CHECKS UPON WOMEN'S EXTRAVAGANCE. 



29 



bargain shall not be kept, except her husband wishes it so" 

 (Earlier Frostathings Law, xi. 22). 



" If a wife gives away her husband's property he can claim 

 it all, and prosecute the man who received it. If a man sends 

 his wife to the Thing to pay debts or other expenses of theirs, 

 her hand-shaking is valid, 1 and also when she goes to a ship to 

 make bargains with his consent, but no other transactions are 

 valid unless he wishes them to be so. When she buys what is 

 necessary for their household while he is at the Thing, that is 

 also valid. The woman shall not sell half her land, a farm or 

 more, or a godord (dignity of godi), or a seagoing ship, except 

 with the will of her guardian " (Gragas, i. 333). 



1 A bargain was sealed by hand- 

 shaking, a custom still prevalent in 

 Norway, where, when the traveller has 



paid his fare on the post road from one 

 station to another, the driver shakes 

 hands with him. 



