The Section about Going to Assemblies is the first section of the Laws of the Land. It primarily concerns the rules related to the regional assemblies— assemblies for entire provinces—which convened once a year at a specific assembly site. It provides an account of the selection of representatives to the regional assemblies, how many should be appointed from the various counties, how much travel money they were to receive, how they should behave at the assembly, the rituals and the oaths involved, and the legal process itself. Ever since the Viking Age, Norway had been divided into four legislative regions: Gulathing in the west and south, Frostathing in the north, and Eidsivathing and Borgarthing in the east. It is assumed that the regional assemblies were originally open to all free men but later became representational, with elected men attending. The Section about Going to Assemblies states that the king’s officers would select those they deemed best suited. The regional assemblies acted as supreme courts for cases that could not be resolved locally. Until the introduction of the Laws of the Land, the regional assemblies also had a legislative function and their own provincial laws. All new laws had to be passed at the general assemblies. Precisely by accepting King Magnus’s new legislation and the royal right to improve the laws in the future, the general assemblies relinquished this duty. From then on, the king and his council were the country’s legislators.
