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In modern politics and history, a parliament is a
legislature|legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions:
representing the
electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. The term is similar to the idea of a
senate,
synod or
congress, and is commonly used in countries that are current or former
monarchies, a form of government with a monarch as the head. Some contexts restrict the use of the word ''parliament'' to
parliamentary systems, although it is also used to describe the legislature in some
presidential systems (e.g. the
Parliament of Ghana), even where it is not in the official name.
Historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies, e.g. medieval
parliaments.
Etymology
The English term is derived from
Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century
Old French , from , meaning "to talk". The meaning evolved over time, originally referring to any discussion, conversation, or negotiation through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by a monarch. By the 15th century, in Britain, it had come to specifically mean the legislature.
Early parliaments
Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders. This is called
tribalism. Some scholars suggest that in ancient
Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, and therefore there was some form of
democracy. However, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as
oligarchies.
Ancient Athens was the cradle of
democracy. The
Athenian assembly (, ''ekklesia'') was the most important institution, and every free male
citizen could take part in the discussions. Slaves and women could not. However,
Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, and therefore the ''ekklesia'' was different from the parliamentary system.
The
Roman Republic had
legislative assemblies, who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new
statutes, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace, and the creation (or dissolution) of alliances. The
Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy.
Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic
shura (a method of taking decisions in Islamic societies) is analogous to the parliament. However, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system.
Spain

Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and 1063, there was no representation of commoners. What is considered to be the first parliament (with the presence of commoners), the
Cortes of León, was held in the
Kingdom of León in 1188. According to the UNESCO, the Decreta of Leon of 1188 is the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system. In addition, UNESCO granted the 1188 Cortes of Alfonso IX the title of "Memory of the World" and the city of
Leon has been recognized as the "Cradle of Parliamentarism".
After coming to power, King
Alfonso IX, facing an attack by his two neighbors,
Castile and
Portugal, decided to summon the "Royal Curia". This was a medieval organization composed of aristocrats and bishops but because of the seriousness of the situation and the need to maximize political support, Alfonso IX took the decision to also call the representatives of the urban middle class from the most important cities of the kingdom to the assembly. León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to
private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war. Prelates, nobles and commoners met separately in the three estates of the Cortes. In this meeting, new laws were approved to protect commoners against the arbitrarities of nobles, prelates and the king. This important set of laws is known as the ''Carta Magna Leonesa''.
Following this event, new Cortes would appear in the other different territories that would make up Spain:
Principality of Catalonia in 1192, the
Kingdom of Castile in 1250,
Kingdom of Aragon in 1274,
Kingdom of Valencia in 1283 and
Kingdom of Navarre in 1300.
After the union of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile under the
Crown of Castile, their Cortes were united as well in 1258. The Castilian Cortes had representatives from Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Zamora, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cuenca, Toro, Valladolid, Soria, Madrid, Guadalajara and Granada (after 1492). The Cortes' assent was required to pass new taxes, and could also advise the king on other matters. The
comunero rebels intended a stronger role for the Cortes, but were defeated by the forces of
Habsburg Emperor
Charles V in 1521. The Cortes maintained some power, however, though it became more of a consultative entity. However, by the time of
King Philip II, Charles's son, the Castilian Cortes had come under functionally complete royal control, with its delegates dependent on the Crown for their income.
The Cortes of the
Crown of Aragon kingdoms retained their power to control the king's spending with regard to the finances of those kingdoms. But after the
War of the Spanish Succession and the victory of another royal house – the
Bourbons – and King
Philip V, their Cortes were suppressed (those of
Aragon and
Valencia in 1707, and those of
Catalonia and the
Balearic islands in 1714).
The very first Cortes representing the whole of Spain (and the Spanish empire of the day) assembled in 1812, in
Cadiz, where it operated as a government in exile as at that time most of the rest of Spain was in the hands of
Napoleon's army.
Portugal
After its self-proclamation as an independent kingdom in 1139 by
Afonso I of Portugal (followed by the recognition by the
Kingdom of León in the
Treaty of Zamora of 1143), the first historically established Cortes of the
Kingdom of Portugal occurred in 1211 in
Coimbra by initiative of
Afonso II of Portugal. These established the first general laws of the kingdom (''Leis Gerais do Reino''): protection of the king's property, stipulation of measures for the administration of justice and the rights of his subjects to be protected from abuses by royal officials, and confirming the clerical donations of the previous king
Sancho I of Portugal. These Cortes also affirmed the validity of canon law for the Church in Portugal, while introducing the prohibition of the purchase of lands by churches or monasteries (although they can be acquired by donations and legacies).
