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> I was wondering about similarities to the old "ting" in Scandinavia, which regulated clan feuds, etc.

Is this related to the "farthings" of the Icelandic Commonwealth?

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Commonwealth#Court_sy...

See the "Althing" in that article. It varied over time, later the laws got written down. And, as the article noted, on Iceland people always were too busy surviving to do as much of the usual clan violence.

There are quite a few place names in Sweden with "ting" in them, e.g. "Tingvalla". (I assume it is similar in the other Scandinavian countries.)

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