Sýslumaður (Faroe Islands)

Sýslumaður is Faroese and means Sysselmann . A Sýsla (Danish Syssel ) is now a police district in the Faroe Islands . There are six sýslur .

• North Islands ( Borðoy , Fugloy , Kalsoy , Kunoy , Svínoy and Viðoy )
• Eysturoy
• Streymoy (with Hestur , Koltur and Nólsoy )
• Vágar (with Mykines )
• Sandoy (with Skúvoy and Stóra Dímun )
• Suðuroy (with Lítla Dímun )

The Sysselmann is the local police chief. Its job is also to collect customs duties and monitor the Grindadráp (pilot whale catch), including the subsequent distribution of the free meat to the population.

The Sysselmanns are now officials of the Kingdom of Denmark and are subject to the imperial ombudsman in the Faroe Islands . However, as a rule they are not Danes , but Faroers .

Today the Syssel are no longer a political administrative unit, but from the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands to 1892 the so-called Várting (spring thing) met in every sýsla , where the Sýslumaður presided (but probably only in the case of representation for the Løgmaður ). It is believed that this office has existed in the Faroe Islands since the 13th century . The Sysselmen were mostly local farmers.

Sysselmanns used to exist in Jutland and Norway . The Norwegian governor of Svalbard (Spitzbergen) still bears this title today , and in Iceland there are also sýslumenn, corresponding to the sýslur there.

See also

• Amtmaður ( bailiff in the Faroe Islands until 1948, since then Ríkisumboðsmaður )
• Løgmaður (Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands)