Lawspeaker
A
Lawspeaker (
Swedish:
lagman,
Old Swedish:
laghmaþer or
laghman,
Norwegian:
lagmann,
Icelandic:
lög(sögu)maðr) is a unique
Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office. Two of the most famous lawspeakers are
Snorri Sturluson and
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker. A practical term to be used of medieval Scandinavian lawspeakers is that of
Justiciar.
In
Sweden, this office was the most important one of regional governments, where each province had its own lawspeaker who was subordinate to the lawspeaker of
Tiundaland. The lawspeaker presided the
Things, worked as a judge and formulated the laws that had been decided by the people. The lawspeaker was obliged to memorize the law and to recite it at the
Thing. He was also responsible for the administration at the thing and for the execution of the decisions, and it was his duty to safeguard the rights and liberties of the people and to speak in their behalf to the king or his representative. It was the lawspeaker who, on the behalf of the people, recognized the elected king when he passed on the
Eriksgata. However, after the establishement of the province laws, ca
1350, he would participate at the
Stone of Mora with twelve companions from his jurisdiction.
According to the
Westrogothic law, the lawspeaker was appointed for life by the
yeomen of the province. The office was not hereditary, but he was usually selected from the more powerful families.
From the mid-
13th century and onwards, the lawspeakers became more attached to the king, and it was common that lawspeakers were members of the king's council. King
Magnus Eriksson decided that the king would influence the appointment of the lawspeakers. Six nobles and six yeomen would in consultation with two clergymen appoint three men from the jurisdiction among whom the king would select the one he deemed to be most fit. This procedure would be in effect until the
16th century when the whole process of selection was transferred to the king.
From then on, the lawspeakers only came from the nobility, and it had turned into a pension, in which a member of the
Privy Council of Sweden was selected and received a salary, but had other people taking care of the work. This privilege was abolished during the reduction of
1680, after which the lawspeakers were obliged to take care of the work themselves, and there were checks on the appointment of members of the privy council. Still, the appointement remained restricted to noblemen until
1723.
By then, the functions of the office had become restricted to that of a judge, a function which also became less important by time. In
1849, the office was abolished, but the title remained occasionally in use as a title of honour for governors.
In
1947, the title was reintroduced for the presidents of the courts of appeal and with the reform in
1969, the presidents of the district courts and the county administrative courts were named lawspeakers (lagmän), whereas the presidents of the courts of appeal were named
court of appeal lawspeakers (hovrättslagmän).
In
Norway, the lawspeakers remained counselors versed in the law until king
Sverre I of Norway (1184-1202) made them into his officials. In the laws of
Magnus VI of Norway (1263 -80), they were given the right to function as judges and to preside at the
lagtings (the Norwegian superiour courts). The lagtings and the office of lawspeaker were abolished in
1797, but it was reinstuted in
1890 together with the introduction of the
jury system.
In
Iceland, the office was introduced in
930, when the
Alþing was established. He was elected for three years. Besides his function as the president of the thing, his duties were restricted to counselling and to reciting the law. It was the sole government official of the mediaeval
Icelandic Republic. He was elected for a term of three years and was supposed to declaim the law at
Alþingi, a third of it each summer. In fact, GrÃmr Svertingsson's term was cut short, not because of incompetence or illness, but because his voice was too weak for the job. Apart from his function as a lawsayer and chairman of the court, the lögsögumaðr had no formal power, but he would often be appointed as an arbitrator in the frequently arising disputes. The office lingered on for a few years in the transitional period after 1262, after which it was replaced with a
lögmaðr. The traditional date for the founding of Alþingi is 930 with Úlfljótr appearing as a founding figure and the original author of the laws. After the union with
Norway in
1264, two royal lawspeakers were appointed who had an important influence on the legal processes at the thing. The office was abolished together with the Alþing in
1800.
List of Icelandic lawspeakers
Scholars are understandably suspicious of the fact that Úlfljótur's first two successors have been assigned a period in office of exactly 20 summers each, but from
Þorkell máni on, the chronology is probably correct. Names are given in their modern
Icelandic form.
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An article in Nordisk familjebokNationalencyklopedin
