alaðsfestr (ON) noun

According to Grg Þsþ 51 a pledge given by someone convicted of lesser outlawry (fjörbaugsgarðr) at a confiscation court (féránsdómr) to avoid a sentence of full outlawry (skóggangr). The pledge was to be one eyrir of the ‘life ring’ (fjörbaugr). It has been suggested that the root term comes from an obsolete word alaðr meaning ‘alimentum’, which may be present in a runic inscription on a gold bracteate from Trollhättan (Axboe & Källström 2013, 166), but it has also been thought to be a manuscript variant of the more common aðal- (‘main’).

sustenance pledge OIce Grg Þsþ 51, 67 Refs:

Axboe & Källström 2013; CV; Konráð Gíslason 1882; ONP