did not even exist at the time of Magnus. We only know the version from the time of King Håkon Håkonsson . This version is called Codex Resenianus (named after Petrus Resenius (1625–1688), who gave the parchment with the only surviving version to the University of Copenhagen) and is printed in Norges gamle Love I, 121-258 under the title Den ældre Frostathings-Lov . The Codex Resenianus then fell victim to the Copenhagen library fire of 1728. However, it had already been copied several times before, although there were gaps and many errors crept in, although it is likely that they were at least partially already present in the Codex Resenianus. The beginning of the introduction, which may have said something about the genesis, is missing. Some gaps can be filled in by the Hákonarbók law given to Icelanders , which included an adaptation of Frostathinglov to Icelandic conditions. Fragments of four parchment manuscripts are in the Reichsarchiv in Oslo, some fragments are in the university library in Tübingen. The fragments preserved consistently offer the same text as the copy of the Codex Resenianus. Codex IV, however, has one major deviation with regard to manslaughter fines and is viewed as a somewhat older editorial team.

Archbishop Øystein (1161–1188) wrote a Christian law on the occasion of Magnus Erlingsson's coronation as king, which also contained a regulation of succession, according to which only the eldest son of a king born in marriage should be entitled to the throne. It is part of Gulathingslov, but not mentioned in Frostathingslov. A writing can already be assumed here. From the description of a dispute between King Sverre and Archbishop Eirik Ivarsson , according to which the king invoked the old Christian law of King Magnus the Good , while the archbishop objected to Archbishop Øystein's Christian law, it can be seen that the " Gullfjær " Øysteins are church-friendly Has been advancement. It is assumed that Christian law in the traditional Frostathingslov reproduces a compilation between Gullfjær and the old law of Magnus the Good , but that at the time of the controversy described both laws were valid side by side. There are formulations to be found that certainly did not come from Archbishop Øystein. So he succeeded in having the priests in the private churches appointed by the archbishop, but the suffix “ he [the archbishop] has promised us that we can have priests who we like and who know how to administer their office properly . That's old law. “Is certainly not from him. Therefore, an express appeal to traditional law was necessary. The particular point of dispute between Archbishop Eirik and Sverre about the currency in which the fines are to be paid is also contradictory regulated: After the first sentences, offenses with women, perjury, eating meat before receiving communion, punishments for offenses against the tithe obligation , Breach of the peace of the church and the churchyard, failure to provide the horses to travel and failure to continue transporting the request to do so in accordance with the old bond law. For all other offenses, the fine should be paid in silver coins. This is followed by “and” stating that all offenses against Christian law are to be paid for in weighted silver. Since the minted silver had already lost half of its silver content under King Sverre, this last sentence would have almost doubled the episcopal income. (see History of Norway: King Sverre ). In the text, the bishop is mentioned very often, but rarely the archbishop. This is attributed to the fact that the text is essentially based on the "gray goose", that is, from the time before the Archdiocese of Nidaros was founded. 1152/1153 and then under Archbishop Øystein the law was updated. Further to the south, the older Gulathingslov , which can also be traced back to Olav, Mangus and Øystein, was the originator. Nevertheless, the law differs in structure and content from Frostathingslov, which can be traced back to the different strands of tradition and extensions to the respective lagthing.

The Frostathingslov is nowhere near as sophisticated as the Gulathingslov, although both probably go back to at least a similar old root. The author of Gulathingslov was obviously the better lawyer, while the author of Frostathingslov wrote down the law lecture from memory without any particular sense of the internal context. The relationship between the penitentiary communities may serve as an example, which in Frostathingslov simply symmetrically opposes the relatives of the perpetrator who are liable to penance the relatives of the victim who are entitled to penance, without wasting a thought on what should apply if the opposite is missing on one side. In Gulathingslov there is a detailed discussion of who is to be penalized if the family member who is entitled to penance is absent from the family member who is obliged to penance.

It can be assumed that this law was not carried out in all its parts in the way it was written. The criminal offenses are far too dense and the punishments unrealistic, especially the threatened lack of peace everywhere, even (as in the Grágás ) for ridiculous verses, the country would soon have been depopulated. Even the cases in which the thing had to come together to come to a judgment immediately at the crime scene (Pfeilthing) would have kept the thing farmers on the move. It is evidently a mixture of the law applied and the writer of the note free to write stories. The rules are a thick book, and some are nested with exceptions and back-exceptions to the point of incomprehensibility that a normal mortal could not possibly have recited it all by heart, apart from the fact that a whole day would have been spent on it. Since there was no documentary evidence at the time of writing, it can be assumed that this also applied to the question of what the “right right” is. Not what was in the written text was decisive, but what was alive in the memory of the legal community. This is expressly stated in Gulathingslov No. 314. The relevance of written law is likely to have started early in Christian law, e.g. B. in the text of Archbishop Øystein, since in the Church documents and written texts for their content had long been conclusive. When King Sverre also invoked a text in this dispute with the archbishop, the change is already indicated here, albeit not for the purpose of reaching a judgment, but of political debate. In contrast, the binding force of the law established on the lagthing is related to the oral presentation of the law spokesman for a long time, even if the law was already written down. The “gray goose” Magnus the Guten was not an authoritative text, but a kind of memorial record of the speech by the law spokesman.

