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Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, was founded around 930 and is one of the oldest parliaments still working today, although it was abolished in 1800 and restored in 1845.

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For more than eight centuries the assembly met each summer in the open air at Þingvellir, a rift valley east of today's Reykjavík. Its central figure was the lawspeaker, who knew the laws by heart and recited a third of them from the Law Rock each year, so that the whole code was heard over his three-year term. The laws were first written down in 1117–1118. The Alþingi made laws and judged disputes, but Iceland had no king, no police and no army, so carrying out a verdict was left to the winning side and its allies. A royal decree abolished the assembly in 1800; restored in Reykjavík in 1845 as an advisory body, it regained law-making powers in 1874. Þingvellir became a national park in 1930 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

Türkçe oku
İzlanda parlamentosu Alþingi 930 dolayında kuruldu ve bugün hâlâ çalışan en eski parlamentolardan biridir; 1800'de kaldırılmış, 1845'te yeniden kurulmuştur.

Meclis sekiz yüzyılı aşkın bir süre boyunca her yaz, bugünkü Reykjavík'in doğusundaki Þingvellir vadisinde açık havada toplandı. En önemli kişisi, yasaları ezbere bilen “yasa sözcüsü”ydü: Her yıl Yasa Kayası'nın üzerinden yasaların üçte birini okur, böylece üç yıllık görev süresi boyunca bütün yasalar bir kez halkın önünde dile gelirdi. Yasalar ilk kez 1117–1118'de yazıya geçirildi. Alþingi yasa yapar ve anlaşmazlıkları karara bağlardı; ama İzlanda'da kral, polis ya da ordu yoktu, kararı uygulatmak kazanan tarafa ve onun yandaşlarına kalırdı. 1800'de Danimarka kralının buyruğuyla kaldırıldı; 1845'te Reykjavík'te danışma meclisi olarak yeniden kuruldu ve 1874'te yasa yapma yetkisini geri aldı. Þingvellir 1930'da millî park oldu, 2004'te de UNESCO Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne girdi.

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