THE ODAL LANDS. 481 



" If the land belongs to the same line of family for sixty 

 years or more, it becomes the odal of the owner, so that no 

 man can buy it from him" (N. G. L., ii. 93). 



" If there are two brothers, and one of them dies before his 

 father and leaves a son, then he shall redeem that part of the 

 odal at four-fifths 1 of the value from his father's brother. But 

 he cannot do it before his grandfather is dead " (Gulathino-'s 

 Law, 294). 



" When the redeemer has claimed the land according to law, 

 he shall carry the money to the land at the middle of the fast 

 on the morning next after the washing-day (Saturday), when 

 three weeks of the fast are left. He shall put it on a stone 

 where field and meadow meet. He shall speak thus : ' Be here 

 on the land Thursday in the Easter-week, and take the value 

 of the land, as much as it is valued in lawful money. I will 

 come here with honest men, and thou shalt have as many here. 

 They shall value the land as it is done when men redeem their 

 odals. The half of the money shall be in gold and silver, and 

 the other half in native bondsmen not older than forty and 

 not younger than fifteen winters ' " (Gulath., 266). 



If the king was odalsman (i.e., next of kin) to land in the 

 possession of another, then the redemption was to take place 

 within the reigns of three kings, for otherwise the right of 

 redemption was forfeited. 



" If land falls to the king it must be redeemed from his 

 steward who has the survey in the Fylki in which the land 

 lies. If there is no king's steward in the Fylki, it must be 

 redeemed from the steward who is next in rank and before the 

 lives of three kings are gone. If the land is not redeemed 

 before, it must lie where it is. Though three kings rule the 

 land the time is reckoned as the life of one king. If the king 

 wants to redeem land his steward shall redeem it as we do 

 among ourselves. He must have redeemed it also before the 

 lives of three kings are gone, else it lies where it is. Land 

 cannot be redeemed while the king is in the Fylki in which 

 the land lies " (Gulath., 271). 



" The land of no man can become odal before three genera- 

 tions have owned it in unbroken succession and it falls to the 

 fourth (as inheritance) " (Frostath., xii. 4). 



1 The Frostathing's Law says nothing 

 about the deduction of one-fifth from the 

 appraised value. 



A new law enacted that the odals- 

 man, in order to keep his right open, 



VOL. I. 



should make the usual announcement 

 every tenth year ; and the king was 

 subject to the same regulations as other 

 people. 



