Page "Icelandic Commonwealth" Paragraph 4

Iceland was divided into four administrative regions called quarters ( fjörðungar ).

Each quarter was ruled by nine goði.

The Althing was made up of the four Quarter Courts ( fjórðungsdómur ).

This judicial body of Iceland consisted of thirty-six judges, each appointed by one of the goðar.

These courts tried individual cases and served as a higher judicial authority to the regional courts.

The rulings of the quarter judges had to be virtually unanimous.

If only six of the judges disagreed, then the case was deadlocked and dismissed.

In 1005, this problem was solved by the creation of a Fifth Court, an appeals court based on a simple majority.

Once a court decided a party was guilty, however, it had no executive authority to carry-out a sentence.

Instead, enforcement of a verdict became the responsibility of the injured party or his family.

Penalties often included financial compensation or outlawry.

However, these were considered by some to be insufficient consequences and The Althing was only moderately successful at stopping feuds.

According to Magnus Magnusson, the courts were " an uneasy substitute for vengeance .”