DENMARK
The development of royal law in Denmark was belated but impressive. 63 In the early thirteenth century King Canute II tried to issue taxes, collect fines, and, in general, assert royal authority, but he was overthrown and assassinated.
However, in 1241 Valdemar II issued the Jutae Logh, or Jutland Law, the first official Scandinavian collection of laws; 64 it was preceded by two works by private individuals, the Scanian and Zealandic laws, also written during the reign of Valdemar II.The Jutae Logh is divided into three books and contains a total of 242 chapters. There is a very rough division among property, civil, and criminal law. The sources of the law are mainly customary law, decrees of previous rulers, and the city law of Schleswig. No direct influences from Roman law are to be found, but the influence of canon law is apparent. The first sentences of the preamble state:
By law shall the land be built. Were every man content with what is his and granted to other men the same right, no law would be needed. Were the land without law he would have the most who could take most; therefore law shall be made to meet the needs of all. It is the office of the king and chiefs who are in this country to guard the law and to do justice and to save whomsoever shall be put to duress such as widows and children without guardians and pilgrims and foreigners and poor men who at most often encroached upon. 65
Among other "modern" features of the Jutland Law is the replacement of compurgation by trial by jury.
Other examples of Denmark's participation in the transformation of
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Western law in this period are the creation of a chancery, of royal household officers, and of provincial officials. The sons of the nobles were often sent to Paris to study. 66
It is likely that Danish influence contributed to the promulgation in 1275 of Norway's first law code, issued by a ruler with the wondrous name of King Magnus Lawmender.