OUTLAWRY OF WOMEN. 581 



for which he ought to be outlawed, and therefore his outlawry 

 ought to last longer. At this time Stein Thorgestson was 

 chosen lawman. He was a wise man, he was asked to give his 

 decision. He enquired if the time of the summer thus far 

 passed belonged to the last twelve months of the twenty years 

 since he had been outlawed. As it was, Thorir from Gard 

 tried to raise all the objections he could, and found th;it 

 (Jrettir came to Iceland when a part of the summer had 

 passed, and had not been an outlaw during that time. Nine- 

 teen twelvemonths, less the three months that passed from 

 that Althing until Grettir came to Iceland in the autumn, 

 had his outlawry lasted. Then the lawman said that no 

 man should be an outlaw longer than twenty winters, even 

 though during that time he committed deeds for which he 

 ought to be outlawed ; but that before twenty winters passed he 

 would not declare any' one free from his outlawry " (Gretti's 

 Saga, c. 79). 



The liabilities of a woman who committed murder were 

 different according to the Gulathing or the Frostathing Law. 



" If a woman slays a man, the kinsmen of the dead, if they 

 wish, may slay her, if she does not go away in five days during 

 summer, and in half a month during winter " (Frostath., iv. 

 33). 



" If a man slays a woman he is outlawed, just as if he had 

 slain a man. But if a woman slays a man she is outlawed, and 

 her kinsmen shall send her out of the country ; and also if a 

 pauper l slays a man he shall be sent out of the country 

 within five days, and he may stay with his kinsmen five nights 

 if no necessity delays him longer. If he stays longer he shall 

 pay forty marks, or deny it with lyritareid" (Gulath., 159). 



Sigmund and Eylif, sons of Onuud, wanted to get rid of 

 a man called Orn, their kinsman. Morel Gigja advised them to 

 get him outlawed, and in that way get him from the Herad. 



" They raised against Orn a suit about the right of grazing 

 and it was agreed that Orn should be slain as unholy, and 

 have no weregild anywhere, except at Valugerdi (his farm) and 

 within an arrow-shot from his land. They continually tried to 

 get at him, but he kept well on his guard. One day when he 

 was driving oxen from his land they came upon him and slew 



1 Or any one under fifteen years of :II;H. 



