Das Ding - conference place.
Remember your viking roots. ;)
(Thingvellir - birthplace of American Republicanism, and quite litterally, the birthplace of America.)
I have been to Thyngvellir (sp?) in Iceland. It was a place of annual gathering of different Viking families where judgements were meted out in disputes by a panel of elected leaders or by combat. Iceland used to be one of the oldest democracies in the West. Sounds like this was a similar gathering place.
There is a lot of Roman law as well as Viking law in English legal traditions. The Vikings had tort law -where injuries were measured to mind, body and money paid to offset them.