Torgeir Landro

Doctoral fellowship (2006-2008)

Project title:
The origin of the ecclesiastical parts of the oldest norwegian provincial laws

Project summary:

The oldest Norwegian provincial laws cover the legislation done in the 11 th and 12 th century. The previous studies on this subject has mainly pointed out two steps of legislation and two foreign sources for the Christian legislation in this period. The first step is St. Olav and his legislation at the beginning of the 11 th century. After his stay in England he returned to Norway and most likely he enacted laws inspired of the English laws. The second step is traditionally dated to the years around 1160-70, about 150 years later, when impulses from Gratian and canon law was incorporated in Norwegian law. My main focus is the period between these two steps – the years between 1050 and 1150. My approach is that the English influence and to a certain extent also the impulses from Gratian has been overdone and exaggerated, with the consequence that a certain stage in the history of Norwegian Christian legislation has been neglected and paid no attention to – a period when continental law, most likely, was incorporated in Norwegian law

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