The function of kinship in medieval Nordic legislation / / by Helle Vogt.

• Author: Vogt, Helle.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Medieval law and its practice, v. 9; Medieval Law and Its Practice 9.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (302 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

A strict definition of kinship – a canonical one – was in introduced in to the Nordic medieval legislation. This replaced a looser definition. According to a canonical definition of kinship – constructed after the Church’s incest prohibitions, you were obligated towards all your blood-relatives. This doctrine applies where: 1) The kin group acted as a legal person towards a third party in cases about paying of wergeld, and where the kinsmen collectively took an oath. 2) Rights and obligations between the kindred regulated land transactions either by inheritance, donations or sale. Here the obligations were at their widest. The moral requirement for love and cohesiveness was strengthened by more substantial rules to ensure, that land was not transferred at the expense of kinsmen.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Chapter One Kinship as Strategy -- Chapter Two The Legal Sources -- Chapter Three The Scandinavian Societies at the Time of the Provincial Laws -- Chapter Four The Emergence of the Provincial Laws and their Dating -- Chapter Five The Fathers of the Laws -- Chapter Six The Peace Ideology -- Chapter Seven The Legislator and the Law -- Chapter Eight The Application of the Provincial Laws -- Chapter Nine The Function of Kinship in Legal Disputes -- Chapter Ten Collective Sanction -- Chapter Eleven Inheritance Law in the Provincial Laws -- Chapter Twelve Donations, Pious Donations, and the Right of Disposal of Property -- Chapter Thirteen The Right of Allodium -- Chapter Fourteen Fledføring—Elder Care -- Chapter Fifteen Marriage -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Names and Places -- General Index.