480 THE LAND. 



4. When it was received as heidlaun (fee-reward), i.e., when, 

 in later times, it was given by a king to his servant for faithful 

 services. 5. At a later period, when it was given by the 

 king as drekkulaun (drink-reward), either for having been well 

 entertained, or as a reward for nursing the king. 6. When 

 it was received as reward for fostering a child (barnfostrlaun). 

 7. When it had been acquired in exchange for another odal " 

 (Gulathing's Law, 270). 



" The inheritance is called branderfd if a man receives 

 another to keep him in bad and good circumstances, and feeds 

 him till fire and pyre (until he dies) " (Gulath., 108). 



In all the last six modes of acquiring the land, it is of 

 course understood that the land must have been the odal of 

 the grantor. 



The odal could not be alienated from the family, and if 

 sold to any one outside the family, the latter had the right of 

 redemption, which consisted in this : that in case the land 

 was sold to a stranger, the nearest of kin had the right to 

 redeem the odal from the new owner within a certain time and 

 on certain conditions. These differed in the different laws. 

 The Gulathing's Law, which most extensively treats this sub- 

 ject, sets as a rule for the redemption, that it could be made 

 by the nearest of kin after lawful notice, on payment of a 

 sum one-fifth less than that at which the land was appraised 

 by arbitrators. The kinsman, however, in order to keep this 

 rio-ht open, had to publicly announce it at the Thing under 

 whose jurisdiction the land lay, within twenty years after the 

 sale, so that twenty years should never be allowed to pass 

 between two announcements. If this was neglected, the next 

 of kin had not thereby lost his right of redemption, but he 

 had to pay the full value of the land. 



" If the land lies (is in possession of the buyer) for twenty 

 winters and no notice is given, full value must be paid for it " 

 (Gulath., 272). 



The right of redemption was not forfeited until the land 

 had been in the family of the new owner for the period of 

 sixty years without any notice of redemption having been 

 given. 



