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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Tynwald
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(in full the Tynwald Court) Parliament of the *Isle of Man, probably the oldest surviving legislative body in the world. It has been in existence since the Viking domination of the island in the 10–13C. The upper house, the Legislative Council, is appointed; the lower one, the House of Keys, has been elected since 1866 (by male suffrage only until 1881, when the Tynwald became the first body in the world to extend the franchise to women).
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As in the parliament at Westminster, bills must receive the *royal assent before they become law; but in the Isle of Man they must also be read out on July 5 on the Tynwald Hill, a circular mound at St John's near the centre of the island. Bills are declaimed there both in English and in Manx *Gaelic (by now virtually the only use on the island of the old Celtic language). The Tynwald normally meets in the Legislative Buildings (1894) in Douglas, having moved in 1869 from Castletown.
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