Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Page 162

170
On legal terms in Færeyinga saga
fullar sekðir, and, as mentioned above, it may convey no more
than something like »to the limit oí the law«. That could
imply in this case no diminution of the penalties out of defe-
rence to Hafgrímr or in respect of the more serious blow
Eldjárn received in retaliation. In Icelandic the singular full
sekð normally means »full outlawry«, skóggangr, but it would
seem less natural to use the plural in this sense. If, as with
útlegð, the writer had foreign conditions in mind, he may have
used the plural sekðir because of the various sums that went
to make up the total payable in such a case under Norwegian
law. According to Gul. a man who had been hit (gfundardrep)
took his rettr from the offender and then an equal sum out of
the hundrað (15 marks) that had to be paid to the king to
compound the offender’s útlegð. In the case of a serious
wounding an offender paid rettr, atonement for the wound
(bætr), the king’s fine and physician’s fee36.
(11) In Norway Porkell purrafrost was gqrr útlagi á ping-
inu37.
(12) Hákon jarl refers to Haraldr járnhaus as útlagi minn38.
On the use of útlagi see under no. 10 (e) above.
(13) At the assembly in the Faroes Porgrímr illi and his
sons confess the murder of Sigmundr Brestisson svá at allir
pingmenn heyra3ø.
The technical sense of pingmaðr in Icelandic is »free man
contracted to a goði«i0. In Norwegian it was used of a man
who attended the thing, bearing in mind that the central
Norwegian things were not universal but nominated (albeit
large) assemblies41. The word is of course immediately intelli-
36 Gul. § 189 (NgL I 68—9); K. Robberstad, Gulatingslovi (2. utg.,
1952), 347, note to p. 193; of. von Amira, op. cit., 63—4.
37 FJ 22/7—8, ÓH 27.
38 FJ 29/27, ÓH 38.
39 FJ 60/9—10, ÓH 82.
40 Gg III 706: »om Thingbesøgende i Alm. synes det ikke at være
brugt«. Ólafur Halldórsson first drew my attention to this point.
41 NgL V s. v.: »i plur. snart om de ved den enkelte leilighed frem-
mødende, snart om samtlige til fremmøde berettigede*.