Magnus Lagabøtes landslov

The law was the first to apply to Norway as a whole and is one of the first examples of comprehensive national legislation from a central authority in Europe.

Although the legislation applied to the whole country, it formally consisted of four different law books, one for each of the four jurisdictions (Gulating, Frostating, Eidsivating and Borgarting).

There was a prolonged dispute between the king on the one hand and the church on the other side, which ended with a settlement and a compromise, called the Sættargjerden, in Tønsberg in 1277.

The archbishop succeeded in securing the church a considerable tax deduction and greater legal privileges.

There were at least 41 copies or manuscripts of the State Law in circulation and it was the most widely used non-religious book in medieval Norway.