When we in the modern day think of laws and legal systems there are a whole host of associations and preconceptions that we have in mind, and it is indeed rather difficult to try and shake ourselves from this mindset. For example, try and imagine law without lawyers, and I am referring to trained and educated legal professionals, not simply people who know law. It seems a little difficult to be able to maintain a legal system without lawyers or judges, no? After the collapse of Roman authority in the west though, lawyers and judges, as we might imagine them, were in rather short supply, and certainly never existed in Scandinavia.

Does this mean that there was no legal system or law in these places that lacked lawyers, judges, courts, and so on? According to one of my advisors, yes.

If we are going to imagine law in the early Middle Ages broadly, and in Scandinavia more specifically, we need to understand that the hallmarks of our legal system that we are familiar with and have been a part of western legal traditions since Gratian's Decretum are not the only ways that law can be expressed or understood. Legal systems don't require figures such as judges, lawyers, massive books filled with esoteric nonsense, and so on.

However unfortunately for Scandinavia we are at a bit of a loss, for the hallmarks of other early medieval legal systems such as law codes, charters, and the like are not really present in Scandinavia until the tail end of the viking age after conversion and there are suddenly things like "literate clerks" and "written law codes". Now before the codification of laws into royal legal codes, or royal charters, or ecclesiastical compilations, there were still laws. Much effort has been spent attempting to ascertain the existence of the a pre-Christian Germanic "Ur-Law" that predated exposure to Christianity and was still expressed in various ways after conversion. Laws that are preserved in royal law codes, the sagas, and other sources have often been examined for their possible insights to this Germanic law that existed before conversion. Unfortunately for German romantics and nationalists, truly my heart bleeds, these efforts are completely misguided.

So in the absence of forms of law that we are more familiar with, such as Roman Law or Canon Law, and in the time before conversion where legal texts were likely nonexistent or at best extremely rare, how was law practiced? We can look to early legal codes for some indication of what laws existed and the penalties and fines that would be associated with certain transgressions, and this can also tell us a little about how law was practiced. For example the law codes of Iceland, the Gragas, tell us about the meetings and assemblies where laws were debated on and passed, but there were no judges or lawyers involved in this, it was a much less formal system, where landowning men met and decided laws. The Gragas itself places a very large emphasis on the role of neighbors and other individuals in not only reporting and correcting transgressions, but also in carrying out other laws such as speeding people on their way to baptism.

This de-centralized and "neighborly" law is likely somewhat indicative of law in Norway as well in the early Middle Ages, as Iceland was largely settled by Norwegians, and people they...picked up...around the British Isles. Now laws were not universal across the Norse world, and it would be a mistake to read too much into possible similarities between the Icelandic law codes and other Scandinavian area, and it is likely impossible to totally reconstruct law across the Norse world.

Yes! I can answer this from the Icelandic perspective, at least. I'm afraid my knowledge is not sufficient for an answer than encompasses the other Scandinavian countries.

To start with, I think it might be helpful to define the traditional "viking age". It's normally defined from about 793 (the first major documented raid by Scandinavians in England, at the monastery of Lindisfarne) to 1066, when Harald Hard-ruler was killed by the forces of Harold Godwinson of England at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (this was only a few days before the more-famous Battle of Hastings, where William the Conquerer of Normandy killed Harold Godwinson and conquered England).

With that in mind, the legal system of Iceland during this time was quite complex, and in fact we have at least one surviving codex of the law codes, called Grágás. I had a heck of a time trying to find a full online translated copy of the Grágás, and was only able to find a few quotes from various academic articles. In Michael Mcglynn's Orality in the Old Icelandic Gragas article, he quotes one of the laws as "A man who is at least twelve winters old, who is responsible for his word and oath, free, and of a fixed residence, can be nominated to be judge". There's another passage that gives a sense of exactly how complex this could get, which according to Mcglynn is the phrase chieftains are supposed to use when nominating a judge: "I nominate this good man to the court to judge all cases that come before this court and which the law requires him to judge. And I invite both the prosecutor and the defender to challenge this court. And I grant that he will have a seat in this court unless a rightful legal challenge should arise. Then I shall nominate a second man from the rett ["public fold"] in his place if he is seized according to law. [Here state the court to which he is nominated, saying]: And I name this court of law."

Now this code of laws was probably in effect until Norway took over Iceland in the 13th century, but it's also important to note that the legal systems of Iceland were primarily oral in nature until the Christian conversion around the year 1000. When Christianity came to Iceland (through a legal process!), it brought with it the systems of writing that the Icelanders immediately began using to write down laws, sagas, eddas, and poetry. Because the culture was primarily oral from the founding of Iceland (late 800s) to the Christian conversion, the legal system was structured a bit differently from what we might be used to.

Each district in Iceland would have a court, with judges nominated according to the laws. Cases would be brought to the judges and decided there, but (and I'm not sure the exact process) they could also be brought to the larger quarter-courts. Finally, there was the Allthing, the great assembly of the chieftains (also called goðar) which was held at the Rock of Laws in Thingvellir Plain in the center of Iceland. The Allthing was effectively the final court, and acted as a parliamentary body for the Icelanders. Landowners could have a seat at the Allthing, and complaints could be brought to the assembled men for judgment. There was also a really interesting figure called the logsogumaðr; the Lawspeaker. the lawspeaker was an incredibly important part of the Icelandic legal system, especially before the laws were written down, because his job was to memorize the entire law code of Iceland, and recite one-third of it at each Allthing. The lawspeaker was elected by the Allthing, and held the position for three years.

