3 ms·
In the US at least, not nearly enough is known about Iceland's history with respect to democracy, rule of law, and arbitration. We hear about the Magna Carta b
by jbattle 14y ago
In the US at least, not nearly enough is known about Iceland's history with respect to democracy, rule of law, and arbitration. We hear about the Magna Carta but not the Althing
- rprasad 14y agoThe Magna Carta was a founding document for principles of legal rights and property rights in common-law-based legal systems such as the U.S. Principles in the Magna Carta are still applied today in different forms. This is why American schoolchildren learn about the Magna Carta. However, the U.S. legislative body is not based on a parliamentary system such as existed in Britain or the Iceland. While the Althing is probably historically relevant to countries which adopted the parliamentary system, it is of little to no relevance to a Congressional-based government.
- btilly 14y agoFYI the idea of a parliament traces back to the royal council that first appeared in the Magna Charta. So that has nothing to do with the Althing. However the Althing is a natural outgrowth of the Germanic tradition of a þing (usually transliterated as "thing"), which appeared in England as the wapentake. The legal traditions that were established there survived as common practice, forming the roots behind common law. Thus the Althing is closely related to the legal tradition from which we derive contracts, torts, and so on.