After the conquest of
Algarve in 1249, the
Kingdom of Portugal completed its
Reconquista. In 1254 King
Afonso III of Portugal summoned
Portuguese Cortes in
Leiria, with the inclusion of
burghers from old and newly incorporated municipalities. This inclusion establishes the Cortes of Leiria of 1254 as the second sample of modern
parliamentarism in the history of Europe (after the
Cortes of León in 1188). In these Cortes the
monetagio was introduced: a fixed sum was to be paid by the burghers to the Crown as a substitute for the
septennium (the traditional revision of the face value of coinage by the Crown every seven years). These Cortes also introduced
staple laws on the
Douro River, favoring the new royal city of
Vila Nova de Gaia at the expense of the old episcopal city of Porto.
The
Portuguese Cortes met again under King
Afonso III of Portugal in 1256, 1261 and 1273, always by royal summon. Medieval Kings of Portugal continued to rely on small assemblies of notables, and only summoned the full Cortes on extraordinary occasions. A Cortes would be called if the king wanted to introduce new taxes, change some fundamental laws, announce significant shifts in foreign policy (e.g. ratify treaties), or settle matters of royal succession, issues where the cooperation and assent of the towns was thought necessary. Changing taxation (especially requesting war subsidies), was probably the most frequent reason for convening the Cortes. As the nobles and clergy were largely tax-exempt, setting taxation involved intensive negotiations between the royal council and the
burgher delegates at the Cortes.
Delegates (''procuradores'') not only considered the king's proposals, but, in turn, also used the Cortes to submit petitions of their own to the royal council on a myriad of matters, e.g. extending and confirming town privileges, punishing abuses of officials, introducing new price controls, constraints on
Jews, pledges on coinage, etc. The royal response to these petitions became enshrined as ordinances and statutes, thus giving the Cortes the aspect of a legislature. These petitions were originally referred to as ''aggravamentos'' (grievances) then ''artigos'' (articles) and eventually ''capitulos'' (chapters). In a Cortes-Gerais, petitions were discussed and voted upon separately by each estate and required the approval of at least two of the three estates before being passed up to the royal council. The proposal was then subject to royal veto (either accepted or rejected by the king in its entirety) before becoming law.
Nonetheless, the exact extent of Cortes power was ambiguous. Kings insisted on their ancient prerogative to promulgate laws independently of the Cortes. The compromise, in theory, was that ordinances enacted in Cortes could only be modified or repealed by Cortes. But even that principle was often circumvented or ignored in practice.
The Cortes probably had their heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries, reaching their apex when
John I of Portugal relied almost wholly upon the bourgeoisie for his power. For a period after the 1383–1385 Crisis, the Cortes were convened almost annually. But as time went on, they became less important. Portuguese monarchs, tapping into the riches of the
Portuguese empire overseas, grew less dependent on Cortes subsidies and convened them less frequently.
John II (r.1481-1495) used them to break the high nobility, but dispensed with them otherwise.
Manuel I (r.1495-1521) convened them only four times in his long reign. By the time of
Sebastian (r.1554–1578), the Cortes was practically an irrelevance.
Curiously, the Cortes gained a new importance with the Iberian Union of 1581, finding a role as the representative of Portuguese interests to the new
Habsburg monarch. The Cortes played a critical role in the
1640 Restoration, and enjoyed a brief period of resurgence during the reign of
John IV of Portugal (r.1640-1656). But by the end of the 17th century, it found itself sidelined once again. The last Cortes met in 1698, for the mere formality of confirming the appointment of Infante John (future
John V of Portugal) as the successor of
Peter II of Portugal. Thereafter, Portuguese kings ruled as absolute monarchs and no Cortes were assembled for over a century. This state of affairs came to an end with the
Liberal Revolution of 1820, which set in motion the introduction of a new constitution, and a permanent and proper parliament, that however inherited the name of Cortes Gerais.
England
Early forms of assembly
England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist and advise the king on important matters. Under the
Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the
Witenagemot. The name derives from the
Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, for "meeting of wise men". The first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose; however, the witan was certainly in existence long before this time. The Witan, along with the folkmoots (local assemblies), is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament.
As part of the
Norman Conquest, the new king,
William I, did away with the Witenagemot, replacing it with a
Curia Regis ("King's Council"). Membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who "rented" great estates directly from the king, along with
ecclesiastics. William brought to England the
feudal system of his native
Normandy, and sought the advice of the
curia regis before making laws. This is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the
Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament; judges sit in the
Supreme Court of Judicature. Only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court.
Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of
Edward I. Like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially
finance and
taxation. A meeting in 1295 became known as the
Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments. The significant difference between the Model Parliament and the earlier Curia Regis was the addition of the Commons; that is, the inclusion of elected representatives of rural landowners and of townsmen. In 1307,
Edward I agreed not to collect certain
taxes without the "consent of the realm" through parliament. He also enlarged the court system.
