The origin of the House of Keys is very obscure owing to our ignorance of the meaning of the term Key and of the early History of Man. All, in fact, we can with confidence assert is that its Constitution is mainly Scandinavian, though tinged by Celtic and even English influences. Of the popular assemblies of the ancient Celts we know very little, except that, as they, like all other Aryan nations, were governed by kings who, with their nobles, absorbed nearly all the power, there would be but little left for the people. It would seem that a king of this sort usually consulted the chiefs beneath him, and when he had discussed his views with them he declared his plan to a larger assembly, and published his decrees by means of it. The form of assembly that met in Man in early Celtic days, and the occasions of its meeting would correspond with those of the periodical fairs, to which the people congregated in great numbers. These meetings would probably be held near some mound hallowed by the monuments of an earlier religion, or by being the grave of some departed hero. On this the king’s throne would be placed, and he would sit there surrounded by his chiefs, the whole body of the free people being also present.
A Judge, called Brehon in Irish, and Briw in Manx, whose office was hereditary, and whose jurisdiction only arose by the consent of the parties applying to have it exercised. When the Norsemen had finally settled in Man, they would probably introduce their form of popular assembly, which was afterwards modified into the House of Keys; and, therefore, the best method of discovering the original Constitution of the Keys is to inquire into the constitution of the Scandinavian popular assemblies in early times, of all the Scandinavian Things, or Parliaments, the one about which we have the most copious and accurate information is that of Iceland, with which country, moreover, it is well-known that Man was intimately connected. It is to Iceland, then, we must go for our information.
The Keys (the meaning of whose name has led to much controversy without any satisfactory result), who were now only freemen, not freeholders, were probably elected by the other freemen of their sheading (perhaps four from each to make up 12 for the northern and 12 for the southern district of the Island), and they were subject to the Lord’s will. Confirmed by a statement in the Chronicle that in 1237 " a meeting of all the people of Man" was held " at Tynwald," and from this we also learn, incidentally that the union of the two Tynwalds must have taken place before that date. It is clear, too, from the context, that this Tynwald was identical with St. John’s. In fact, he ousted the udallers, and created thanes.
So that we now come to quite a different state of things —to a time when, in the words of the Deemsters, the Keys " were not in certainty," and could not exist "without the Lord’s will"; and when the division of the Island between Gødred Crovan’s islanders and the Manx would have probably led to two distinct Tynwalds for the north and south of the Island, of which there are still traces at Reneurling and Baldwin, as well as in Arbory. From the union of these two Tynwalds, each of which probably consisted of 12 Keys, with their Deemster, corresponding to the Icelandic Lawman or Speaker, the central Tynwald was formed with its 24 Keys and two Deemsters. The Deemsters, whose office was probably hereditary were supposed to have an extensive knowledge of early custom. They were the representatives of the law, and their duty was to expound it. If the statement of the Deemsters to Sir John Stanley, in 1422, is to be credited, tradition had preserved the remembrance of an assembly, probably somewhat of the type indicated above, which extended to the other Sodor Islands as well as Man. For ‘they informed him that the Keys were called Taxiaxi (Taxiarch), and were Free-holders, 24 in number, 8 of whom were in the " Out-Isles," and 16 in Man, " and that was in King Orryes Days"
The Norm chieftains who settled in that island found it uninhabited, and, in order to found a community, they each built a temple in their own district, and called themselves Godes, or Hof-Godes, " Priests " or " Temple-priests." This name, Gode, became synonymous with chief, and the temple became the nucleus of the new community, which was called Godord. Many independent Godes sprang up all through the country, until about the yeare 930, when these petty sovereign chiefs entered into a kind of league, and laid the foundation of a central government for the whole island, by forming the Althing or general assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth, which was invested with the supreme legislative and judicial power.
In 964, the constitution was finally settled the number of Godord, and consequently of Godes, being fixed at three in each Thing-district or Shire, which had a popular assembly, called Lögretta composed of all the freemen of the shire, and presided over by the Godes, who were their liege lords. These Godes formed the legislative assembly of the althing, called the Lögretta, and possibly answer to our Keys, though we do not know the Keys early enough to identify them positively with the Godes. And it must be remembered, in comparing the probable political state of the Isle of Man at the end of thirteenth century with this, that, instead of Man being uninhabited, it was peopled by Goidels who had for a long time resisted the encroachments of the viking chiefs, and who, even at this period, certainly formed by far the largest part of the population. This, and probably other dissimilar circumstances, led to differences between the Manx and Icelandic constitutions, though, in the main, they were identical. Thus it is probable that, both from the necessities of military discipline and of keeping order in a conquered country, the Godes in Man, though udallers, or freeholders, were not independent chiefs, but owed military allegiance to a chief, who, however, except in time of war, was probably little more than primus inter pares.