Sigvat Scald made a song wherein he says the king (Magnus) was too hard towards the bœndr.
“After this the king became milder; also many spoke to him about this. At last he had a talk with the wisest men, and they made laws. Then he had a law-book written which is still in Thrándheim, and is called Grágás (the grey goose). He became popular and was liked by all the people of the land, and therefore was called Magnus the Good” (Magnus the Good’s Saga, Heimskringla, c. 17).
All over the Northern lands are yet seen numerous judgment rings, made of large stones, where justice was administered; some were used for religious ceremonies, some for duellings.
“The defender in a case can name six judges whom he does not want to judge in his case. They are to rise from the court (dóm), and sit inside the dómhring (sacred precincts) while the case is judged” (Grágás, i. p. 78).
The lawmen, or lögmenn, were the most influential and powerful men in the land; they were respected and loved by the people, and great faith was placed in their advice. Extensive knowledge of the earlier customs and ancient laws was absolutely necessary for this important office, in order to put before the Thing in a proper light the subjects under discussion. From the Sagas we see that their office in the earlier time was probably hereditary; but in Iceland, as the emigration broke the hereditary succession, the lawmen were chosen by election.
“Hákon was one of the most merry, eloquent, and modest of all men; he was very wise and especially fond of law-making. He enacted the Gulathing’s law, with the advice of Thorleif the Wise; also the Frostathing’s law, with the advice of Sigurd jarl and other Thrands who were very learned; but the Heid-sævi’s law (Eidsivia law) had been enacted by Halfdan the Black (father of Harald Fairhair)” (Fornmanna Sögur, i., p. 31).
“At this feast were Gunnar and many others of the best men. After the feast Njal asked if he might take home Thorkall, Asgrim’s son, for fostering, and he was with Njal long after. He loved Njal more than his father. Njal taught him the laws, so that he became the greatest lawman in Iceland” (Njala, 27).
The lawman was the representative of law, though he had neither judicial nor legislative power; he was selected by the law-court, or Lögretta, on the first Friday of the Althing, before the cases which were to be tried at the Thing were made public on the law-hill. Then if the election was not unanimous, it was decided by throwing of lots which quarter should elect him; the law-court men of the quarter could elect him from their own quarter or from another, but the majority decided the question. The lawman, followed by the members of the law-court, walked up to the law-hill and took the seat intended for him. An election was good for three years, and the same man could be elected again; but he could forfeit his office through injustice or carelessness.
His duty was to expound the laws to the people, and therefore it was necessary for him to know them well; before the law was written he was looked upon as a living law-book for the people; any who were in difficulties on points of law went to him, not only to the Althing, but to his home.
The part of the law relating to the regulations of the Thing was recited every summer on the first Friday of the assembly, and this was the lawman’s first duty; all the remaining parts of the law had to be recited by him during the course of his three years of office.