The House of Keys () is the directly elected

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

Tynwald Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House ...

, the parliament of the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

, the other branch being the Legislative Council.

History

The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

by an English scholar, which refers to (the 'Keys of Mann') and (the 'Keys of Law'). There is a dispute, however, over the origin of the name. The word ''keys'' is thought by some to be an English corruption of a form of the Norse verb ('to choose'). However, a more likely explanation is that it is a mishearing of the Manx-language term for 'four and twenty': , the House having always had 24 members. The Manx-language name of the House remains ('The Four and Twenty').

Governance

Members are known as ''Members of the House of Keys'' (MHKs). Citizens over the age of 16 may vote, while one must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the Island for three years to be elected an MHK. There are 12 constituencies, mainly based on the

sheading Local government ( gv, gurneilys ynnydagh) in the Isle of Man was formerly based on six sheadings, which were divided into seventeen parishes (today referred to as "ancient parishes"). The island is today divided for local government purposes ...

s and on local government units. (A few local government units are split between two constituencies.) Each sends two members to the House of Keys, elected by

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

(each elector can vote for up to two candidates). The term of the House of Keys is normally fixed at five years, but provisions exist for dissolution before the expiration of the term. The

Speaker of the House of Keys The Speaker of the House of Keys () is the principal officer of the House of Keys, the lower house of the Isle of Man legislature. The Speaker is elected from the membership of the House at its first sitting after an election. He is responsibl ...

(SHK) is an MHK elected by the Keys as the presiding officer. The Speaker votes in the House of Keys, but, unlike other members, may abstain; however, when the vote is tied the Speaker must cast the deciding vote. The Speaker also acts as Deputy President of

Tynwald Court Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...

. The House of Keys elects 8 of the 11 members of the Legislative Council. Legislation does not usually originate in the council. (There are exceptions: for example the Equality Bill was introduced in the Legislative Council in late 2016.) Thus, the Keys have much more power than the council, which performs the function of a revising chamber. The House of Keys meets about once each month together with the Legislative Council in a joint session called ''Tynwald Court''. During the COVID pandemic, these meetings have been more frequent. The

President of Tynwald The President of Tynwald (''Eaghtyrane Tinvaal'') is the presiding officer at the sittings of Tynwald Court in Douglas and is elected by the members of Tynwald from amongst their number. The first elected President, Charles Kerruish, was elect ...

, elected by both branches, presides over Tynwald Court and over the Legislative Council. Once each year, however, on

Tynwald Day Tynwald Day ( gv, Laa Tinvaal) is the National Day of the Isle of Man, usually observed on 5 July (if this is a Saturday or Sunday, then on the following Monday). On this day, the Island's legislature, Tynwald, meets at St John's, instead of ...

, the Isle of Man's national day, the

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

presides.

Meeting place

The House of Keys usually meets in their chamber in the Legislative Buildings in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

. Seating is allocated in alphabetical order by constituency name (in English) and organised into two rows. Members who received the highest number of votes in their constituency sit in the front row. On 14 March 2017 the Keys met in the

Old House of Keys The Old House of Keys ( gv, Shenn-thie y Chiare as Feed) is the former meeting place of the House of Keys, the lower house of Tynwald, the Isle of Man's parliament. It is located across the street from Castle Rushen in Castletown, the former ...

in Castletown, for the first time since 1874, to commemorate the

sesquicentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

of the first elected House of Keys. During the COVID pandemic, these meetings have sometimes been held remotely.

Elections

Membership

References

External links

House of Keys

Elections to the House
(Dead Link)
Enfranchisement @ 16 years (BBC)

iomelections.com – 2006 General Election

Access to work & info of members of IoM Tynwald
* (The last paragraph of this article speculates on the origins of the name "House of Keys"). {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Tynwald National lower houses