This is a past event
From skeyting bréf to schound bill - The Destiny of Norwegian Law at Shetland in the 16th and 17th Century
Abstract
A consequence of the Black Plague, and subsequent plagues in the 14th century, was a collapse of Norwegian legal administration. The advanced and well-functioning legal system, established with the Norwegian Code of 1274, wittered away. It is first at the second of the 16th century that that the Norwegian legal system recovers from the collapse 200 years earlier.
Another consequence of the plagues, was that Shetland was more or less cut off from the Norwegian kingdom it was a part of. And from 1469 and 1478 Shetland was politically and religiously tied to Scotland, even though it remained formally a part of Norway. Despite, or maybe because of this, Shetland law was much more in accordance with the Code of 1274 than Norwegian law.
An example of this peculiar situation is the skeyting bréf, on Shetland called schound bill. The practice of making such written documents when transferring property ended in Norway in the second half of the 14th century, while it seems to have continued on Shetland in the same manner as it was intended in the Code of 1274. Untangling the mystery of the schound bill is hence an Archimedes fulcrum find the very character of Shetland law. And maybe even to find the character of law itself.
- Speaker
- Professor Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde
- Hosted by
- School of Law
- Venue
- Auris Lecture Theatre (at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens)