Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1961, Page 128

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Óðalsrætturin í Føroyum
bcandinavian provincial laws. Some Swedish laws contain prohibitions
of sale of landed property outside the family, apart from extreme cases;
but the more recent Danish and Swedish laws — in the case of sale of
landed property — only contain rules of the property being compul-
sorily offered to the members of the family, and of the latter being
entitled to redeem the property if it is being sold. Similar rules as to
the so-called “óðalsjørð" (allodials), i. e. landed property which has be-
longed to the same family through many generations (4-6), are to be
found in the Norwegian provincial laws. Those entitled to landed pro-
perty of this kind had a higher social standing than other farmers.
In section III is mentioned the development in the Faroes from the
landnam to 1789. While in Iceland „óðalsrættur" was probably not intro-
duced until 1622, the right is mentioned in the Shetlandic records 1604,
and in the Faroes it must have been introduced — if not earlier —
when the Norwegian Gulatings-law was put in force in the islands in
1273. This law was replaced by the Norwegian National Law of 1274,
which was presumably put in force in the Faroes between 1276 and
1280. The rules of the national law as to “óðalsrættur" were replaced
by King Christian IV’s Norwegian Law of 1604 In the oldest Faroese
records preserved (1615—54) several allodial lawsuits are mentioned.
New rules as to “óðalsrættur” were put in force in 1688 with King
Christian V’s Norwegian Law. These rules were partly changed through
a Norwegian Statute of Jan. 14, 1771, which was put in force in the
Faroes in 1789.
In section IV is mentioned the development outside the Faroes. In
Sweden the right of the family of redeeming landed property was re-
pealed about 1860. In Denmark it was not repealed formally until 1927,
but in practice — apart from the island of Bornholm — it had been
repealed before 1800. In Norway diíferent attacks were made on “óðals-
rættur” in the latter half of the 18th century, after which the right was
somewhat limited through the Statute of 1771 mentioned above, and
in reality practically repealed through a Statute of April 5, 1811. As a
reaction to this development a provision was inserted in the Norwegian
Constitution of May 17, 1814, that “óðalsrættur” must not be repealed.
The Norwegian rules as to this right are now to be found in Statute
of June 26, 1821, as subsequently amended.
In section V is mentioned the development in the Faroes 1789—1857.
The Norwegian Statute of April 5, 1811, was not put in force in the
Faroes, but similar rules were introduced through a Faroese Statute of
Jan. 14, 1829, and by Statute of March 4, 1857, the right was com-
pletely repealed. Later on, however, wishes have occasionally been ex-
pressed to have the right reintroduced in some modern form. The
question was for instance the subject of discussion in the Lagting in 1943.