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Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker showing the power of his office to the king of Sweden at Gamla Uppsala, 1018. The lawspeaker forced king Olof Skötkonung not only to accept peace with his enemy, king Olaf the Stout of Norway, but also to give his daughter to him in marriage. Illustration by C. Krogh.

A lawspeaker (Swedish: lagman, Old Swedish: laghmaþer or laghman, Danish: lagmand, Norwegian: lagmann, Icelandic: lög(sögu)maður, Faroese: løgmaður, Finnish: laamanni ) is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office. Two of the most famous lawspeakers are Snorri Sturluson and Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker.

Sweden[link]

In Sweden, this office was the most important one of regional governments, where each lagsaga (usually the same as the traditional province) was the jurisdiction of a lawspeaker who was subordinate to the lawspeaker of Tiundaland. The lawspeaker presided over the Things, worked as a judge and formulated the laws that had been decided by the people. The lawspeaker was obliged to memorize the law and to recite it at the Thing. He was also responsible for the administration at the thing and for the execution of the decisions, and it was his duty to safeguard the rights and liberties of the people and to speak in their behalf to the king or his representative. It was the lawspeaker who, on the behalf of the people, recognized the elected king when he passed on the Eriksgata. However, after the establishment of the province laws, ca 1350, he would participate at the Stone of Mora with twelve companions from his jurisdiction.

According to the Westrogothic law, the lawspeaker was appointed for life by the yeomen of the province. The office was not hereditary, but he was usually selected from the more powerful families.

From the mid-13th century and onwards, the lawspeakers became more attached to the king, and it was common that lawspeakers were members of the king's council. King Magnus Eriksson decided that the king would influence the appointment of the lawspeakers. Six nobles and six yeomen would in consultation with two clergymen appoint three men from the jurisdiction among whom the king would select the one he deemed to be most fit. This procedure would be in effect until the 16th century when the whole process of selection was transferred to the king.

From then on, the lawspeakers only came from the nobility, and it had turned into a pension, in which a member of the Privy Council of Sweden was selected and received a salary, but had other people taking care of the work. This privilege was abolished during the Reduction of 1680, after which the lawspeakers were obliged to take care of the work themselves, and there were checks on the appointment of members of the privy council. Still, the appointment remained restricted to noblemen until 1723.

By then, the functions of the office had become restricted to that of a judge, a function which also became less important by time. In 1849, the office was abolished, but the title remained occasionally in use as a title of honour for governors.

In 1947, the title of lagman (pl. lagmän) was reintroduced for senior judges, namely the presidents of divisions of the courts of appeal. Since reform in 1969, presidents of the district courts (tingsrätter) are lagmän, while presidents of divisions of the courts of appeal are hovrättslagmän ("court of appeal lawspeakers"). Correspondingly, presidents of the district administrative courts (förvaltningsrätter) also carry the title of lagman and presidents of divisions of the administrative courts of appeal are kammarrättslagmän ("administrative court of appeal lawspeakers").

Finland[link]

Finland being governed by Swedish law wholly until 1809, the events were the same as in Sweden. However, the laamanni offices were terminated and the term laamanni became a honorific title only in 1868. In the 1993 reform, laamanni was reintroduced as the title of the president of a court of law. The exceptions are the Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court, which have presidenttis.

Norway[link]

In Norway, the lawspeakers remained counselors versed in the law until king Sverre I of Norway (1184–1202) made them into his officials. In the laws of Magnus VI of Norway (1263–80), they were given the right to function as judges and to preside at the lagtings (the Norwegian superior courts). The lagtings and the office of lawspeaker were abolished in 1797, but it was reinstituted in 1890 together with the introduction of the jury system.

Iceland[link]

In Iceland, the office was introduced in 930, when the Alþing was established. He was elected for three years. Besides his function as the president of the thing, his duties were restricted to counselling and to reciting the law. It was the sole government office of the mediaeval Icelandic Commonwealth. The lawspeaker was elected for a term of three years and was supposed to declaim the law at Alþingi, a third of it each summer. In fact, Grímr Svertingsson's term was cut short, not because of incompetence or illness, but because his voice was too weak for the job. Apart from his function as a lawsayer and chairman of the court, the lögsögumaðr had no formal power, but he would often be appointed as an arbitrator in the frequently arising disputes. The office lingered on for a few years in the transitional period after 1262, after which it was replaced with a lögmaðr. The traditional date for the founding of Alþingi is 930 with Úlfljótr appearing as a founding figure and the original author of the laws. After the union with Norway in 1264, two royal lawspeakers were appointed who had an important influence on the legal processes at the thing. The office was abolished together with the Alþing in 1800.