The original and really applicable provisions can no longer be reliably identified from the entire corpus. However, their application is documented by some provisions. Some of these are listed below. The provisions of inheritance law and other civil law very likely reflect the practice of law, but the provisions of criminal law and fines are likely to have been added to the final version at the latest and do not in all cases reflect the real law. This is shown most clearly in the penitential communities. The penance does not take place between the perpetrator and the victim, but between the clan of the perpetrator and the clan of the victim, whereby people of the same degree of kinship are always faced, which was certainly the law applied in principle. So it is called z. B. “ The killer or the son of the killer shall give the son of the dead five marks [silver] out of the six gold marks in the main ring. The father of the killer should atone for the father of the dead ... ”etc. throughout the penitential community, right up to the grandson of the maternal aunt. Clan symmetry is always assumed, and there is no regulation as to how penance is to be made if the symmetry is not present, i.e. if in one of the two clans the mother had no siblings.

In 1274, King Magnus Lagabætir passed his great law on the Allthing, which replaced the Frostathingslov.

Content

General

The legal matter is not dealt with systematically, although the introduction in regulation No. 25 announces this. That means, there are subject complexes (1st book Christian law, 2nd book marriage and sexual criminal law, 6th book penal communities, 7th book shipbuilding and equipment obligation, 8th and 9th book inheritance law, 12th book real estate), in these but completely unmotivated completely different regulations with other subjects are inserted. This is justified in the introduction with the fact that one did not want to destroy the old order. It is therefore not possible to present the entire regulatory matter.

Nevertheless, it should be briefly presented what is actually covered:

1. Public law: Establishing and conducting the thing assembly. Church and Christian law (public holidays, church building and maintenance, fasting days and religious work bans), regulation of the deployment for war voyages and responsibility for ship equipment. Scattered public welfare schemes.
2. Criminal law and compensation law: criminal offenses, penalties and fines to the bishop and the king, but also compensation payments to the injured person or his family, acts of those who are not at fault, place of jurisdiction, animal owner liability, utility theft.
3. Hunting law
4. Criminal procedure law (evidence proceedings, twelve oath)
5. Marriage law
6. Inheritance law and limited heir liability , statute of limitations, consequence of missing.
7. Abstract promise of debt, loan, limited legal capacity of married women and freedmen.
8. Guarantee when buying a horse
9. Purchase contracts for land, price escalation clause (12th book)
10. Property law (joint ownership of land 13th book)

There is a complete lack of contract law, i.e. sales contract, warranty, liability for material and legal defects except for horses, and the law of servants. In addition, much is assumed to be already known to the audience, such as when “legal penalties” are ordered. The contemporaries knew what that was.

Special regulations

Here some regulations should be presented that are particularly noticeable to today's reader, or of which he has an idea from other contexts, or which are based on historical conflicts.

Alcohol is prohibited on the Thingstätte.

The most famous is the last provision of the first section: “ Under the law one should build up the country and not desolate it in illegality. “The first part of the sentence is now in Icelandic (a slight spelling difference) the transcription of the Icelandic Police's coat of arms.

The common German expression “ pro noses ” for the division of persons can also be found here: persons are referred to as “noses”. The list for the war trip is preceded by a man counting thing on which the list for each household is determined. This array consists of "noses" that are held on a notch. “ Every Bonde should have every nose on the notch wood at the end of the landing stage in front of the administrator. "

The Frostathingslov does not shake the traditional principle that the king appoints the bishops, since Christianity is a popular religion and the order of Christianity is part of the state order. This is particularly evident in King Sverre's open propaganda pamphlet “ En tale mot biskopene ” (A speech against the bishops): “ ... it was the same with the bishops and abbots: they (the kings) chose the one who Seemed good to them, and instructed them dioceses as they wished and without the advice of clergy. “But the king is not above the law. If the king wounds a man, he has to pay 48 rings as a penance to all legal comrades. After IV, 50 the king can also become outlawed . This regulation is of great historical importance, since Olav the Saint fell victim to it after he had sacrificed in Trøndelag, which is why it should be reproduced here: “ No man should attack another, neither the king nor anyone else. And if the king does, one should cut the arrow and let it go round all the fylke within [the fjord] and pull it against him and kill him if one can. And if he escapes, he should never come back to the country. And whoever does not move against him should pay three marks, and the same amount for the one with whom the arrow remains. “At Stiklestad this law was used against the king.

