Danelage

Denelage. [L. Lat. Danelaga, Denelaga; from Dane, and Sax. lage, law.] A system of laws introduced by the Danes on their invasion and conquest of England, and which was principally maintained in some of the midland counties, and also on the eastern coast.

1 Bl. Com. 66. 4 Id. 411. 1 Steph. Com. 42.

According to Spelman, it was the prevailing law from the time of king Edgar to that of Edward the Confessor, and was preferred by William the Conqueror to all the other systems which he found in England, so that he came very near imposing it upon the whole kingdom, (parum abfuit ne toti Angliae imposuisset,) and this partiality was owing to the fact of the Normans being descended from the same stock with the Danes. Spelman, voc. Lex Danorum.