List of Icelandic lawspeakers[link]

Scholars are suspicious of the fact that Úlfljótur's first two successors have been assigned a period in office of exactly 20 summers each, but from Þorkell máni on, the chronology is probably correct; names are given in their modern Icelandic form.

References[link]

• An article in Nordisk familjebok
• Nationalencyklopedin

Jack Kornfield
School	Theravada
Personal
Born	(1945-07-16) 16 July 1945 (age 66) United States
Senior posting
Title	Vipassana instructor
Religious career
Website	http://spiritrock.org/

Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism.^[1] He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah. He has taught meditation worldwide since around 1974.

Biography[link]

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1967, Kornfield joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to the Public Health Service in northeast Thailand, where there are several Buddhist forest monasteries. Here he met Ajahn Chah, who became his teacher. Upon returning to the United States in 1972, Kornfield co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein.

Kornfield holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Saybrook Institute.^[2] He is also a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, where he currently lives.

Teachings[link]

Kornfield's work has focused on integrating Eastern spiritual teachings in an accessible way for Western students.^[3]

Books published[link]

His books include

• Kornfield, Jack; Breiter, Paul (1 September 1985). A still forest pool: the insight meditation of Achaan Chah. Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0597-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=orfpaVQsAK8C. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
• Feldman, Christina; Kornfield, Jack (1991). Stories of the spirit, stories of the heart: parables of the spiritual path from around the world. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 978-0-06-250321-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=6RQRAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
• Kornfield, Jack (1 June 1993). A path with heart: a guide through the perils and promises of spiritual life. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-37211-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=yf-npAo-_dEC. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
• Goldstein, Joseph; Kornfield, Jack (29 August 1995). The Path of Insight Meditation. Shambhala. ISBN 978-1-57062-069-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=bnMOAAAACAAJ. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
• Goldstein, Joseph; Kornfield, Jack (6 March 2001). Seeking the heart of wisdom: the path of insight meditation. Shambhala. ISBN 978-1-57062-805-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=LTGbPwAACAAJ. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
• Kornfield, Jack (2 October 2001). After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-553-37829-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=OLwDoC1czP8C. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 

Kornfield lectures were featured by Joe Frank on his radio series "The Other Side."

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jack Kornfield audio from the DIY Dharma website
• The Eightfold Path for the Householder [1] from the Urban Dharma website

Susan Cohen is an independent film producer,^[1] screenwriter and film director.^[2]

In 2007, she was one of eight women selected from over 200 applicants to attend the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women^[3] where she directed her first short film Open Your Eyes.

Open Your Eyes was the winner of the 2008 American Film Institute Jean Picker Firstenberg Award for Excellence, Best Short Film at the Anchorage International Film Festival 2008, Best Drama, Best Film, and Best Actress for Traci Dinwiddie at the Beverly Hills Shorts Festival 2009. Ms. Cohen won The Alexis Award for Most Promising Student Filmmakerat the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2008 and Best Director at both the Canada International Film Festival 2009 and Beverly Hills Shorts Festival 2009. Most recently Open Your Eyes was awarded The Jim DeMulling Speak Out Award and Honorable Mention for Best Narrative at the 42nd Humboldt Film Festival 2009 and is one of 19 films worldwide nominated for Best Short Film at the Milan International Film Festival 2009

Open Your Eyes was Ms. Cohen's first foray as a writer and director. She is also the producer of the award-winning short films Fueling the Fire and "Animated American", the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival finalist Fortune Teller, and the DWW short film Laying Down Arms.

Trivia[link]

• Graduate of University of Toronto

External links[link]

• Susan's films (as Producer) at IMDb:
  • Fueling the Fire
  • The Fortune Teller
  • Laying Down Arms
  • Death Ride
  • "Animated American"
• AFI’s Directing Workshop For Women Showcase At Harmony Gold Theatre (Press Release)

Notes[link]