Any one who had been caught stealing three times was held irreclaimable, and it was considered less expensive to the state to rid society altogether of such offenders than to imprison them.
“The man who can get work to live on and steals the amount of an eyrir, and has not done it before, shall be brought to the Thing and redeem his hide with 3 marks of silver. If he steals as much a second time he shall redeem his hide with 6 marks of silver. If he does not he shall lose his hide, and a key shall be put on his cheek. If he steals as much the third time he shall lose his hide, and the king shall take 6 marks of silver from his property if he has so much. If the same man steals oftener he is to be slain” (N. G. L., ii. 168).
Minors were not held responsible for their acts, but if the thief was a woman of good family, she was sent out of the country; if a native thrall, he was beheaded; if a foreign thrall, his master could beat him within five days; if a native bondwoman or a freed woman (free but born of slaves), she was severely punished.
“If a woman of good family steals, she shall be sent from the country to another king’s realm. If a minor steals, it shall be paid back. If a native thrall steals, his head shall be cut off, or his master shall deny it with séttareid.[[181]] If a foreign thrall, or the son of a foreigner, his hide shall be flogged, or his master shall have him flogged within five days.... If a man’s freedwoman (leysingja) or a native bondwoman steals, one of her ears shall be cut off, the second time her other ear shall be cut off, the third time her nose shall be cut off; then she is called stúfa and núfa, and may steal as much as she likes” (Gulath., 259).
If a high-born man induced a slave to commit robbery, he and not the slave was punishable.
“If a freedman and a thrall committed a theft together, the freedman alone was regarded as the thief, for, says the law, he who steals with another’s thrall steals alone” (Gulath., 261).
The removal of boundary stones was considered theft.
“If a man takes up standing boundary stones and lays them down in an another place and moves them into the land of his neighbour, then he is a thief” (Gulath., 264).
According to the Gulathing Law bargains were made void in case of fals, or cheating, and the cheater was fined 3 marks.
“No man shall sell to another that in which there is fraud or deceit. If a man sells sand or dirt instead of meal or butter, with which he covers the sand or dirt, the fine is 3 marks” (Gulath., 40).