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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html><head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.gov.im:80/isleofman/parliament.xml","20070116202035","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1168978835"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>Parliament - Isle of Man Government - </title><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/><meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"/><link rel="help" href="/welcome.asp?article=help.html" title="Help and Site Info"/><link rel="search" href="search.gov" title="Search the Site"/><link rel="top" href="/" title="Home Page"/><meta content="The Isle of Man Parliament, Her Majesty the Queen as Lord of Mann is our Head of State. " name="description"/><meta content="isle of man,parliament,queen,majesty,governor,legislation,keys,council,tynwald, Lieutenant Governor, " name="keywords"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20070116202035cs_/http://www.gov.im/css/corporate.css"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20070116202035cs_/http://www.gov.im/css/corptoolbar.css"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20070116202035cs_/http://www.gov.im/_shared/fonts.css"/></head><body><div id="header"><table width="100%" id="commonToolbar" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/"><img src="/web/20070116202035im_/http://www.gov.im/images/corporate/crest.jpg" alt="Isle of Man Government" width="287" height="45"/></a></td><td id="isleofmanGovNav"><div id="govnav"><div id="govnavbar"><ul><li id="govhome"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/">Home</a></li> <li id="govindex"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/index.gov" target="_top">Index</a></li> <li id="govaccessibility"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/residents/disability.xml" target="_top">Accessibility</a></li> <li id="govsearch"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/search.gov" target="_top">Search</a></li> <li id="govnews"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/allnews.gov" target="_top">News</a></li> <li id="govcontacts"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/contactform.gov" target="_top">Contacts</a></li> <li id="govprivacy"><a href="terms.gov?keyname=PrivacyPolicy" target="_top">Privacy</a></li> </ul></div><div id="govnavedge"></div></div><div style="clear:both"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id="container" class="isleofman"><div id="corporateMenu"><div id="menuContainer"><ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/" class="unselected"> Home </a><div class="hometabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/residents/" class="unselected">Residents</a><div class="residentstabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/business/" class="unselected">Business</a><div class="businesstabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/visitors/" class="unselected">Visitors</a><div class="visitorstabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/government/" class="unselected">Government</a><div class="governmenttabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/" class="iomHomeSelected">Isle of Man</a><div class="isleofmantabcorner corner"></div></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/infocentre/" class="unselected">Infocentre</a><div class="infocentretabcorner corner"></div></li></ul></div></div><div class="breadcrumb"><span>You are here: </span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/">www.gov.im</a> - <a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/">Isle of Man</a> - <a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/constitution.xml">Constitution</a> - <span>Parliament</span></div><table id="mainContentLayout" summary="layout" border="0" cellspacing="10"><tbody><tr><td id="menu" class="isleofmanMenu"><div id="menuTitle"><span>In this section</span></div><ul><div class="rootcaption"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/constitution.xml">Constitution</a></div><li class="currentButton"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/parliament.xml">Parliament</a></li><li class="button"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/legalsystem.xml">Legal System</a></li><li class="button"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/practitioners.xml">Legal Practioners</a></li><li class="button"><a href="/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/isleofman/externalrelations.xml">External Relations</a></li></ul></td><td id="content" class="isleofmanContent"><a name="top"></a><h1></h1><h2>Parliament</h2><p>Her Majesty the Queen as Lord of Mann is our Head of State. Her personal representative on the Island is His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, who is appointed by the Crown for a five-year term. </p><p>The Island is a Crown Dependency which, through its ancient parliament, Tynwald, enjoys a high degree of domestic legislative and political autonomy. </p><p>Dating back to Viking origins over 1,000 years ago, Tynwald is the oldest legislature in the world in continuous existence. It has two branches: the House of Keys and the Legislative Council. </p><img border="0" src="/web/20070116202035im_/http://www.gov.im/lib/images/isleofman/parliament_leg.jpg" width="395" height="587" alt="IOM Government offices" title="IOM Government offices"></img><p>Every five years the House of Keys is dissolved by the Lieutenant Governor and a General Election is held to elect members of the House of Keys. The House of Keys is the Lower Branch of Tynwald, which consists of 24 members who represent single member and multi member constituencies. The members of the House of Keys are directly elected by the people of the Isle of Man. The majority of Members sit as independents, and the virtual absence of party politics has contributed to the remarkable stability of the Manx system.</p><img border="0" src="/web/20070116202035im_/http://www.gov.im/lib/images/isleofman/parliament_house.jpg" width="456" height="307" alt="Tywald Sitting" title="Tywald Sitting"></img><p>Eight of the eleven Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs), are elected by the Members of the House of Keys; the remaining Members of Legislative Council are the ex-officio members, H.M. Attorney General, the Lord Bishop and the President of Tynwald, who is elected by Tynwald as a whole. </p><p>The Legislative Council generally acts as a revising chamber for Bills which are usually introduced in the Keys. The Royal Assent to Tynwald Bills is given by the Queen or, now more commonly, by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor. </p><p>The two branches sit separately throughout the parliamentary year principally to enact primary legislation; they sit together as Tynwald Court mainly to debate matters of policy, approve delegated legislation and to adopt financial motions. On 5th July each year, Tynwald Court assembles in the open air on Tynwald Hill at St. John's, a Viking site of the Manx parliament, to conduct parliamentary business and receive petitions for redress from aggrieved citizens. </p><img border="0" src="/web/20070116202035im_/http://www.gov.im/lib/images/isleofman/parliament_hill.jpg" width="220" height="274" alt="Tynwald hill" title="Tynwald hill"></img><p>For information about all aspects of the legislature, visit the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.gov.im/disclaim/TynwaldDisclaim.html">Tynwald web site.</a></p><div class="topLink"><a href="#top"></a></div><div class="topLink"><a href="#top"></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div id="footer"><div id="footerdiv"><table border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="middle" id="disabledgologo"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070116202035/http://www.disabledgo.info/TownDetails.asp?TownID=30">DisabledGo Information</a></td><td valign="middle" width="33%"><a href="terms.gov" target="_blank">Terms & Conditions</a></td><td align="right" valign="middle" width="33%"> 漏 2007 Isle of Man Government </td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id="footerShadow"></div></div></div></body></html>