Conflicts Without Use Of The Legal System example essay topic

No matter what point in time, whether it be the first days of man's existence or the present day, conflict and dispute has always existed between fellow man. Throughout time, improvements have been made in the methods of settling their disputes. Medieval Icelandic society exemplifies some of the various methods that have been used to settle conflicts through its unique legal system. Depending on the situation and those involved, the settlements ranged from savage blood feuds to ordered sentences of compensation or outlawry by members of an ordered assembly called The Althing. There are many examples of these conflicts incorporated into the three Viking sagas: The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck, The Saga of Hrafnkel Frey's God, and The Saga of the People of Laxardal.

Surprisingly, medieval Iceland contained a well-organized legal system. This was comprised of a decentralized self-government including free farmers with positions of chieftains, thingmen, and their slaves. Early Iceland was divided into several districts, each containing three chieftains. The Althing, a general assembly that was held every year, contained people of every district and every position and discussed various cases, their settlements, laws, legal codes, etc. Disputes that were settled legally followed certain guidelines and rules that were determined at The Althing.

A previously and well prepared case was presented in front of the general assembly, composed of chieftains and thingmen, by an individual chosen to defend the accused and one to prosecute the accused. Basically, each side had to give reasons and provide witnesses to convince the jury to punish or request compensation from the accused, or to dismiss the entire case. The court then made a ruling and decided a sentence or amount of compensation. In Hrafnkel, Sam presents a case against Hrafnkel in front of The Althing to avenge his cousin Einar's killing.

Sam presents his case so well that Hrafnkel is sentenced to outlawry. Unlike contemporary society, early Icelanders did not have prisons to discipline their criminals; sometimes labels of dishonor and disgrace were enough punishment. Yet the punishments varied depending on the severity of the crime committed and the value and status of the people involved in the legal dispute. Punishments varied from full outlawry to a small amount of compensation to the victim or their family.

Many times the opposing sides would not agree with the verdict presented at The Althing, and would seek alternative means of settling the dispute privately and with out using the legal system. This occurs in Hrafnkel, when Sam attacks Hrafnkel and his men and hangs them by their ankles. Hrafnkel was supposed to be outlawed but the punishment was never followed through, causing Sam to have to personally carry out a penalty. Various conflicts existed that could be solved by the legal system or by the feudal system, depending on those who were involved and what the dispute was concerning. Conflicts over property and inheritances illustrated the relationships between people of different statuses and especially between siblings. An example of this sibling rivalry was when Hrut and Hoskuld settled their disputes over inheritance issues and reached an agreement where Hrut compensated Hoskuld for stealing his cattle in Laxardal.

In the same text, Olaf and Thorleik had similar sibling-related disputes over Olaf inheriting gifts from their father, Hoskuld. Thorleik disagreed with this because he believed Olaf had enough wealth, but they ended up compromising and settling their dispute by Olaf agreeing to take over raising Bolli, Thorleik's son. Offering to raise your opponent's child was a very big sign of compromise and settlement in early Icelandic society. In Thorleik's case "it did him great honour" (Smiley 321). These disputes were settled without use of the legal system and involved both parties compromising with each other, this method of settlement being the more civilized and seldom used method of settling a conflict in those days. Another lighter method of settling a dispute was arbitration, where a person not involved in the conflict would help mediate the opposing sides.

Arbitration could be done by the legal system or on a personal basis. In Laxardal, Snorri personally arbitrates the conflict between Bolli's sons and the Olafssons and arranges a settlement where one side compensates the other and they all reach an agreement. Although the medieval Icelandic legal system was somewhat ordered, it lacked any executive power, and therefore, the rules were not always followed. It "meant that there was no means for preventing men from taking the law into their own hands" (Smiley 757). Many times, certain individuals decided that settling the conflict on their own would bring more justice, especially if the crime that was committed was very severe. An example of this would be if a person murdered another person in secret, as this was very dishonorable and enabled the family of the victim to seek vengeance on the murderer, which in turn could start an entire blood feud.