It is assumed that priests are married. Adam von Bremen complains that baptism, confirmation, altar and priest ordination are bought with high fees, but this is not determined in Frostathing. The last unction is expressly to be donated free of charge. But if the priest violates his duty to his community, he loses the fees for 12 months. This speaks for a further obligation to pay. The abolition of fees is related to the introduction of tithe around 1120, which did not exist at the time of Adam.

The term " kirkja " (= church) does not yet designate an abstract legal entity. Where the church is mentioned in this regard today, the Frostathingslov mentions the bishop or a saint who becomes the virtual owner.

The iron sample is admitted and prescribed as evidence. It consists in wearing a glowing iron. For women, the kettle trap was intended as evidence. Carrying the iron was in reality not the only form of iron test: In 1130 Harald Gille had to walk over glowing plowshares to prove his royal descent. Already in 1169 Pope Alexander III. informed the archbishop in Nidaros Øystein that the iron test contradicts canon law and must be abolished. But still in 1218 the mother of Håkon Håkonssons Inga had to undergo the iron test at the instigation of the archbishop to prove the royal descent of her son. There is no documentary evidence. The Latin script is not mentioned. But if someone's tongue has been cut out, they can write the name of the perpetrator on the thing with runes. The resident is able to give evidence from the age of eight. Until then, the father is responsible for the child's actions. From then on, the child will atone with half penance up to the age of 15. You can only promote the public baton for the thing meeting when you are twelve winters old. From the age of twelve you are obliged to fast with bread and water on Good Friday. From the age of 15 you are of age, especially criminal responsibility.

In the introduction to the blood revenge, a regulation is made that illuminates the conditions prevailing at that time: “ Everyone will know how great and evil it has long been in this country that when a man is killed, the relatives want it of the slain choose the one of the killer family [to kill him] who is the best, although he neither knew about the killing, nor wanted it or helped it, and they do not want to take revenge on the one who killed has, although that would be possible. And so the worthless man benefits from his wickedness and his misfortune, and the innocent loses his prudence and manly excellence. And so many have suffered a great loss of sex in this way, and we have lost the best of our people in the country. And that is why we define this as a thing without admitting any penance and with confiscation of the entire property of everyone who takes revenge on someone other than the one who kills or has killed. “When a man is wounded, the penance is graded according to the social position of the perpetrator. If the Odelsbauer wounds a man, he has to pay the king 6 rings of 12 Øre, a Jarl has 24 rings, the king 48 rings.

Regulations on welfare for the poor, which were alien to paganism, are interesting. The law regards men as “poor” who “ sit in a hunger house and have fewer cattle than two family members owning a cow or something else worth a cow. “You are allowed to fish for immediate consumption on days when it is forbidden to others. It is said to the beggars: “ Every grown man who goes from farm to farm and receives alms has no right to penance for himself as long as he is begging and is healthy and able to work. As soon as he has bought clothes and food for himself or received from relatives, he has immediate legal capacity. “All people who move from house to house and are not dependent people and do not want to work are each criminal with three marks, both male and female. And the trustee or some other grab such a man before witnesses and bring him to the thing. His relatives may redeem him with three marks, or the one who brought him to the thing may use him as a servant for his benefit.

Child abandonment that used to be common is now a criminal offense. Then it is regulated what has to happen if a beggar woman has a child and dies in the process: “ If a woman dies in childbed who wanders from house to house, the Bonde should bring the child to church and have it baptized. Then he should offer it to everyone who wants to feed it for God's reward. And if nobody wants to take it and use it as their own property, take it home with the Bonde and feed it for the next month. Then all men of the county should take over and feed for God's wages. The farmer take it to the next farm and give it a bowl. But if the man does not want to accept it, then he is responsible for the child, and the other puts it down with no punishment and has witnesses with him. "

We learn the following about the labor market: “ We know that nothing will be so desolate our country in the long run as the fact that no workers can be found in the countryside. Because everyone now wants to go on trade trips and nobody wants to work for the bonds anymore. That is why we strictly forbid anyone who has less than three marks to go on trade trips. This ban is to be applied from Easter to Michaelmas [29. September] of each year. After Michaelmas and during the whole winter everyone drives in peace with as much goods as God has given him, be it more or less. But the skippers, who take people on their ship with less money than is said here, are supposed to pay six Øre for each of them who goes on a trade trip with them. "

