Harsh article by a Nordic rogue (9)
I believe the answer is:
draconian
'harsh' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'article by a nordic rogue' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'an' (indefinite article).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rogue' indicates an anagram (letters go rogue).
'a'+'nordic'='anordic'
'anordic' with letters rearranged gives 'draconi'.
'an' after 'draconi' is 'DRACONIAN'.
(Other definitions for draconian that I've seen before include "Hard" , "Savage" , "Very strict" , "Incan road (anag) - extremely harsh" , "Excessively severe" .)