The Relationship between Old and New Justice in Norwegian and Icelandic Laws in the Middle Ages

The subject of the article is the relationship between old and new laws in Norway and Iceland in the Middle Ages. From the Icelandic legal text called Logrettupattr we can clearly see that old laws remained in force after new laws had been passed if the old laws were not in conflict with the new ones. In Norwegian laws this is not clearly expressed. However, in the article the author points out some details in in Norwegian laws and conditions connected to these laws which may indicate that legal practice in Norway in the main followed the same principle we know from Icelandic laws: new laws were used together with older laws. Among other things, this has consequences for the view of the Norwegian Code of the Realm from 1274 that we cannot take for granted that after 1274 the law consisted only of what was written in this law. The new written law functioned together with older laws and legal tradition which formed a backdrop for the new law and together with the Code of the Realm constituted the law and legal practice that were in force in the country.