The Fifth Court (, c.1015 – c.1262) was a

supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

established in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

approximately in the year 1015 during the period of the

Icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With t ...

. It was an institution of

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

, the nation's legislative and judicial authority. There was no executive power in the country at the time. The jurisdiction of the court was the entire country, as opposed the contemporary quarter courts, whose jurisdiction extended only their relevant quarter of the country. The goal in establishing the court was probably unifying the judging of court cases throughout the whole country. The Fifth Court accepted appeals in cases already judged in one of the quarter court. The Fifth Court consisted of 48 men. 36 of them judged in cases, while both plaintiff and defender could bump up to 6 judges. Verdicts were decided by majority votes. This arrangement lasted throughout the period of the

References

{{Iceland topics Courts in Iceland