''Magna Carta'' and the Model Parliament
The tenants-in-chief often struggled with their spiritual counterparts and with the king for power. In 1215, they secured from
King John of England ''
Magna Carta'', which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of a council. It was also established that the most important tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics be summoned to the council by personal writs from the sovereign, and that all others be summoned to the council by general writs from the
sheriffs of their counties. Modern government has its origins in the Curia Regis; parliament descends from the Great Council later known as the ''parliamentum'' established by ''
Magna Carta''.
During the reign of
King Henry III, 13th-Century
English Parliaments incorporated elected representatives from shires and towns. These parliaments are, as such, considered forerunners of the modern parliament.
In 1265,
Simon de Montfort, then in rebellion against
Henry III, summoned
a parliament of his supporters without royal authorization. The
archbishops,
bishops,
abbots,
earls, and
barons were summoned, as were two
knights from each shire and two
burgesses from each
borough. Knights had been summoned to previous councils, but it was unprecedented for the boroughs to receive any representation. Come 1295,
Edward I later adopted de Montfort's ideas for representation and election in the so-called "
Model Parliament". At first, each
estate debated independently; by the reign of
Edward III, however, Parliament recognisably assumed its modern form, with authorities dividing the legislative body into two separate chambers.
Parliament under Henry VIII and Edward VI
The purpose and structure of Parliament in Tudor England underwent a significant transformation under the reign of
Henry VIII. Originally its methods were primarily medieval, and the monarch still possessed a form of inarguable dominion over its decisions. According to Elton, it was
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, then chief minister to Henry VIII, who initiated still other changes within parliament.
The
Reformation Acts supplied Parliament with unlimited power over the country. This included authority over virtually every matter, whether social, economic, political, or religious ; it legalised the Reformation, officially and indisputably. The king had to rule through the council, not over it, and all sides needed to reach a mutual agreement when creating or passing laws, adjusting or implementing taxes, or changing religious doctrines. This was significant: the monarch no longer had sole control over the country. For instance, during the later years of
Mary, Parliament exercised its authority in originally rejecting Mary's bid to revive Catholicism in the realm. Later on, the legislative body even denied
Elizabeth her request to marry . If Parliament had possessed this power before Cromwell, such as when
Wolsey served as secretary, the Reformation may never have happened, as the king would have had to gain the consent of all parliament members before so drastically changing the country's religious laws and fundamental identity .
The power of Parliament increased considerably after the
Civil War. It also provided the country with unprecedented stability. More stability, in turn, helped assure more effective management, organisation, and efficiency. Parliament printed statutes and devised a more coherent
parliamentary procedure.
The rise of Parliament proved especially important in the sense that it limited the repercussions of dynastic complications that had so often plunged England into civil war. Parliament still ran the country even in the absence of suitable heirs to the throne, and its legitimacy as a decision-making body reduced the royal prerogatives of kings like Henry VIII and the importance of their whims. For example, Henry VIII could not simply establish supremacy by proclamation; he required Parliament to enforce statutes and add felonies and treasons. An important liberty for Parliament was its freedom of speech; Henry allowed anything to be spoken openly within Parliament and speakers could not face arrest – a fact which they exploited incessantly. Nevertheless, Parliament in Henry VIII's time offered up very little objection to the monarch's desires. Under his and
Edward's reign, the legislative body complied willingly with the majority of the kings' decisions.
Much of this compliance stemmed from how the English viewed and traditionally understood authority. As Williams described it, "King and parliament were not separate entities, but a single body, of which the monarch was the senior partner and the Lords and the Commons the lesser, but still essential, members."
Importance of the Commonwealth years

Although its role in government expanded significantly during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the Parliament of England saw some of its most important gains in the 17th century. A
series of conflicts between the Crown and Parliament culminated in the execution of
King Charles I in 1649. Afterward, England became a
commonwealth, with
Oliver Cromwell, its lord protector, the de facto ruler. Frustrated with its decisions, Cromwell purged and suspended Parliament on several occasions.
A controversial figure accused of despotism, war crimes, and even genocide, Cromwell is nonetheless regarded as essential to the growth of democracy in England. The years of the Commonwealth, coupled with the
restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the subsequent
Glorious Revolution of 1688, helped reinforce and strengthen Parliament as an institution separate from the Crown.
Acts of Union
The Parliament of England met until it merged with the
Parliament of Scotland under the
Acts of Union. This union created the new
Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.
