ITS HISTORY AND INHABITANTS. II. 



57 



inquire into the laws and make a Constitution for Iceland 

 He accomplished it in three years. According to this, in 930, 

 a central Parliament for all Iceland, the Altliing, wa^ 

 established at Thinffvellir, in s uth-west Iceland, and a " Law- 

 Speaker " was appointed to " speak the law." In 9G4 the number 

 of chieftaincies, Go^or^s, was fixed at thirty-nine, nine for each 

 of the four quarters into which the island was divided, except 

 the north quarter, which was allowed twelve. The Althing, as 

 a court of appeal, acted through four courts, one for each 

 quarter. There was also a fifth court, instituted in A.D. 1004, 

 which exercised jurisdiction in cases where the other courts 

 failed. For legislative purposes the Althimj acted through a 

 committee of 144 men, only one-third of whom, viz., the thirty- 

 nine GoSis and their nine nominees, liad the right to vote. 

 The nine nominees were chosen by the Go^is of the South, 

 West and East Quarters, three by each quarter, to give each of 

 these quarters the same number of men in the Committee as 

 the North Quarter had. Each of these forty-eight men then 

 appointed two assessors to advise him, one to sit behind him, the 

 other to sit in front of him, so that he could readily seek their 

 advice. Thus the Committee of 144 was made up, and it was 

 called Logretta (Amending of the Law). 



After the introduction of Christianity in a.d. 1000 the two 

 bishops were added to the Logretta, while the sole official of the 

 republic, the Lmv-Speakei\ used to preside. It was his duty to 

 recite aloud in the hearing of all present at the Parliament 

 the whole law of Iceland, going through it, in the three years 

 during which he held office, at the annual meeting in the latter 

 half of June, which generally lasted a fortnight. Also to 

 recite once a year the formulas of actions at law— all from 

 memory, for no laws were written down till about 1117. When 

 any question of law was in dispute, reference was made to him, 

 and his decision was accepted as final. For his labours he 

 received an annual salary of 200 ells of vadrnal (woollen 

 cloth) and one-half of the fines imposed at the Althing. He 

 was the living voice of the law, viva vox juris, but he was 

 neither judge nor magistrate, and did not open the Althing or 

 take the responsibility for keeping order at it, for that was 

 done by the Go^i, within whose jurisdiction the Althing met. 

 He enunciated the unwritten law, accepted by all. 



The Go^is and their nine nominees sat on the four middle 

 benches arranged round a central square, twelve on each, while 

 the two assessors of each of them sat, one on the bench behind, 

 the other on the bench in front of him. The LogrMta made, 



E 2 



