What is "tingsratt"

Tingsrätt ( Swedish), käräjäoikeus ( Finnish) or tingrett ( Norwegian) is a term used for district courts in Sweden, Finland and Norway. In all three countries, the tingsrätt is the first instance court for both criminal and civil cases.

While relatively recent creations in their current form, the term tingsrätt refers to the ting ("thing"), the ancient term for governing assemblies in these and other Nordic and Germanic countries, where disputes would be brought up to be settled. The specific term tingsrätt was used for courts already in 17th century Sweden, but was later discontinued.