Scotland
From the 10th century the
Kingdom of Alba was ruled by chiefs (''
toisechs'') and subkings (''
mormaers'') under the
suzerainty, real or nominal, of a
High King. Popular assemblies, as in Ireland, were involved in law-making, and sometimes in king-making, although the introduction of
tanistry—naming a successor in the lifetime of a king—made the second less than common. These early assemblies cannot be considered "parliaments" in the later sense of the word, and were entirely separate from the later, Norman-influenced, institution.
The
Parliament of Scotland evolved during the
Middle Ages from the King's Council of Bishops and Earls. The unicameral parliament is first found on record, referred to as a ''
colloquium'', in 1235 at
Kirkliston (a village now in
Edinburgh).
By the early fourteenth century the attendance of knights and
freeholders had become important, and from 1326
burgh commissioners attended. Consisting of the Three Estates; of
clerics, lay
tenants-in-chief and burgh commissioners sitting in a single chamber, the Scottish parliament acquired significant powers over particular issues. Most obviously it was needed for consent for
taxation (although taxation was only raised irregularly in Scotland in the
medieval period), but it also had a strong influence over
justice,
foreign policy, war, and all manner of other legislation, whether political, ecclesiastical, social or economic. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, before c. 1500 by
General Council and thereafter by the
Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making – but lacked the ultimate authority of a full parliament.
The parliament, which is also referred to as the Estates of Scotland, the Three Estates, the Scots Parliament or the auld Scots Parliament (
Eng: ''old''), met until the
Acts of Union merged the Parliament of Scotland and the
Parliament of England, creating the new
Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.
Following the
1997 Scottish devolution referendum, and the passing of the
Scotland Act 1998 by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, the
Scottish Parliament was reconvened on 1 July 1999, although with much more limited powers than its 18th-century predecessor. The parliament has sat since 2004 at its newly constructed
Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh, situated at the foot of the
Royal Mile, next to the royal palace of
Holyroodhouse.
Nordic and Germanic countries

A ''
thing'' or ''ting'' (
Old Norse and is|þing; other modern
Scandinavian: ''ting'', ''ding'' in
Dutch) was the governing assembly in
Germanic societies, made up of the free men of the community and presided by
lawspeakers.
The thing was the assembly of the free men of a country, province or a
hundred ''(hundare/härad/herred)''. There were consequently, hierarchies of things, so that the local things were represented at the thing for a larger area, for a province or land. At the thing, disputes were solved and political decisions were made. The place for the thing was often also the place for public religious rites and for commerce.
The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected
chieftains and
kings, and judged according to the law, which was memorised and recited by the "
law speaker" (the judge).
The Icelandic, Faroese and Manx parliaments trace their origins back to the
Viking expansion originating from the
Petty kingdoms of Norway as well as Denmark, replicating Viking government systems in the conquered territories, such as those represented by the
Gulating near Bergen in western Norway.
* The Icelandic
Althing, dating to 930.
* The Faroese
Løgting, dating to a similar period.
* The Manx
Tynwald, which claims to be over 1,000 years old.
Later national diets with chambers for different estates developed, e.g. in Sweden and in Finland (which was part of Sweden until 1809), each with a
House of Knights for the nobility. In both these countries, the national parliaments are now called
riksdag (in Finland also ''eduskunta''), a word used since the Middle Ages and equivalent of the German word
Reichstag.
Today the term lives on in the official names of national legislatures, political and judicial institutions in the North-Germanic countries. In the
Yorkshire and former
Danelaw areas of England, which were subject to much Norse invasion and settlement, the
wapentake was another name for the same institution.
Italy
The
Sicilian Parliament, dating to 1097, evolved as the legislature of the
Kingdom of Sicily.
Switzerland

The
Federal Diet of Switzerland was one of the longest-lived representative bodies in history, continuing from the 13th century to 1848.
France
Originally, there was only the Parliament of Paris, born out of the Curia Regis in 1307, and located inside the medieval royal palace, now the
Paris Hall of Justice. The jurisdiction of the ''Parliament'' of Paris covered the entire kingdom. In the thirteenth century, judicial functions were added. In 1443, following the turmoil of the
Hundred Years' War, King
Charles VII of France granted
Languedoc its own ''parliament'' by establishing the ''Parliament'' of
Toulouse, the first ''parliament'' outside of Paris, whose jurisdiction extended over the most part of southern France. From 1443 until the
French Revolution several other ''parliaments'' were created in some provinces of France (
Grenoble,
Bordeaux).
All the ''parliaments'' could issue regulatory decrees for the application of royal edicts or of customary practices; they could also refuse to register laws that they judged contrary to fundamental law or simply as being untimely. Parliamentary power in France was suppressed more so than in England as a result of
absolutism, and parliaments were eventually overshadowed by the larger
Estates General, up until the
French Revolution, when the
National Assembly became the lower house of France's bicameral legislature.
