part iv • intellectual legal history • søren koch DL, and amending it in so far as it was necessary to bring it into line with the new political ideology.104 However, the law commission was advised to suggest necessary amendments to the text of the DLwhere it seemed appropriate for the preservation of Norwegian customs and particular legal traditions. The preparatory works indicates an only reluctant use of this discretion. A comparison of the legislative work on the NLof 1687 with that for the Norwegian Code of 1604 reveals some remarkable differences. Many of the NL’s provisions are based on older Danish legislation, and we also find more substantive amendments compared to the 1604 Code. Again, further in-depth empirical research is required to identify the intentions of those involved and to analyse their strategies and techniques. In the eighteenth century another form of compilation became influential: systematic collections of statutory law. Largely based on older legislation, theDLandNLwere already somewhat outdated when they were enacted. As all attempts to replace them with more modern codifications failed, amendments were made in the form of a flood of additions –forordninger (ordinances), rescripter (edicts), resolutioner (resolutions), open letters, placater (proclamations), and so on.105 Over 4,500 regulations and over 10,000 additional legislative documents were issued between 1683 and 1814.106 As a result, legal practitioners struggled to get an overview over the applicable law.107 The remedy was a new type of compilation: extracts of regulations and other types of legislation, collected and published in one or several volumes. 104 Prebensen & Smith 1887, with reference to the instruction of 22 March 1682. 105 There are plans to make the sources available online under a Norwegian government initiative to digitize all legislation applicable in Norway between 1687 and 1814. 106 Sunde 2010, 278. 107 See Kofod Ancher’s anonymous satires, Et brev til Ingen, om Intet i Lov og Ret (Copenhagen, 1764) andForsvar for Love og Lovkyndighed Til Svar paa Brevet om Intet i Lov og Ret (Copenhagen, 1765): ‘Jo flere Love, jo fleere Trætter og mindre Lydighed. Erfarenhed har lært, at Love tage af i Nytte, eftersom de tage til i Størelsen; Thi Love skrives ikke for at skrives, men for at vides og adlydes. At skrive mange Love, er det samme som forud at giøre dem 224 Compiling statutory law
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