Law, language and culture A survey of an intricate interconnection

Abstract

The Norwegian king between 1299 and 1319 hence claimed in the preamble that Roman and Canon law had been harmful for the realm, and the laws to be observed by the inhabitants were those made by St. Olaf and his descendants to the throne. That the preamble is a piece of political propaganda, ignoring that Roman and Canon law had to a great extent shaped the legal framework of the Norwegian state of King Håkon V, and ignoring that King Olaf II was not formally a saint, is not up for discussion here. The point is instead that the Norwegian King in 1302 preferred what he considered Norwegian law to Roman and Canon law, and that he did so in Old Norse and not Latin.