Landsting

Landsting comes from an ancient Scandinavian term meaning council. It first came into being during Viking times and was formed by the freemen of the community. In those times it was called a 'ting,' which numbered a hundred men. Tings were necessary in the clan society of Northern Germany and Scandinavia. Inter-clan wars were resolved or prevented through the governance of a ting. It also served as the place for religious rites and trade negotiations. The tings would meet at a much larger place called a 'land' thus the phrase landsting. The general practice of 'one man, one vote' was the norm at the ting, but in practice it was more a case of the most powerful chieftains imposing their will on subservient chieftains. The Swedes have a slightly different name, Riksdag which is the Swedish variant of Reichstag, nonetheless the 21 local councils of Sweden are referred to as landstings. Up until 1953, when the political structure of Denmark was reorganised, the Upper House of Parliament was called the Landsting and Parliament was renamed the Folketing.