No government not of idealists will ever willingly decline power that it has the opportunity to take, nor ever willingly give up a power that it has once seized for itself whether openly or by subterfuge.

For a fascinating look into the psychology that enables this phenomenon, have you read Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians?

The Althing then got to keep as many laws as its members could remember and write down again in twenty-four hours.

This is pretty delightful. Do you have a source on that? I googled but came up empty.