REGULATIONS AS TO LA WHEN. 535 



marks, and they could elect another man in his place. The 

 yearly pay for this office was 248 ells 1 of vadmul from the 

 property of the law-court, besides the half of all the fines. 



The closing ceremony at the term of office was for the 

 lawman to recite the regulations of the Thing. This ceremony 

 took place on the first day of the fourth summons, after which 

 he was free. When the lawman died, a man was taken from 

 his quarter to recite the regulations, and his successor was at 

 once elected. 



A lawman, when at home, could be a godi as well as a 

 lawman, but at the Thing he was obliged to have a representa- 

 tive of his godiship. 



" It is a law tlfet there shall always be a man in our country 

 whose duty it is to tell people the law, and he is called lawman 

 (logsogu-maii = law-telling man). If the lawman dies, a man 

 shall be taken the next summer from the quarter of the country 

 in which he dwelt last, to recite the regulations of the Thing. 

 Then the lawman is to be elected on the Friday before the 

 cases are proclaimed. It is also good if all agree about one 

 man. If one of the law-court men is against that which most 

 want, it shall be decided with lots from which quarter the 

 lawman is to be elected. The men of the quarter who win the 

 lot shall choose the lawman, if he is willing to undertake the 

 office, whether he is from their own quarter or from some other. 

 If they do not agree, the majority shall rule ; but if those who 

 disagree about the lawman and sit in the law-court are equal 

 in numbers, the bishop of the quarter shall decide. . . . From 

 the law-court where the electing takes place the men shall go 

 to the law-hill. The lawman shall go thither and sit in his 

 seat, and seat those whom he wishes on the law-hill, and then 

 the cases are to be brought forward. It is also law that it 

 is the lawman's duty to recite all parts of the law in three 

 summers, and the Thing-regulations every summer. The 

 lawman has to recite all declarations of innocence (e.g. of out- 

 lawry), if possible, when the greater part of the people are 

 present ; also he shall recite the reckoning of seasons ; and if 

 people shall come to the Althing before ten weeks of the 

 summer have passed and inquire about keeping the ember- 

 days and the beginning of fasts, he shall make known all this 

 at the dissolution of the Thing. . . . If he is not wise enough, 

 he shall take counsel with five or more law-skilled men. Every 

 intruder is fined three marks, and the lawman has to prosecute 



1 The Danish ell is a trifle more than two English feet. 



