The House of Keys (Manx: Kiare as Feed) is the directly elected lower branch of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council.
The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written by an English scholar in Latin, which refers to Claves Mann and Claves Legis ('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...
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The House of Keys (Manx: Kiare as Feed) is the directly elected lower branch of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council.
The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written by an English scholar in Latin, which refers to Claves Mann and Claves Legis ('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 the Norse word kjósa meaning 'chosen'. However a more likely explanation is that it is a mishearing of the Manx-language term for 'four and twenty', kiare as feed (pronounced kee-air...), the House having always had 24 members. The Manx-language name of the House of Keys remains Yn Chiare as Feed ('The Four and Twenty').
Members are known as Members of the House of Keys, or MHKs. Citizens over the age of 16 may vote, while one must be at least 21 years old and a resident of the Island for three years to...
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