Dispute resolution in the post Viking era: ombudsman duel lives on

In 1962, New Zealand became the first country outside of Sweden to adopt the now-capitalised ‘Ombudsman’ term for official government duty.

David Chaplin

Wed, 03 Mar 2021

The Vikings started it.With all those sharp weapons lying around, the old Norsemen probably needed an independent third-party to settle petty internal disputes before things turned nasty.Enter the umboðsmaður, the Old Norse word meaning ‘representative’ that the new Swedes translated as ‘umbuds man’ before it was pressed into English usage as ‘ombudsman’.In a little-known fact buried among a Wellington High Court ruling handed down this February 26, in 1962, New Zealand became the first country outsid...

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