Historical-legal interpretation of the expeditions of Thorfinn Karlsefni and Leif Eriksson to Vinland

Relevance. The Norse expeditions to Vinland around 1000 A.D. represent a unique historical precedent of preColumbian transatlantic contacts. Despite extensive historical and archaeological research, the legal aspects of these voyages, particularly the application of medieval Scandinavian customary law in the context of developing new lands and interacting with indigenous peoples, remain insufficiently studied, which determines the relevance of this research.

The objective is to formulate a rigorous historical-legal interpretation of the Norse expeditions to Vinland to determine the legal justification for their actions and to identify the limits of their legal system's adaptability.

Objectives: to systematize the key principles of Norse customary law of the Viking Age applicable to land settlement (landnám), to conduct a comparative analysis of the legal intentions and actions of the expeditions of Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni, and to substantiate the reasons for the short-term Norse presence in Vinland from the perspective of legal and cross-cultural challenges.

Methodology. The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach, combining historical-legal analysis to study the legal frameworks and a comparative analysis of the two key expeditions. The methodology relies on a synthesis of primary sources (the Icelandic Sagas), archaeological data from L'Anse aux Meadows, and scholarly works on medieval Scandinavian law.

Results. It has been established that Norse society possessed a developed system of customary law (lǫg), and the process of land settlement (landnám) had profound legal and sacred significance. Leif Eriksson's expedition was exploratory in nature, whereas Thorfinn Karlsefni's mission was a full-fledged attempt at colonization (landnám), which is confirmed by the emerging property relations.

Conclusion. The short-term nature of the Norse presence in Vinland was conditioned not by the absence of an internal legal framework for colonization, but by external factors: the inability of the existing legal system to regulate conflicts with the indigenous population and logistical difficulties. The Vinland experience demonstrates the limits of the applicability of Norse law in conditions of cross-cultural interaction in already inhabited territories.

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