hat other man who has taken his
lawful defence in hand, now to begin their defence; for now all
the steps and proofs have been brought forward in the suit,
summons to listen to oaths, oaths taken, suit declared, witness
taken to the summons, neighbours called on to take their seats on
the inquest, defendant called on to challenge the inquest,
finding uttered, witness taken to the finding."
He took this witness to all the steps that had been taken in the
suit.
Then that man stood up over whose head the suit had been declared
and pleaded, and summed up the case. He summed up first how Mord
had bade them listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the
suit, and to all the steps and proofs in it; then he summed up
next how Mord took his oath and his vouchers theirs; then he
summed up how Mord pleaded his suit, and used the very words in
his summing up that Mord had before used in declaring and
pleading his suit, and which he had used in his summons, and he
said that the suit came before the Fifth Court in the same shape
as it was when he uttered it at the summoning. Then he summed up
that men had borne witness to the summoning, and repeated all
those words that Mord had used in his summons, and which they had
used in bearing their witness, "and which I now," he said, "have
used in my summing up, and they bore their witness in the same
shape before the Fifth Court as he uttered them at the
summoning." After that he summed up that Mord bade the
neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, then he told next
of all how he bade Flosi to challenge the inquest, or that man
who had undertaken this lawful defence for him; then he told how
the neighbours went to the court, and uttered their finding, and
brought in Flosi truly guilty in the suit, and how they brought
in the finding of an inquest of nine men in that shape before the
Fifth Court. Then he summed up how Mord took witness to all the
steps in the suit, and how he had bidden the defendant to begin
his defence.
After that Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," he
said, "to this, that I forbid Flosi Thord's son, or that other
man who has undertaken the lawful defence for him, to set up his
defence; for now are all the steps taken which belong to the
suit, when the case has been summed up and the proofs repeated."
After that the foreman added these words of Mord to his summing
up.
Then Mord took witness, and prayed the judges to give judgment
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