If an ódal by inheritance came to one not entitled to ódals-right, the right of redemption was open to the nearest of kin, who had such right.
If one of joint heirs had the right of ódal and the other not, the former got his share of the inheritance in ódals land, the other in personal property. In case a son’s son and daughter inherited together, the former had the right of purchasing the latter’s share in the ódal.
Daughters always inherited certain things, such as article of clothing, household goods, bedding, ornaments, &c.
“This shall a daughter take in inheritance after her mother, if her brother is alive: all clothes except cloaks (skikkja) of gudvef (costly stuff), and all uncut clothes; these her brother owns. And of clothes the brother shall take gold-lace, if he wants it; but woven cloaks and all bed-hangings, and lace-clothes (i.e. edged with lace), brocades and feather-clothes and down-clothes, the daughter shall have. If a web is in the loom, the son owns that which is woven, and the daughter that which is not woven. The son owns all mats and bench-clothes, fur-hoods and house-furniture; the daughter owns the bed-covers if her mother owned them, and the son if the father owned them. The daughter owns five sheep, and all linen and yarn, and five sheepskins with the wool on, and the geese, and the son owns all the rest. The daughter owns all cloth-chests, if her mother owned them. The daughter shall have a cross or a brooch, whichever she may want; or the best breast-ornament, if it is not of gold but of silver; and all brooches if they weigh one eyrir or less, and are of silver and precious stones. All vessels out of which women drink to each other across the floor at home belong to the daughter, though they are ornamented with silver. The son shall own the silver vessels. The daughter shall have one washing-basin, unless there be a chain between two, then she shall have both” (Earlier Frostathings Law, ix. 9).
If, during his lifetime, a father gave more property to one of his sons than to another, such a gift was taken into consideration at the division of the inheritance on the father’s death.
“If a man gives more to one of his sons than to the other then the latter shall take as much from the undivided property as was given to the one that got more; then they shall divide equally all that is left” (Gulath., 129).
The property of a foreigner who died in the country went to the country in which the man died unless the heir came to claim it.
“If English (Enskir) men die here or those whose language or tongue is not known here, then the law does not require that their inheritance be sent out of the country, unless a father or son or brother of the deceased has been in this country and claims it. The inheritance of foreigners received here by law need not be given up except to the heir” (Gragas, i. 224).
“King Svein held this feast in Ringstadir, and took great pains that nothing should be wanting to render it more splendid than any before it. The Jomsvikings came on the first day, and King Svein welcomed with great kindness Sigvaldi jarl and all his men. According to old custom the arvel had to be held during the year in which the person died for whom the arvel was made, but the man who gave it could not occupy the high-seat of him from whom he inherited until the arvel was drunk. On the first evening of the arvel many horns were to be filled, as is now done with memorial cups, and there they drank in honour of their mightiest kinsmen, or of Thor and other gods in the heathen times. The horn of Bragi was to be filled last then he who gave the arvel was to make a vow at it, and also all who were at the feast, after which the heir could sit down in the seat of the man for whom the arvel was made, and thereafter enjoy his inheritance and honour” (Fagrskinna, ch. 55).