Saga - 2001, Page 137

ENDURSKOÐUN FRÍHÖNDLUNARLAGANNA 135
Mwller, Anders Monrad, „Skibsmálingen i Danmark 1632 til 1867", Handels- og
Sofartsmuseets Árbog 1974, bls. 16-45.
s7 ~ Dansk sefarts historie IV, 1814-1870. Med korn og kul (Kabenhavn, 1998).
■gfús Haukur Andrésson, Verzlunarsaga íslands 1774-1807. Upphaffríhöndlunar
og almenna bænarskráin (Reykjavík, 1988).
„Almenna bænarskráin, tveggja alda afmæli", Ný saga 7 (1995), bls. 73-82.
„ niskipun um aukið verslimarfrelsi fyrir ísland 1816 og tildrög hennar",
s. Sag“ XXXV (1997), bls. 95-135.
^jgfús Johnsen, Saga Vestmannaeyja II (Reykjavík, 1946).
y ')v8aard-Petersen, Vagn, Danmarks historie V, 1814-1864 (Kobenhavn, 1985).
a dimar Unnar Valdimarsson og Halldór Bjamason, Saltfiskur í sögu þjóðar.
Saga íslenskrar saltfiskframleiðslu og -verslunar frá 18. öld til okkar daga I
(Reykjavík, 1997).
Summary
Th
lea^.ar^c^e deals with a royal decree of December 28, 1836, and the events
UP to it- In this decree a few alterations, amendments and further
tra^nitlons were made of several provisions of the valid law on the Iceland
aÚw i|lat ttmc a cer,tury had passed since a decision had been made to
to 10 arrangernent of the Iceland trade from a royal commercial monopoly
°f th^n^-6^ trac^e cast 111 t^e colonial mould. It was confined to subjects
And an'S^ ^ln8 ar*d their ships and merchandise.
sj0ris most of the inheritors of the royal trade, who had acquired its posses-
CaIIed°n Posslt,te terms/ vvere Danish and its former employees. These so-
ttta' resident merchants lived in Iceland in name only, and most of them
Icel j ^*ved m Copenhagen and appointed factors to oversee the business in
bee ^ 8tlus Copenhagen remained the centre of the Iceland trade as it had
■|.e m fbe days of the old monopoly.
Per ^ dfree decades of this arrangement merchants in Iceland were not
mai f en t0 trade directly with foreigners except through businessmen in the
in 181 r,>WnS *^e C*30!sft realm. This obstacle was removed from the trade law
Wa with a decree on "increased trade freedom for Iceland", yet in such a
navi 3 mercbanfs should continue using Danish vessels and crews only for
0vvn8atlOn lo and from the country and that all merchandise should be in their
shou0r^er D^nish subjects' possession. Furthermore, foreign merchants
bxed f 6 Permiffed to send a few ships to Iceland annually in exchange for
autho 6eS antt t8e S0_caIled nonresident business with the Icelanders in
aboard trading harbours. This meant that the trade could only take place
kind 0j1° stllPs but not ashore and only for one month in each harbour. This
fact s PPmg came to nothing, however, because of the high licence fees. In
e trade was subject to lower fees if timber was imported. Yet this was not