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).
Its use may have become more widespread if it had not been superseded by the new town law by king Magnus Eriksson (1316–1377).
Some Swedish scholars have suggested that the laws are considerably older than the 13th century in Sweden.
Hadorph proposed that it was created as early as 832 by king Björn at Hauge for the merchant town of Birka.
This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.