sören koch the historical development that led to the introduction of a hierarchical judiciary at the end of the sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. In addition, I will describe selected functions of courts of appeal in this system and modifications in the traditional court order until the end of the eighteenth century. A separate section will focus on the higher courts of appeal and their predecessors. Finally, I will explain the reasons for, and consequences of, the abolition of the traditional judiciary system in 1797 before finally turning to selected features that have contributed to shape the court system of today. Our historical journey starts in the year 1274 when King Magnus Lagabøte (the Law-Mender) issued his Code of the Norwegian Realm.10 Before the Code was enacted no codified judiciary order existed encompassing the whole Realm. However, different bodies with jurisdictional competences had already been established both on the local as well as at the regional level.11 The reason for the existence of regional courts (lagting) alongside the local ones was to ensure that each case could be decided by a body of sufficient authority. The rulings of the local assembly alone would often not be sufficient to safeguard social peace, in particular when the parties were of different social status. A ruling of a regional or supra-regional court could for example be necessary when dealing with a capital crime that was likely to trigger retaliation or where one of the parties was a nobleman.12 Consequently, there was no hierarchical judiciary order. The decisions in these assemblies (ting) were in fact made by 10 The code of the Realm was formally in force until 1604, when it was replaced by Christian IV’s Norwegian Code. However, as the 1604-code contained mainly a translation of Lagabøte’s Code of the Realm, many provisions and rules of the medieval code were applicable until Christian V’s Norwegian Code (Norske Lov) introduced a new era of legislation in 1687; see also Nissen, Gunnar 1966 p. 35. 11 There is little known about how exactly a decision was made at lagting, see Nissen, Gunnar 1966 p. 23; with more details: Sunde, Jørn Øyrehagen 2014b p. 144 ff. 12 Sunde, Jørn Øyrehagen 2010b p. 84. 283 From councillor to judge – The lawman (lagmann) in late medieval Norway
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