From: "John Cowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Philippe Verdy scripsit: > > > I thought it was in Iceland... > > The Alžingi was founded in 930, shortly after Iceland was settled. > In 1262, after the reception of Norwegian authority, it became mostly > the Icelandic high court, and the last vestige of legislative function > vanished in 1662. In 1800 it was abolished and not refounded until 1845. > It did not regain legislative authority until 1874. > > The Tynwald Court of the Isle of Man, however, has functioned continuously > as a legislative assembly since at least 979. (The name "Tynwald" > is also Norse in origin: žingvollr 'assembly field'.)
Thanks for the story. I did not know that Iceland was ruled by Norway in its history. Despite this, I had always been told that Iceland had been the oldest democracy, but without details about its parlement. May be there was another local democratic representation even during the Norwegian authority on this far island. May be many are confused by the fact that the Isle of Man is not an independant country, even if has its own regional legislative authority (also in other British Channel Islands), and is more or less considered with the same status as other regional authorities found in many countries (including Spain's regions, Germany's Länder, UK's nations, US's states, Switzerland cantons...) France had regional parlements before the 1789 revolution, but they were ruled by the King, even though there were assemblies with little power for the legislative and judiciary power, named "Etats" (divided between in 3 between the clergy, nobility and the rest of the people). Since Revolution, the National Assembly was created formally by unifying the 3 Etats into 1 assembly represented face to the King, before the Kingdom itself was abolished. During the Empire or the short time of the Restauration, the national representation was not redivided, and even during the Empire, the power was recentralized, and all regional rules were unified. France has recreated its regional assemblies only very recently in the last 80's, but with only a executive role, and the national law prevails everywhere, with some arrangements for overseas territories (but not in overseas departments and collectivity, working exactly like in the metropolitan territory). This is still true in Corsica since the very recent vote which refused to give some autonomy to a regional assembly with limited legislative power within the Republic (this caused some problems with the constitution which states that the Republic cannot be divided, and the the French law must apply everywhere on the Republic). In fact some overseas territories have voted to be assimilated more as departments and not territories within the Republic (notably in Mayotte, the last remaining French island in the independant but very troubled Comores, or in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, both of them going from a Territorial Collectivity status to a Departmental Collectivity status). The term Collectivity is related to some form of local administration allowing local arrangements with bordering countries notably in terms of commercial exchanges and people movements, without the need to refer constantly to the national representation and governnent in Paris; it is kept as these regions keep their formal right to independance if this was voted there by referendum, without needing amending the Constitution (this was the case for New Caledonia when a new regional assembly was created and the aboriginal laws accepted to rule in the administrative and judiciary domains, in a wait for a future vote on independance).