The Nordic countries—Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark—are blessed with a series of national and provincial laws from the Middle Ages. Even though the oral traditions in Iceland and Norway were likely committed to writing in the twelfth century, it is the thirteenth century that is generally understood to be the century for compilation and codification in this part of Europe. The writing of the laws hence corresponds with increasingly centralized state formation in the Nordic countries.

Despite this abundance of medieval laws in the Nordic countries, they have until now only been known to specialists. This is largely because of linguistic barriers. Even though some of the Nordic laws were translated into modern Nordic languages by the mid-eighteenth century, it was not until the twentieth century that the whole corpus was translated. Some Nordic medieval laws were also translated into German in the 1930s and 1940s, but with the exception of two of the Norwegian provincial laws, only recently, with the Medieval Nordic Laws Series at Routledge, edited by Professors Stefan Brink in Aberdeen and Ditlev Tamm in Copenhagen, has there been an effort to translate the entire corpus into English.

Legal scholars have much to look forward to if all future translations of Nordic medieval laws follow the model of The Danish Medieval Laws and maintain the standard set by Ditlev Tamm and Helle Vogt. The key is a balance among an explanatory general introduction, an extensive vocabulary and annotated glossary, and a translation that stays true to the medieval flare of the original sources.

The general introduction, roughly forty pages long, is informative on three levels. First, it informs the reader of the political, legal, and religious situation in Denmark when the laws of Scania, Zealand, and Jutland were written down during the first half of the thirteenth century. Second, the editors explain their choice of manuscripts and translation strategies in approaching the vernacular written laws. Third, the lengthiest part of the introduction informs the reader of the general outlines of Danish law in the Middle Ages as found in the translated texts, focusing on such areas as courts and procedure, inheritance, contracts, and crime and punishment. This gives the general introduction scholarly depth, and makes it enjoyable reading separate from the translation itself.

Each of the four bodies of laws has a more specific, brief introduction as well. Here the geography and topography of each of the three legal provinces are depicted, the age and character of the laws discussed, and the choice of manuscript and strategy for filling lacunas explained. It is not only the main legal text which is translated, but also other key legal texts usually found preserved alongside the main text in the many surviving manuscripts. For example, royal ordinances on homicide, compensation, and ordeal are translated alongside the Law of Scania. For Zealand it means that what is today known as both King Valdemar's and King Erik's Law of Zealand are translated, because they were largely supplementing rather than succeeding each other. Through this choice, the editors have given a more complete picture of the legal situation in these provinces.

At the end of the book, there are more than forty pages of vocabulary. Here we find an Old Danish–English glossary, and an annotated glossary with an explanation of key English terms used in the translation, alongside the Old Danish terms. The general introduction discussed the challenges of translating laws from a period with very different political and social structures, not to mention a different legal language. By adding an annotated glossary, Tamm and Vogt further explain their many choices and also open these complex issues of translation to further discussion.

When translating medieval texts in general, and especially Nordic medieval texts, a choice has to be made: to be true to the wording and structure of the language, or to make the text comprehensible to a modern reader. For The Danish Medieval Laws, the choice has been to “be as close to the original as possible without losing legibility” (14). The translated laws are hence not necessarily easy reading. However, maintaining their medieval flare, the laws become a gateway to Danish medieval law and society. The thorough introductions and the extensive vocabulary make this choice workable. Indeed, The Danish Medieval Laws must be considered a model for future translations of Nordic medieval laws.