Regarding the treatment of Gentiles, the following is prescribed: “ Everyone in this kingdom is to be a Christian. A pagan may be given food overnight when traveling to a church that has a priest. If he goes unbaptized from the church where a priest is, then he is not to be fed. He should stay alone in his hut and do his business and drive out of the country as fast as he can "

About the sanitary needs in connection with the honor at sea one learns the following: “ If a man sits on the railing and fulfills his need, and another throws him into the water with a hating hand, then it is his full man penalty and a mortal penalty. “In general, it is a grave hurt to lie on the floor with your back uncovered. This even applies to medical treatment. If this requires the patient to lie on his stomach, the perpetrator (infringer) has to pay the penalty for the injury in addition to the penalty for the insult.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Meißner S. XV
2. ↑ Gustav Storm: Sigurd Ranessöns proces . Kristiania 1877.
3. ↑ Frostathingslov I, 2.
4. ↑ Frostathingslov I, 4.
5. ↑ Hjálmarsson p. 21
6. ^ Meißner pp. XXIV, XXVI.
7. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 11: “ Byskup Skal raða kirkium or kristnum dome allum oc kænni mænn til selia þa er hann uil. oc hævir oss þui hætit at ver skolum hava þa kænni mænn er oss þockazt oc þa er kunni þionnosto sina retta. þat he save in front. "
8. ↑ Frostathingslov III, 2.
9. ↑ Frostathingslov VI, 3
10. ↑ Frostathingslov V, 16 ff., X 42 f.
11. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 6 f.
12. ↑ Frostothingslov I, 3
13. ↑ At lögum scal land várt byggia en eigi at úlögum eyða.
14. ↑ Frostathingslov VII, Sept.
15. ↑ In the Christian law of the Eidsivathing, which is the only surviving of this thing, Norges gamle Love I, it is explicitly stated on p. 385: “ He should be bishop on his bishop's seat, whom the king wants and who is rightly elected and here consecrated to office and chair. "
16. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 53.
17. ↑ Frostathingslov VII, 17
18. ↑ Bishop's History of the Hamburg Church IV, 31: “... But baptism, confirmation, altar and priestly ordinations are always bought dearly with them and the Danes. It probably comes from the greed of the priests. ... Even going to the sick and burials, everything is bought there. "
19. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 17
20. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 14; IV, 18th
21. ^ Adam of Bremen: Bishop history of the Hamburg church . In: Sources of the 9th and 11th centuries on the history of the Hamburg Church and the Empire. Pp. 138-495. Freiherr vom Stein - Commemorative Edition XI. Darmstadt 1978: “ Because the barbarians have not yet been able to or do not want to pay a tithe, they were asked to pay taxes on other services that had to be offered free of charge. "
22. ↑ Payment of the penalty to St. Olv in Frostathingslov II, 10
23. ↑ Frostathingslov III, 15: If someone is justifiably accused of pagan sacrifice, he should be unholy. But if he denies, let him wear the iron. The woman should reach into the kettle. “ ... En ef dyl, bere karlmaðr iarn fyrir. en kona take i kætil. "
24. ↑ Regesta Norvegica Nr: 129 Date: December 18 [1169] from Benevento: Responsum of the Pope to questions presented: “ 1. I Norge blir saker ennå avgjort ved jernbyrd. This is in line with kirkeretten and må avskaffes. “(In Norway, cases are still handled with the help of iron samples. This is contrary to canon law and should be abolished).
25. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 5, 36.
26. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 23
27. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 41.
28. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 34.
29. ↑ Frostathingslov Introduction 8
30. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 27
31. ↑ Frostathingslov V, 30
32. ↑ Frostathingslov X, 39
33. ↑ Frostathingslov II, 2
34. ↑ Frostathingslov Introduction 20.
35. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 17.
36. ↑ Frostathingslov IV, 18. There was a saying at the time, "Everyone is uncovered on their backs, unless they have a brother [there]."

literature

• Adam of Bremen: Bishop history of the Hamburg church . In: Sources of the 9th and 11th centuries on the history of the Hamburg Church and the Empire. Pp. 138-495. Freiherr vom Stein - Commemorative Edition XI. Darmstadt 1978.
• Jón F. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Reykjavík 1994.
• Rudolf Keyser , PA Munch (ed.): Norges gamle love indtil 1387. Forester Bind. Christiania 1846.
• Rudolf Meißner (ex.): Norwegian law. The law book of Frostothings. In: Germanenrechte Vol. 4. Weimar 1939.
• Regesta Novegica
• Eduard Sievers: Tübingen fragments of the older Frostuthingslög , Tübingen 1886 online .