Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/606

 Viking Lawsuit.

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A VIKING LAWSUIT. BY SAMUEL SCOVILLE. THE technicalities of legal procedure seem almost incongruous in connec tion with the untamed Vikings, who harried the world from " West-over-the-Sea," their name for England, even to " Micklegarth," or Constantinople. Yet these men whose fierce blood flows through our veins in "the dull grey dark " of their frozen North, estab lished precedent and practice which to-day are part of the framework of our great com mon law. A typical Viking lawsuit, the translation of which follows, is the blood-suit of Asmund the Greyhaired, as chronicled in one of their Sagas, and it is interesting to note what few changes nine hundred years have wrought in the procedure of our ances tors, the Men of the Northlands. Asmund the Greyhaired lived at Biarg and was one of the greatest of bonders in the Midfirth. At Asmund's grew up a man called Thorgils, near akin to Asmund. Asmund bought for Thorgils land at Brookmeetand there he farmed. Thorgils was a great store-gatherer and went a-searching to the beaches every year, and there he got for himself whales and other gettings. It chanced one summer that Thorgils found a whale on common tide-land and forthwith he and his folk set about cutting it up. This came to the ears of two foster brothers, Thorgeir and Thorwold, of Westfirth, who owned a boat and were rovers and moreover not men of even dealing. They went down to the beaches and laid claim to the whale as lying on common tide land. Thorgils offered that they should have one half of the uncut part, but they would have for themselves all the uncut or else divide all into halves, both the cut and the uncut. Thorgils flatly refused to give up what was cut of the whale and therewith words waxed hot between them and of a sudden both sides caught up their weapons. The end was that both Thorgils and certain of his men were slain, be ing outnumbered. Asmund the Greyhaired heard of this slaying

of his kinsman and took on himself the bloodsuit therefor, had witnesses to the wounds and summoned the case before the Althing, that then seeming to be the law, since the brothers lived in Westfirth and Thorgils in Miclfirth. There was another kinsman to dead-man Thor gils, named Thorstein, a great champion and the wildestrtempered of men. Him Asmund joined as suitor in the case along with himself. At once he went to meet his kinsman, Asmund, and ¡they talked the blood-suit over together. Thorstein was mightily wroth and said that no atonement should be for this and that they had strength of kin enough to bring about for the slaying, either outlawry or vengeance on the men. Asmund said that he would follow him in whatsoever he would have done, and they sent word to all the other of their kin, and gathered together six tens of men. Now the brothers had a kinsman, Arison, who dwelt at Reek-knolls in the Westfirth and was a man of great bountifulness. After the slaying of Thorgils the brothers went to him for harbor, and he agreed to go to the Althing for them. In the autumn Arison sent a man to Thorstein and bid were-gikl and tried to settle the case outside of the Althing, but Thorstein was cross-grained to deal with and refused weregild. Then Arison placed the brothers secretly on board a ship up Northriver near Burgfirth. Thereafter all men, save those who chanced to be away warring, rode to the Althing. There Arison offered were-gild for the slaying, if there by the brothers might be quit of guilt. Asmund the Greyhaired and Thorstein refused were-gild. Then for another defence Arison put forth whether all men had not free catch on all com mon foreshores. Asmund the Greyhaired chal lenged this defence, and the Lawman was asked if this was a lawful defence. Skapti was the Lawman and said the defence was good if they were equal men, but this was the law that bond ers had a right to take before bachelors. Asmund said further that Thorgils had offered an even sharing to the foster brothers in so much of the whale as was uncut when they came