málajörð (ON) noun

The máli (ON, ‘contract’) was a term for mortgage contract, which meant conveyance of property by debtor to creditor as security for debt, with the provision that the seller might redeem the property when he wanted, if he gave notice of this half a year in advance. In ONorw málajörð was a term for mortgaged land. In OIce (Grg, Js, Jó) málajörð (málaland) implied a right to purchase land when resold with no sense of credit or debt.


land given in mortgage ONorw GuL Llb, Olb
land subject to pre-emption right OIce Lbb 10
OIce Js Lbb 17
Refs:

Helle 2001, 118; Hertzberg s.v.v. málajörð, máli; KLNM s.v.v. jordleige, pant; Robberstad 1981, 385–89

Citation
  • ‘málajörð’. A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law.

  • http://www.dhi.ac.uk/lmnl/nordicheadword/displayPage/3475
    (03/28/2024)