Jón Bjarnason Academy - 01.05.1931, Page 41

the law-speaker. The law-speaker, usually, but not necessarily
a godi, was its president. These law^-makers also named one
judge each for the Althing court (thirty-six) as originally or-
ganized. This was the highest court in the land.
Pageant, Staged at Tliingvellir 1930, Depicting the Electioyi of Lawman
at the same place in 930
Later the country was divided into four quarters with
definite geographical boundaries; the ordinary godord had no
fixed boundaries. In each quarter there were three things, ex-
cept in the northern quarter, where there were four. The
balance, however, was maintained in the Althing, so that the
northern quarter did not outweigh any other quarter in point
of influence.
In about 1004 the Fifth Court was established. This be-
came, in reality, the Supreme Court of Iceland. Appeals did
not lie to the court in the ordinary sense with which we are
familiar today; it had original jurisdiction in certain cases.
It consisted of forty-eight judges, twelve more than the mem-
bership in the Althing court of old. However, thirty-six of the
twelve decided all cases, as each litigant had the right to
challenge six men; in fact, if either side neglected to challenge
six a mis-trial resulted. After this date (1004) each member
of Logretta had the right to name two counsellors who sat with
him. The membership of Logretta thus really rose to one
hundred and fourty-four men. Just when these twro men were
assigned to each godi is not altogether clear. It has sometimes
been asserted that they wrere members from the very beginning,
but it seems probable that they wTere added later, partly in
response to the public demand that the base of representation
be broadened, and also in order to counteract the concentra-
tion of power in the hands of the comparatively few godis.
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