I'll give three examples: two for how the law was supposed to work, and one for when it didn't.

Njál's Saga, or Brennu-Njáls Saga, or When it Goes Wrong Njál's Saga is one of the best-known "family sagas" of Iceland, and focuses on two major characters: Njáll Þorgeirsson and Gunnar Hámundarson. A massive feud (started mostly by Gunnar's wife) is conducted between two families, and it spirals out of control as each slight is repaid, but much worse, on each family. Interestingly, the story of Njal and Gunnar starts with Njal helping Gunnar win several lawsuits after he gets in trouble due to his wife's meddling: the legal system kinda works. Where it breaks down is when people are unhappy with the settlements handed out by the court (typically a certain amount of gold/goods/restitution), and take justice into their own hands. As the violence gets worse and worse, the courts can no longer control it, and Gunnar ends up as an outlawed exile, killed in his own home.

The Christian Conversion, or When it Goes Right (Christne Saga, Landnamabok) The Christian conversion is a really interesting case. The short version of the story is that a series of three missionaries were sent to Iceland to convert them to Christianity in the late 900s. The first two were not terribly effective, and the final missionary was especially awful; a guy by the name of Thangbrand. He was a truly awful priest, and ended up getting into feuds and killings, and generally being a huge nuisance to the people of Iceland. However, he was sent there by Olaf, the Christian king of Norway, who was very interested in seeing Iceland made Christian, and the chieftains of Iceland were quite aware of this. Christianity was generally causing a stir, and so it came up at the next Allthing (after they kicked out Thangbrand): should Iceland convert to Christianity?

The legal arguments went on for several days, and the Allthing was completely gridlocked. (All of this, by the way, is in the Christne Saga and Landnamabok if you want to read the originals!) At some point during this discussion, someone's farm was devastated by lava, and this amazing passage from Christne Saga comes up: "Then came a man running to the Alþingr and said that earth-fire was coming up in Olfuse, and had come to the house of Þóroz the goði. Then took the heathen men to saying 'This is not to be marveled at, as the gods are angry at such speeches.' Then said Snorre the goði: 'About what were the gods angry when where we stand now was burning lava?' After that went men from the Rock of Laws."

In the end, the case for Christianity went to arbitration, which is where the current Lawspeaker comes into the story. His name was Thorgeir, and since the Althing was unable to come to a decision, it was up to him. He sat under a cloak for a day and a night, and emerged to announce that Christianity was to be the official religion of Iceland, saying "And it seems to me wisest, to not let them decide who are here contending the most against one another; and to mediate thus a compromise between them, so both may have some of their case. However, we should have all one law and one religion; since true shall that saying be, if we break the law, then we break the peace." (Christne Saga, again). The entire episode of the Christian conversion, to me, shows exactly how invested the Icelanders were in their legal codes.

Final Example: When It Goes Strange (Eyrbyggja Saga) This is an odd one, but I love it. In the Eyrbyggja Saga, a household falls under a mysterious illness after a dying servant's last request is not honored by her terrible employer. As people fall sick and die, they rise again from the grave as draugar (zombies, effectively), shuffling through the house and warming themselves before the fire. Eventually the entire household has died and come back, and it's started to cause a stir in the area. I'm going to quote the entire passage here from Eyrbyggja Saga here, because it's such a fantastic story. A "Door-doom" was created, effectively a small, pop-up court, to judge the draugar!

After that Kjartan summoned Þóri wooden-leg, and Þórðr Kausi summoned the bondsman Þóroddi, in regards that they went around the house without permission and deprived men of both life and health. All [the draugar] who sat before the fires were summoned to the court. Then was made a Door-Doom and cases were declared to all with speeches, as at a public court; verdicts were given, speech and judgments presented; when then the court’s word was come to Þóri Wooden-Leg [one of the draugar], he stood up and said “I sat here while I wanted to sit here.”

After that went he out, through the door which the court was not sitting before. Then was come judgment to the shepherd, and when he heard his sentence, he stood up and said “Go will I now, and think I this, that before now this shelter was fitting.” And when Þorgríma Spell-Cheeks heard that the court had given her judgment, she stood up and said “I stayed here while I wished to stay.”

After that the court sought the others, and each stood up as judgment fell upon them, and each that left said something, and it was known by their words that they were unwilling to leave. After that was prosecuted in the fields the bondsman Þórodd, and when he heard his sentence, he stood up and declared, “I think here is little peace, and now will we all leave.”

He went out after that. Then went Kjartan and his people went into the house; the priest brought holy water and sanctified the court and all around the house. Later that day the priest sang all the hours and masses solemnly, and after that stopped all the apparitions and haunting at Fróðá. But Þuríði’s sickness improved, and thus she became healthy."

I love this so much, because to me it illustrates that legalism (and maybe even making fun of legalism) was so deeply embedded in the Icelandic mindset, that even their fiction and legends had lawyers! Lawyers that could quite literally summon draugar...to court at least, and make them leave!

I hope this was helpful, and I'd be delighted to expand upon anything, or hear from anyone who might have corrections to my information. It's been a while since I've actively studied this!