Again Eyjolf took witness, “I take witness,” he said, “to this,
that I bid Mord who pleads this suit, or the next of kin, to
listen to my oath, and to my declaration of the defence which I
am about to bring forward; I bid him by a lawful bidding before
the court, so that the judges may hear me.”
Again Eyjolf took witness, “I take witness to this, that I swear
an oath on the book, a lawful oath, and say it before God, that I
will so defend this cause, in the most truthful, and most just,
and most lawful way, so far as I know, and so fulfil all lawful
duties which belong to me at this Thing.”
Then Eyjolf said, “These two men I take to witness that I bring
forward this lawful defence that this suit was pleaded in another
Quarter Court, than that in which it ought to have been pleaded;
and I say that for this sake their suit has come to naught; I
utter this defence in this shape before the Eastfirthers’ Court.”
After that he let all the witness be brought forward which
belonged to the defence, and then he took witness to all the
steps in the defence to prove that they had all been duly taken.
After that Eyjolf again took witness and said, “I take witness to
this, that I forbid the judges, by a lawful protest before the
priest, to utter judgment in the suit of Mord and his friends,
for now a lawful defence has been brought before the court. I
forbid you by a protest made before a priest; by a full, fair,
and binding protest; as I have a right to forbid you by the
common custom of the Althing, and by the law of the land.”
After that be called on the judges to pronounce for the defence.
Then Asgrim and his friends brought on the other suits for the
burning, and those suits took their course.
143. THE COUNSEL OF THORHALL ASGRIM’S SON
Now Asgrim and his friends sent a man to Thorhall, and let him be
told in what a strait they had come.
“Too far off was I now,” answers Thorhall, “for this cause might
still not have taken this turn if I had been by. I now see their
course that they must mean to summon you to the Fifth Court for
contempt of the Thing. They must also mean to divide the
Eastfirthers Court in the suit for the burning, so that no
judgment may be given, for now they behave so as to show that
they will stay at no ill. Now shaft thou go back to them as
quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord must summon them both,
both Flosi and Eyjolf, for having brought money into the Fifth
Court, and make it a case of lesser outlawry. Then he shall
summon them with a second summons for that they have brought
forward that witness which had nothing to do with their cause,
and so were guilty of contempt of the Thing; and tell them that I
say this, that if two suits for lesser outlawry hang over one and
the same man, that he shall be adjudged a thorough outlaw at
once. And for this ye must set your suits on foot first, that
then ye will first go to trial and judgment.”
Now the messenger went his way back and told Mord and Asgrim.
