Óðalsrætturin í Føroyum: Eitt yvirlit yvir søguligu tilgongdina og orsakir hennara

Abstract

The article is about "óðalsrættur" (allodial right), i. e. the right of the family to landed property, especially the right of redeeming such property if it has fallen into the hands of strangers. A survey is given of the development of this right in the Faroes, on the background of the development in the other Scandinavian countries.

By way of introduction, in section I is shown the etymological accordance between the words "ætt" (family), "eiga" (possess), and "óðal" (allodium), dating back to a period when landed property was owned by the family, according to the earliest primitive conception even by the deceased members of the family, interred in the grave-mound near the farm.

In section II is mentioned the right of the family according to the Scandinavian provincial laws. Some Swedish laws contain prohibitions of sale ot landed property outside the family, apart from extreme cases; but the more recent Danish and Swedish laws — in the case of sale of landed property — only contain rules of the property being compulsorily offered to the members of the family, and of the latter being entitled to redeem the property if it is being sold. Similar rules as to the so-called "óðalsjørð" (allodials), i. e. landed property which has belonged to the same family through many generations (4-6), are to be
found in the Norwegian provincial laws. Those entitled to landed property of this kind had a higher social standing than other farmers.

In section III is mentioned the development in the Faroes from the landnam to 1789. While in Iceland „óðalsrættur" was probably not introduced until 1622, the right is mentioned in the Shetlandic records 1604, and in the Faroes it must have been introduced — if not earlier — when the Norwegian Gulatings-law was put in force in the islands in 1273. This law was replaced by the Norwegian National Law of 1274, which was presumably put in force in the Faroes between 1276 and 1280. The rules of the national law as to "óðalsrættur" were replaced by King Christian IV's Norwegian Law of 1604 In the oldest Faroese records preserved (1615—54) several allodial lawsuits are mentioned.

New rules as to "óðalsrættur" were put in force in 1688 with King Christian V's Norwegian Law. These rules were partly  changed through a Norwegian Statute of Jan. 14, 1771, which was put in force in the Faroes in 1789. In section IV is mentioned the development outside the Faroes. In Sweden the right of the family of redeeming landed property was repealed about 1860. In Denmark it was not repealed formally until 1927, but in practice — apart from the island of Bornholm — it had been repealed before 1800. In Norway different attacks were made on "óðalsrættur" in the latter half of the 18th century, after which the right was somewhat limited through the Statute of 1771 mentioned above, and in reality practically repealed through a Statute of April 5, 1811. As a reaction to this development a provision was inserted in the Norwegian Constitution of May 17, 1814, that "óðalsrættur" must not be repealed. 

The Norwegian rules as to this right are now to be found in Statute of June 26, 1821. as subsequently amended. In section V is mentioned the development in the Faroes 1789—1857. The Norwegian Statute of April 5, 1811, was not put in force in the Faroes, but similar rules were introduced through a Faroese Statute of Jan. 14, 1829, and by Statute of March 4, 1857, the right was completely repealed. Later on, however, wishes have occasionally been expressed to have the right reintroduced in some modern form. The question was for instance the subject of discussion in the Lagting in 1943.