''Magnus Lagabøtes bylov'' ("Magnus Lagabøte's City Law") was promulgated for

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

in 1276 during the reign of

King Magnus VI of Norway Magnus Haakonsson ( non, Magnús Hákonarson, no, Magnus Håkonsson, label=Modern Norwegian; 1 (or 3) May 1238 – 9 May 1280) was King of Norway (as Magnus VI) from 1263 to 1280 (junior king from 1257). One of his greatest achievements was the m ...

(known as Magnus ''lagabøte'' or "law-mender").

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

and

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

received their own versions of the City Law about the same time, without the exact year being known for when they were adopted. The City Law was based on the State Law of Magnus Lagabøte, adopted in 1274, and the ''

Bjarkøyretten The Bjarkey laws ( Old Swedish: ''biærköa rætter'', Old Icelandic: ''bjarkeyjar-rettr'', Norwegian: ''bjarkøretten'', Danish: ''bjærkeret'', ''birkeret'') were the laws and privileges of medieval Scandinavian merchant towns (birks). In Norw ...

'', Trondheim's old city law, which came into force during the 1100s.

Audun Hugleiksson {{Use dmy dates, date=October 2013 Audun Hugleiksson (Hestakorn) ({{circa 1240 – 2 December 1302) was a Norwegian nobleman at the end of the 13th century. He was the king's right hand, both under King Magnus Lagabøte and King Eirik Magnusson. ...

was instrumental in the design of the law. Magnus Lagabøte's City Law had specific rules and regulations that applied to the merchants in conjunction with the State Law. The laws that applied to the countryside were omitted. The State and City Laws were undoubtedly better known and more widespread than all other secular works in Norway in the late Middle Ages. The laws were applied verbally, with the principle of

equality before the law Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic ru ...

and

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

. Today, the Byloven survives in twenty-five manuscripts, mostly as a complementary addition to the

State Law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...

. According to the City Law, the city was governed by the bymøtet or bytinget ("city meeting"), where all the town's householders met three times a year. In addition, there should be a council, usually of twelve men. The council was led by a taxpayer, later called byfogd ("city captain").

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* {{cite book, last=Bugge, first=Ivar, date=1986, url=http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007080200066, title=Kommunal forfatning : En historisk gjennomgang av utviklingen med hovedvekt på tidsrommet fra 1837, og en beskrivelse av kommunalrett og kommunal forfatning i dagens Norge, location=Oslo, publisher=Kommunalforlaget, language=no Legal history of Norway

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