The House of Keys is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council.
History
The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in Latin 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 sheadings 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 (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.