This was one of the main methods of individually settling disputes. Thorolf starts a blood feud in Laxardal when he kills Hall and runs away after trying to "even the score" (Smiley 291) following the fishing incident. Since Thorolf tries to run away after killing Hall, this is very dishonorable, and Hall's brother Ingjald, unsuccessfully attempts to seek vengeance for his brother's murder. In the same text, an immense blood feud is started when Bolli kills his brother, Kjartan.

Kjartan's brothers then get revenge by slaying Bolli, continuing the blood feud even more. This still continues when Bolli's sons avenge their father's murder by slaying Helgi. The blood feud appears to finally end when Helgi's killers offer compensation to his sons for the killing and they reach and agreement at The Althing. But then Thorleik and Bolli almost start it up again when they plot to attack and kill the Olafssons, only to be saved by Snorri's arbitration and final settlement of the entire blood feud by the Olafssons compensating Bolli's sons with a sword and a shield. The text Hrafnkel, starts a twisted blood feud when Hrafnkel kills Einar for riding his horse.

Einar's father, Thor bjorn, urges his nephew, Sam, to prepare a case for The Althing. Sam ends up winning the case, which doesn't really bring any justice, so he later humiliates Hrafnkel and takes all of his possessions. Hrafnkel in turn kills Sam's brother, Eivind and humiliates Sam and takes all of his possessions this time, ending the feud. The next blood feud occurs in the text, Thorstein, and begins when Thord injures Thorstein by hitting him in the eye with a horse-prod.

Thorstein gets revenge by killing Thord in his barn. Bjarni in turn attempts to seek revenge for the death of his farmhand by seeking out and fighting Thorstein in a duel, they end up compromising and ending the blood feud. A blood feud usually only involved the male members of the family, but the women that were related somehow to the victims often instigated many of these feuds by manipulating their husband, brother, or sons to seek vengeance. In Laxardal, Gudrun instigates the conflict between Kjartan and Bolli and ultimately is the reason behind Bolli's slaying Kjartan.

Also, Thorge rd urges her sons to avenge the murder of their brother, Kjartan, by killing Bolli. Then once again Gudrun uses her manipulation to urge her sons to avenge their father, Bolli's murder by killing Helgi. She also bribes and tricks Thor gils to accompany her sons in the killing. Another powerful and manipulative woman who almost starts a blood feud in the text Thorstein, is Bjarni's wife, Ranveig. She urges Bjarni to get revenge on Thorstein for killing three of their farmhands and makes him feel like a coward, so he is determined to fight Thorstein the next day. Another method of solving conflicts without use of the legal system was a duel.

There were many detailed rules that were often followed during a duel, such as the location where the duel was to take place, what weapons could be used, and what determined victory and defeat. Although it was considered very dishonorable to violate these dueling rules, dishonesty and cheating still took place. In Thorstein, Bjarni and Thorstein have a very long duel, which ends up in compromise. Their duel follows all of the rules because they discuss weapon use and stop fighting when Bjarni's shoelace unties. Their duel is fair and honest and ends up with both of them settling the dispute by Thorstein coming to live and serve Bjarni.

In conclusion, the examples provided by the three texts previously discussed give us a rough idea of the legal situation in Iceland around the year 1000. The texts are obviously somewhat reliable in reflecting this because they were written during that era, just as present day books usually reflect present day society. Meaning, early Icelandic society maintained a fairly ordered legal system, which was upheld by a complex interaction between the feuds, laws, and personal relationships shared by medieval Icelanders. Most of the time, the legal system and the feudal system merged so that the criminal would not get away without punishment. So, either the legal system would find an adequate penalty for the accused or the feudal system would seek an alternative punishment. At other times, the legal and feudal systems would conflict.

For example, the wrong person could be accused or the legal system penalty would not be enough justice according to the victim's relatives, so they would take matters into their own hands. No matter what the crime, its consequences and punishment would usually catch up to the person that committed it sooner or later, whether it was done legally or not. This is precisely the reason why the three texts discussed differ in their depiction of conflicts and the way they were solved, to exemplify the different methods that medieval Icelanders used to settle disputes and show how the legal and feudal systems interacted to balance each other out..