Laudal (municipality)

Laudal is a former municipality located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 93 km2 municipality existed from 1899 until 1964. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Laudal where Laudal Church is located. The municipality encompassed part of what is now the municipality of Lindesnes in Agder county.

History
The municipality was established on 1 January 1899 when the old municipality of Øyslebø og Laudal was divided into two municipalities: Øyslebø (population: 991) and Laudal (population: 836). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Laudal municipality was dissolved and its land was merged with parts of the neighboring municipalities of Øyslebø, Bjelland, and Finsland to create the new municipality of Marnardal. Prior to the merger, Laudal had a population of 560.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Laudal farm (Laugardalr) since the first Laudal Church was built there. The first element of the name of the farm comes from the old name for the river, Laug, (now the Lågåna river). The old river name is identical to the word which means "bath". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Therefore, the name means the bath river valley.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Laudal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.