Two distinguished lawyers, Jon Steinar Gunnlaugsson, former Supreme Court Judge, and Helgi Ass Gretarsson, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Iceland, will discuss a special tax on the fisheries at a meeting organised by Logretta, the Association of Law Students at Reykjavik University, Tuesday 29 October at 16, in the meeting room M-103 (the court room) at the University of Reykjavik. Gunnlaugsson has publicly argued that a special tax on the fisheries is unconstitutional, whereas Gretarsson does not agree with him. At the international conference held by RNH and the School of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland 14 October, Professor Ragnar Arnason argued that a special tax on the fisheries is inefficient, not least while the fishing sector is competing with similar sectors in other European countries—non-taxed and often heavily subsidised. Gunnlaugsson and Gretarsson will however discuss the legal aspects of the special tax, not least in the light of the Icelandic constitution and the legal framework of the fisheries. RNH supports and publicizes this meeting as a part of the joint project with AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”.
Born in 1977, Helgi Ass Gretarsson received his law degree from the University of Iceland in 2005 and was admitted to the district court bar in 2006. He is a Grand Master of Chess, and an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Iceland, specialising in property rights. He has published two books, Rettarsaga fiskveida (The Legal History of Fishing, 2008) and Thjodin og kvotinn (The Nation and the Quotas, 2011).
Born in 1947, Jon Steinar Gunnlaugsson received his law degree from the University of Iceland in 1973. He was a district court and Supreme Court lawyer, until he was appointed a Supreme Court Judge in 2004. He resigned from the Court in 2012. In 2002–2004 he was Professor of Law at the University of Reykjavik. He has published three books, Deilt a domarana (Arguing with the Judges, 1987), Um fordaemi og valdmork domstola (On Precedent and the Limits on Court Authority, 2003) and Um malskot i einkamalum (On Appeals in Torts, 2005).
