Farms

Long ago each farm in Norway was given a name, and the name never changed,
even when the ownership if the farm changed. Usually the original farm was later
divided (generally the first division was in the 1500 or 1600s), and the divisions
were given numbers, 1, 2, etc., and sometimes one part of the farm received an
additional name. All divisions, however, are still considered part of the original
farm. This farm is often called a community now, but in local Norwegian history
books it is still called a farm.
Norway had special law, unique to Scandinavia, which not even the king could
override. The Odels Law, which simply states that a farm must be handed down
from the father to the eldest son, or, lacking sons, to the eldest daughter, was still
in existence until the early 1970s. A family was also entitled to buy back its land
from anyone outside the family at the original sale price for a certain number of
years after the original date of sale. This law, therefore served as a deterrent to
outsiders buying family land.