Scanian Law

Scanian law (Danish: Skånske Lov, Swedish: Skånelagen) is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm. It was also used for a short period on the island of Zealand. According to some scholars, the Scanian Law was first set down between 1202 and 1216, around the same time it was translated into Latin by the Danish Archbishop Anders Sunesøn.

The Scanian law was recorded in several medieval manuscripts, among others the Codex Runicus dated to around 1300, written entirely in medieval runes on parchment. The text of Codex Runicus consists of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law (Skånske Kirkelov), a settlement detailing the administration of justice agreed upon by the Scanians and the archbishop in the late 12th century, as well as a section not related to law, also written in runes, but in another hand.

Denmark ceded Skåneland to Sweden by the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, and from 1683 forward, the Swedish government enforced Swedish customs and laws in three of the four former Danish provinces (the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1660 had given Bornholm back to Denmark).