“If a man has been fined for breaking a judgment once, and persists in disregarding it, then the king’s stewards shall summon him to a Thing and outlaw him unless he pays what is then due. A man is liable to the same if he breaks the judgment given at the Frostathing, and confirmed by vápnatak inside and outside the law-court” (Earlier Frostathing’s Law, v. 46).
In Iceland Things were held regularly twice a year, namely, before and after the Althing (Thing for the whole land). The one taking place in the springtime lasted at least four days, or at most a week.[[516]] The other, called Leid, at the end of summer, lasted not more than two days.
“We (the people) shall have Leid (autumn-thing), and those godis who hold a Thing together shall have Leid together.... The Leid shall not be held before fourteen nights after the Althing. No Leid shall last less than one day, or longer than two nights” (Gragas (1852), iii. § 61).
The country was divided into four quarters, and each of these into three Thing-districts, except the northern quarter, which was divided into four.[[517]] Every Thing-district was divided into three parts, each of which was ruled by a godi who was temple-priest. At the Quarter-thing all the bœndr of the quarter assisted.[[518]]
The Althing, which was held once a year, took place between the two other Things. This was natural, as at the Spring-thing they prepared for the Althing, and at the Thing held at the end of summer it was usual to make known what had taken place at the Althing.
“The Althing was placed where it is now, according to the advice of Úlfljót and all the men of the land. Before this the Thing was at Kjalarnes, established by Thorstein, son of Ingolf, the (first) settler, and father of Thorkel Máni (moon), lawman, and other chiefs” (Islendingabók, c. 3).
The appeal of a cause from a lower Thing to the higher one was expressed in the Gulathing’s Law, which probably had the greatest authority over the larger part of the country; every dispute had first to be treated at the smaller Thing of the Herad, and only when it could not be satisfactorily settled there was it to go before the Fylkisthing. A Thing from two Fylki had less power than one of four, and one from four less than one from eight.
“In every case when all the men of the Fylki agree, no lawful judgment of theirs in matters about which they have right to judge shall be broken, though kinsmen on the male or female side or near relatives do not come. But if one-fourth or more of the right Thingmen do not come, a new Thing shall be summoned from two Fylkis for the case.... If they do not agree at the Thing of two Fylkis, it shall be sent to a Thing of three Fylkis. If they do not agree, a Thing of four Fylkis. If they do not agree, a Thing of eight Fylkis; that which is agreed upon by all there and brought into the law-court shall stand” (Frostath., x. 30).
To this Thing as well as to lesser Things, every bondi who was a working man had to come. In later times, if the king was not present, his representatives the lendir men were bound to be there. Among these lesser Things were those which dealt with questions relating to paupers.
“It is customary in Iceland for the bœndr to have a Thing in the autumn in order to deal with the poor; the one first named among the poor was Thorljót, the father of Thjódolf” (Flateyjarbók, iii. 421).