Gripla - 2023, Síða 116
114 GRIPLA
The article heading in Jónsbók is Um boðslǫttu, hálfréttismenn (On in-
truders, hálfréttismenn), and the fine is an eyrir. Otherwise, the article is the
same. It entered Icelandic law as part of the legal reform of the Norwegian
realm in 1274‒76, when the Landslǫg and Bjarkeyjarréttr (Town Law)
superseded the provincial codes. The article is the same in all four codes,
with slight variations of expression between manuscripts.3 Hence, it was
not introduced with Iceland and its local political context specifically in
mind but rather Norway and its realm more generally. Its introduction
in Icelandic law was a consequence of royal standardization of law within
the realm.
Identifying the offender as being a hálfréttismaðr in these circumstanc-
es, literally ‘a man of half rights’, recognizes that person’s right to sue for
injuries but only up to half the amount they otherwise would be able to
demand, that is in circumstances where that person was acting lawfully and
without malice. The article thus instructs that whoever forces hospitality
on another and refuses to leave may indeed sue for injuries incurred while
being resisted or thrown out, a legal action that may or may not secure
reduced compensation. At the same time, however, the intruder becomes
guilty by the act alone of breaking the king’s peace and cannot escape
paying him a fine for his offence. The king’s right is firm, whereas the
intruder’s position is at best ambiguous.
Hálfréttismaðr is an infrequent term in the legal corpus, referring to the
reduced legal status of an adult or that of a minor or youth before enter-
ing adulthood by carrying weapons.4 Hálfrétti is more common, mean-
ing half-spoken or ambiguous slander worth half compensation (vis-à-vis
fullrétti, an explicit and unambiguous slander or defamation worth full
compensation).5 What is noticeable about the half-rights of the slimesit-
de for Island givne retterbøder af 1294, 1305 og 1314, ed. Ólafur Halldórsson (Copenhagen:
S. L. Møller, 1904), 92.
3 Norges gamle love indtil 1387 [NGL], ed. Rudolf Keyser, Peter Andreas Munch, and Ebbe
Hertzberg, 5 vols. (Christiania: C. Gröndahl, 1846‒95), 2: 225‒26 (Bjarkeyjarréttr inn nýi);
Kong Magnus Håkonsson Lagabøtes landslov: Norrøn tekst med fullstendig variantapparat. ed.
Magnus Rindal and Bjørg Dale Spørck, 2 vols., Norrøne tekster, vol. 9 (Oslo: Arkivverket:
2018), 1: 421‒22.
4 NGL, 1: 69 (Gulaþingslǫg), 169 (Frostaþingslǫg), 314 (Bjarkeyjarréttr), 2: 207 (Bjarkeyjarréttr
inn nýi); Kong Magnus Håkonsson Lagabøtes landslov, 266.
5 Grágás: Islændernes Lovbog i Fristatens Tid, udgivet efter det kongelige Bibliotheks
Haandskrift [Ia‒Ib], edited by Vilhjálmur Finsen, Nordiske Oldskrifter, vols. 11, 17, 21,