Kingdom of Hungary
The
Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale ( hu|Országgyűlés) became the supreme legislative institution in the
medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states,
Royal Hungary and the
Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the
Early Modern period. The name of the legislative body was originally "Parlamentum" during the Middle Ages, the "Diet" expression gained mostly in the Early Modern period. It convened at regular intervals with interruptions during the period of 1527 to 1918, and again until 1946.
Some researchers have traced the roots of the Hungarian institution of national assemblies as far back as the 11th century. This based on documentary evidence that, on certain "important occasions" under the reigns of
King Ladislaus I and
King Coloman "the Learned", assemblies were held on a national scale where both ecclesiastic and secular dignitaries made appearances.
The first exact written mention of the word "parlamentum" (Parliament) for the nation-wide assembly originated during the reign of
King Andrew II in the
Golden Bull of 1222, which reaffirmed the rights of the smaller nobles of the old and new classes of royal servants (servientes regis) against both the crown and the magnates, and to defend the rights of the whole nation against the crown by restricting the powers of the latter in certain fields and legalizing refusal to obey its unlawful/unconstitutional commands (the "''ius resistendi''").
The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution of the Hungarian Diet.
An institutionalized Hungarian parliament emerged during the 14th and 15th centuries. Beginning under
King Charles I, continuing under subsequent kings through into the reign of
King Matthias I, the Diet was essentially convened by the king. However, under the rule of heavy handed kings like Louis the Great and during reign of the early absolutist Matthias Corvinus the parliaments were often convened to announce the royal decisions, and had no significant power of its own. Since the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the parliament has regained most of its former power.
Poland

According to the ''
Chronicles'' of
Gallus Anonymus, the first legendary Polish ruler,
Siemowit, who began the
Piast Dynasty, was chosen by a ''
wiec''. The ''veche'' (russian: вече, pl|wiec) was a popular assembly in medieval
Slavic countries, and in late medieval period, a parliament. The idea of the ''wiec'' led in 1182 to the development of the Polish parliament, the ''
Sejm''.
The term "sejm" comes from an old Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. The power of early sejms grew between 1146–1295, when the power of individual rulers waned and various councils and wiece grew stronger. The history of the national Sejm dates back to 1182. Since the 14th century irregular sejms (described in various
Latin sources as ''contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta'' or Polish ''sejm walny'') have been called by Polish kings. From 1374, the king had to receive sejm permission to raise
taxes. The General Sejm (Polish ''Sejm Generalny'' or ''Sejm Walny''), first convoked by the king
John I Olbracht in 1493 near
Piotrków, evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings (''
sejmiks''). It followed most closely the ''sejmik generally'', which arose from the 1454
Nieszawa Statutes, granted to the
szlachta (nobles) by King
Casimir IV the Jagiellonian. From 1493 forward, indirect elections were repeated every two years. With the development of the unique Polish
Golden Liberty the Sejm's powers increased. Poland was among the few countries in Europe where the parliament played an especially important role - it was the Sejm that contributed the most to uniting the nation and the state.
The
Commonwealth's general parliament consisted of three estates: the King of Poland (who also acted as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russia/Ruthenia, Prussia, Mazovia, etc.), the Senat (consisting of Ministers, Palatines, Castellans and Bishops) and the Chamber of Envoys—circa 170 nobles (
szlachta) acting on behalf of their Lands and sent by Land Parliaments. Also representatives of selected cities but without any voting powers. Since 1573 at a royal election all peers of the Commonwealth could participate in the Parliament and become the King's electors.
Ukraine
Cossack Rada was the legislative body of a
military republic of the Ukrainian Cossacks that grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The republic did not regard social origin/nobility and accepted all people who declared to be
Orthodox Christians.
Originally established at the
Zaporizhian Sich, the
rada (council) was an institution of Cossack administration in
Ukraine from the 16th to the 18th century. With the establishment of the Hetman state in 1648, it was officially known as the General Military Council until 1750.
Russia
The zemsky sobor (Russian: зе́мский собо́р) was the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The term roughly means assembly of the land.
It could be summoned either by tsar, or patriarch, or the Boyar Duma. Three categories of population, comparable to the Estates-General of France but with the numbering of the first two Estates reversed, participated in the assembly:
Nobility and high bureaucracy, including the Boyar Duma
The Holy Sobor of high Orthodox clergy
Representatives of merchants and townspeople (third estate)
The name of the parliament of nowadays Russian Federation is the
Federal Assembly of Russia. The term for its lower house,
State Duma (which is better known than the Federal Assembly itself, and is often mistaken for the entirety of the parliament) comes from the Russian word ''думать'' (''dumat''), "to think". The Boyar Duma was an advisory council to the
grand princes and
tsars of
Muscovy. The Duma was discontinued by
Peter the Great, who transferred its functions to the
Governing Senate in 1711.
