A closer look
Viking-age Iceland didn't have a police force, but they absolutely had a strict bureaucracy for murder. Under the "Grágás" legal code, killing someone wasn't immediately a crime—provided you followed the rules. You had to leave the weapon at the scene, cover the body, and politely confess the deed at the first house you passed on the way home. If you skipped this required notification, the act was officially classified as murder, making you an outlaw whom anyone could legally hunt down for sport.
