Social Order In Iceland

Government has been a major contributor of social order and some claim that in its absence, chaos would thrive uncontrollably and society would lack any morality. However the history of Iceland shows that a society can thrive without an established government or an actual legal system. Because of Iceland's geographical location there was little threat of invasion, they did not have the same need for a standing army as other nations and kingdoms might. Icelandic settlers distrusted the idea of a strong central government and had similar ideas about how society and the law should work. One of the main reasons Vikings crossed the sea from Scandinavia and traveled to Iceland was to get away from the feudal system being established between the

First, it represented a group of men that had an with a specific ‘godi’. A godi is the chief who created the place of worship for his pagan followers. Second, ‘godord’ was also a collection of rights, representing the legislative body of Iceland. David Friedman states, "…seats in the law-making body were quite literally for sale." These men who were law-makers did not have power just because they held the title godord. They were powerless "unless he could convince some free-farmers to follow him." This helped prevent tyranny. Jesse Byock states in his book that, "leadership evolved in such a way that a chieftain's power and the resources available to him were not derived from an exploitable realm." This was because farmers could switch godi without needing to travel. The ability to switch legal systems without moving was an important factor in their decentralized system of government. It made all governance structures that were formed actually voluntary. This unstable relationship helped to make sure that the government was not invading the daily lives of the citizens and that laws and court decisions were made

Although technology and society as a whole has progressed so much in the past 700 years since the collapse, there are still many valuable lessons to be learned. First we can examine the effectiveness of a decentralized legal system. Iceland's legal system managed to keep its leaders in check for the vast duration of their existence. Coercion was pointless so the chieftains had to actually be good and effective leaders in order for people to follow them. Another important lesson is how they dealt with crime. By turning criminal matters into civil offenses they made the victim's claim transferable. This helped protect the poor and gave incentive for victims to pursue legal action against criminals. Viking Age Iceland is a great historical example of a period where the privatization of the legal system was effective. In a stateless society, leaders are chosen based on their abilities to provide and lead the people, not based on money and status. Medieval Iceland was a time when a government was not needed and society could take care of itself without the necessity of some centralized system of law and governance moderating for