Novgorod and Pskov
The ''veche'' was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the republic of
Novgorod until 1478. In its sister state,
Pskov, a separate veche operated until 1510.
Since the Novgorod revolution of 1137 ousted the ruling
grand prince, the veche became the supreme state authority. After the reforms of 1410, the veche was restructured on a model similar to that of
Venice, becoming the
Commons chamber of the parliament. An upper
Senate-like Council of Lords was also created, with title membership for all former city magistrates. Some sources indicate that veche membership may have become full-time, and parliament deputies were now called ''vechniks''. It is recounted that the Novgorod assembly could be summoned by anyone who rung the veche
bell, although it is more likely that the common procedure was more complex. This bell was a symbol of republican sovereignty and independence. The whole population of the city—boyars, merchants, and common citizens—then gathered at
Yaroslav's Court. Separate assemblies could be held in the districts of Novgorod. In Pskov the veche assembled in the court of the Trinity cathedral.
Roman Catholic Church
"
Conciliarism" or the "conciliar movement", was a reform movement in the 14th and 15th century
Roman Catholic Church which held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with the Roman Church as corporation of Christians, embodied by a
general church council, not with the
pope. In effect, the movement sought – ultimately, in vain – to create an All-Catholic Parliament. Its struggle with the Papacy had many points in common with the struggle of parliaments in specific countries against the authority of Kings and other secular rulers.
Development of modern parliaments
The development of the modern concept of parliamentary government dates back to the
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) and the parliamentary system in Sweden during the
Age of Liberty (1718–1772).
United Kingdom

The British Parliament is often referred to as the ''
Mother of Parliaments'' (in fact a misquotation of
John Bright, who remarked in 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments") because the
British Parliament has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its
Acts have created many other parliaments. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British "three-tier" model known as the
Westminster system. Most countries in Europe and the
Commonwealth have similarly organised parliaments with a largely ceremonial
head of state who formally opens and closes parliament, a large elected lower house and a smaller, upper house.
The
Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the
Acts of Union that replaced the former parliaments of England and
Scotland. A
further union in 1801 united the Parliament of Great Britain and the
Parliament of Ireland into a
Parliament of the United Kingdom.
In the United Kingdom, Parliament consists of the
House of Commons, the
House of Lords, and the
Monarch. The House of Commons is composed of 650 (soon to be 600) members who are directly elected by British citizens to represent single-member constituencies. The leader of a Party that wins more than half the seats, or less than half but is able to gain the support of smaller parties to achieve a majority in the house is invited by the Monarch to form a government. The House of Lords is a body of long-serving, unelected members:
Lords Temporal – 92 of whom inherit their titles (and of whom 90 are elected internally by members of the House to lifetime seats), 588 of whom have been appointed to lifetime seats, and
Lords Spiritual – 26 bishops, who are part of the house while they remain in office.
Legislation can originate from either the Lords or the Commons. It is voted on in several distinct stages, called
readings, in each house. First reading is merely a formality. Second reading is where the bill as a whole is considered. Third reading is detailed consideration of clauses of the bill.
In addition to the three readings a bill also goes through a committee stage where it is considered in great detail. Once the bill has been passed by one house it goes to the other and essentially repeats the process. If after the two sets of readings there are disagreements between the versions that the two houses passed it is returned to the first house for consideration of the amendments made by the second. If it passes through the amendment stage
Royal Assent is granted and the bill becomes law as an
Act of Parliament.
The House of Lords is the less powerful of the two houses as a result of the
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. These Acts removed the veto power of the Lords over a great deal of legislation. If a bill is certified by the
Speaker of the House of Commons as a
money bill (i.e. acts raising taxes and similar) then the Lords can only block it for a month. If an ordinary bill originates in the Commons the Lords can only block it for a maximum of one
session of Parliament. The exceptions to this rule are things like bills to prolong the life of a Parliament beyond five years.
In addition to functioning as the second chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords was also the final court of
appeal for much of the law of the United Kingdom—a combination of judicial and legislative function that recalls its origin in the Curia Regis. This changed in October 2009 when the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom opened and acquired the former jurisdiction of the House of Lords.
Since 1999, there has been a
Scottish Parliament in
Edinburgh, and, since 2020, a
Welsh Parliament—or Senedd—in
Cardiff. However, these national, unicameral
legislatures do not have complete power over their respective
countries of the United Kingdom, holding only those powers devolved to them by Westminster from 1997. They cannot legislate on defence issues, currency, or national taxation (e.g. VAT, or Income Tax). Additionally, the bodies can be dissolved, at any given time, by the British Parliament without the consent of the devolved government.
