@NorwaySwedenDenmark I've seen something like this before somewhere. It had always kinda stuck in my head as odd …
A pop history book, The Vikings, by Robert Wernick, part of the The Seafarers series by Time-Life Books, Amsterdam, 1979, ISBN 7054 0626 1
page 28
"Another law decreed a series of fines for unseemly touching of a woman: four ounces of silver for touching her wrist or her ankle, 2 and 2/3 ounces for touching her elbow. But a touch above the knee, the law continued (whether with tongue in cheek or in dead earnest is not recorded) is called the fool's clasp; no money is payable for that -- most women put up with it when it goes that far."
There's quite a long bibliography of presumably more serious history books, but no specific mention of which is relevant.
Humon's interpretation makes a bit better sense of it.
44
@NorwaySwedenDenmark I've seen something like this before somewhere. It had always kinda stuck in my head as odd …
A pop history book, The Vikings, by Robert Wernick, part of the The Seafarers series by Time-Life Books, Amsterdam, 1979, ISBN 7054 0626 1
page 28
"Another law decreed a series of fines for unseemly touching of a woman: four ounces of silver for touching her wrist or her ankle, 2 and 2/3 ounces for touching her elbow. But a touch above the knee, the law continued (whether with tongue in cheek or in dead earnest is not recorded) is called the fool's clasp; no money is payable for that -- most women put up with it when it goes that far."
There's quite a long bibliography of presumably more serious history books, but no specific mention of which is relevant.
Humon's interpretation makes a bit better sense of it.
I'd love references too.