SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Land Tenure in a Faroese Village 37
proportion to his holding on the markatal, but the
amount of land involvedwas small, and no disputes seem to
have arisen from their development. Some of these
potato plots, incidentally, had grown potatoes every year
for a century and a half, I was told. Heavy manuring
counterbalanced the lack of rotation, at least in local
opinion.
In r8r6 a dispute arose between the Nolsoy farmers and
the matter was referred to an arbitration commission.
Before r8r6, the kongsbendur had their outfield in the
southernmost part of the island, and the rest (all but one
mark) was owned by 6tJalsbRJndur, the ]unkershagi long
since having passed into private hands. The documents
on the case do not give the exact nature of the dispute, but
it must have been a pretty far-reaching one, since the
interested partiesfinally agreed to a completely rationalised
and new operation of the outfield. The old outfield
divisions were abolished, and the present distinction into
Norearahelvt and Sunnarahelvt was introduced. The
boundaries of the two halves of the island were, moreover,
re-drawn to take the fullest advantage of the cliff-line.
It was as a result of this agreement that summer cow
grazing in Noroarahelvt was set off against the peat-cutting
rights in Sunnarahelvt. There was a provision that 7 of
the marks of crown land should henceforth have their
outfield in the new Nortiarahelvt, and 6 in the new
Sunnarahelvt. The two halves were so equal that the
commission for land taxation revision in r868-7r assessed
them at exactly the same value. (See Maps D and E.)
In r835 and r836 the largest crown tenant on N6lsoy
and three owners of ognarjRJro began to enclose and clear
the low-lying area round Tjemunes. Now, it had been
informally agreed before this that all further outfield
enclosures should take place in the Stongin peninsula,
which was common to both Nortiarahelvt and Sunnarahelvt.
The resultant lawsuit was carried to Landsretten
in Copenhagen, where the court upheld the enclosure at