Sweden
In
Sweden, the half-century period of parliamentary government beginning with
Charles XII's death in 1718 and ending with
Gustav III's
self-coup in 1772 is known as the
Age of Liberty. During this period,
civil rights were expanded and power shifted from the monarch to parliament.
While
suffrage did not become universal, the taxed peasantry was represented in Parliament, although with little influence and commoners without taxed property had no suffrage at all.
Poland
Changes in Poland’s internal situation in the 1980s led to the Round Table Talks which ended in the signing of the famous Round Table Agreement on 5 April 1989. The Agreement spearheaded the evolutionary transformation of the country’s political system; independence was regained once again. The document Position on Political Reforms provided grounds for amending the Constitution. The amended Constitution restored the office of the President of the Polish People’s Republic and the Senate – both to be elected in free and democratic elections. In the Sejm, the opposition was allocated 35% of the mandates. Thus the so called “contract” elections could not be fully democratic. The Sejm (first chamber) became superior to the Senate (second chamber). In addition, the institution of National Assembly was established, consisting of the Sejm and the Senate sitting jointly to elect the President of the Polish People’s Republic. A declaration of the Solidarity Citizens’ Committee heralded the prompt enactment of a new, democratic constitution and electoral law. As a result of Solidarity’s success in elections to the Sejm and the Senate, profound reforms of the political system were undertaken by adopting an amendment to the Constitution on 29 December 1989. In the Constitution, the Republic of Poland was defined as a democratic state ruled by law. As the provisional constitution lasted too long, it was decided to adopt a provisional regulation in the form of the so called Small Constitution. The President signed it on 17 October 1992. The Small Constitution regulated above all the relationship between the executive and legislative powers, on the basis of the doctrine of separation of powers. A bicameral parliament was maintained.
After long years of legislative work, on 2 April 1997, the National Assembly adopted The Constitution of the Republic of Poland. It entered into force on 17 October 1997. The new Constitution introduced a “rationalised” parliamentary-cabinet system in Poland. It is the first Constitution of the Third Republic. That was the first Constitution of the Third Republic. The act defined the position of the Sejm and the Senate within the system without using the term “parliament”. It adopted the doctrine of separation of powers, which provided for a balance between the legislative and executive powers. In practice the binding provisions of the Constitution ensure the supremacy of the legislative power. Both chambers are autonomous bodies, independent of each other, with their own powers. The Constitution retained the principle of bicameralism of the legislature. The Sejm and the Senate sitting jointly constitute the National Assembly. Characteristically, the new Constitution conferred very extensive powers on the Sejm. On the other hand, the powers of the Senate are limited, as in the Constitutions of 1921 and 1992.
Parliamentary system

Many parliaments are part of a
parliamentary system of government, in which the
executive is constitutionally answerable to the parliament. Some restrict the use of the word ''parliament'' to parliamentary systems, while others use the word for any elected legislative body. Parliaments usually consist of ''
chambers'' or ''houses'', and are usually either
bicameral or
unicameral although more complex models exist, or have existed (''see
Tricameralism'').
In some parliamentary systems, the
prime minister is a member of the parliament (e.g.
in the United Kingdom), whereas in others they are not (e.g.
in the Netherlands). They are commonly the leader of the majority party in the lower house of parliament, but only hold the office as long as the "confidence of the house" is maintained. If members of the lower house lose faith in the leader for whatever reason, they can call a
vote of no confidence and force the prime minister to resign.
This can be particularly dangerous to a government when the distribution of seats among different parties is relatively even, in which case a new election is often called shortly thereafter. However, in case of general discontent with the head of government, their replacement can be made very smoothly without all the complications that it represents in the case of a presidential system.
The parliamentary system can be contrasted with a
presidential system, such as the
American congressional system, which operates under a stricter
separation of powers, whereby the executive does not form part of, nor is it appointed by, the parliamentary or legislative body. In such a system, congresses do not select or dismiss
heads of governments, and governments cannot request an early dissolution as may be the case for parliaments. Some states, such as
France, have a
semi-presidential system which falls between parliamentary and congressional systems, combining a powerful head of state (president) with a head of government, the prime minister, who is responsible to parliament.
