The Viking-era Icelandic law code that preserves early Icelandic legal tradition is Grágás.
Grágás means “Grey Goose” or “Grey Goose Laws,” although the origin of the title is uncertain. The surviving manuscripts were written in the thirteenth century, but they preserve laws and legal material from the Icelandic Commonwealth, which lasted from the establishment of the Alþingi in 930 until Iceland came under Norwegian rule in 1262–1264.
The code covers subjects including inheritance, marriage, property, injury, procedure and religious obligations. It is not a single modern statute book created at one moment; the manuscripts contain layered legal traditions and variations. Grágás is therefore valuable evidence for how Icelandic society organized disputes and rights before royal government replaced the Commonwealth’s political system.