Women in parliament
File:10% Share of women in parliament, OWID.svg|Greater than 10%
File:20% Share of women in parliament, OWID.svg|Greater than 20%
File:30% Share of women in parliament, OWID.svg|Greater than 30%
List of national parliaments

in
Vienna ]]
in
Dhaka ]]

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Parliaments of the European Union
* [[European Parliament]]
* [[Parliament of Austria]] (consisting of the [[National Council (Austria)|National Council]] and the [[Federal Council (Austria)|Federal Council]])
* [[Belgian Federal Parliament]] (consisting of the
Chamber of Representatives and the
Senate)
*
National Assembly of Bulgaria
*
Croatian Parliament
*
House of Representatives (
Cyprus)
*
Parliament of the Czech Republic (consisting of the
Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate)
*
Folketing (
Denmark)
*
Riigikogu (
Estonia)
*
Parliament of Finland (Eduskunta)
*
Parliament of France (consisting of the
National Assembly and the
Senate)
*
Bundestag and
Bundesrat (
Germany)
*
Hellenic Parliament (
Greece)
*
National Assembly (
Hungary)
*
Oireachtas (
Ireland) (consisting of the
President of Ireland,
Dáil Éireann (Lower House) and
Seanad Éireann (Senate))
*
Parliament of Italy (consisting of the
Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate)
*
Saeima (
Latvia)
*
Seimas (
Lithuania)
*
Chamber of Deputies (
Luxembourg)
*
House of Representatives (
Malta)
*
States General of the Netherlands (consisting of the
House of Representatives and the
Senate)
*
National Assembly of the Republic of Poland (consisting of the
Sejm and the
Senate)
*
Assembly of the Republic (
Portugal)
*
Parliament of Romania (consisting of the
Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate)
*
National Council (
Slovakia)
*
Parliament of Slovenia (consisting of the
National Assembly and the
National Council)
*
Cortes Generales (
Spain) (consisting of the
Congress of Deputies and the
Senate)
*
Riksdag (
Sweden)
Others
*
Parliament of Albania
*
Parliament of Australia (consisting of the
Queen, the
House of Representatives, and the
Senate)
** The federal government of the
Commonwealth of Australia has a
bicameral parliament and each of
Australia's six states has a bicameral parliament except for
Queensland, which has a unicameral parliament.
*
Parliament of The Bahamas
*
Jatiya Sangsad (
Bangladesh)
*
Parliament of Barbados
*
Parliament of Canada (consisting of the
Queen, an Upper House styled the
Senate, and the
House of Commons)
** The federal government of Canada has a bicameral parliament, and each of
Canada's 10 provinces has a unicameral parliament.
*
National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China
*
Løgtingið (
Faroe Islands)
*
Parliament of Fiji
*
Parliament of Ghana
*
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
*
Alþing (Parliament of Iceland) - Oldest surviving parliament
*
Parliament of India (consisting of the
Lok Sabha and the
Rajya Sabha)
*
Council of Representatives of Iraq
*
National Diet of Japan (consisting of the
House of Representatives and the
House of Councillors)
*
Parliament of Lebanon
*
Parliament of the Isle of Man – Tynwald
*
Parliament of Malaysia
*
Parliament of Montenegro
*
Parliament of Morocco
*
Parliament of Nauru
*
Parliament of Nepal (recently reorganised)
*
Parliament of New Zealand (consisting of the
Queen and
House of Representatives)
*
Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia
*
Parliament of Norway (''Storting'')
*
Majlis-e-Shoora,
Pakistan
*
National Assembly of Serbia
*
Parliament of Singapore
*
Parliament of South Africa
*
Parliament of Sri Lanka
*
Legislative Yuan of
Taiwan
*
National Assembly of Thailand
*
Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration
*
Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago
*
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
*
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
*
Parliament of Zimbabwe
List of subnational parliaments
Australia
Australia's States and territories:
*
Parliament of New South Wales
*
Parliament of Victoria
*
Parliament of Queensland
*
Parliament of Western Australia
*
Parliament of South Australia
*
Parliament of Tasmania
*
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
*
Parliament of the Northern Territory
Belgium
In the federal (bicameral) kingdom of Belgium, there is a curious asymmetrical constellation serving as directly elected legislatures for three "territorial" ''regions''—
Flanders (
Dutch),
Brussels (bilingual, certain peculiarities of competence, also the only region not comprising any of the 10 provinces) and
Wallonia (French)—and three cultural ''communities''—Flemish (Dutch, competent in Flanders and for the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels), Francophone (French, for Wallonia and for Francophones in Brussels) and German (for speakers of that language in a few designated municipalities in the east of the Walloon Region, living alongside Francophones but under two different regimes):
*
Flemish Parliament serves both the Flemish Community and the region of Flanders (in all matters of regional competence, its decisions have no effect in Brussels-Capital Region)
*
Parliament of the French Community
*
Parliament of the German-speaking Community
*
Parliament of Wallonia
*
Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (within the capital's regional assembly, however, there also exist two ''Community Commissions'', a
Dutch-speaking one and a
Francophone one, for various matters split up by linguistic community but under Brussels' regional competence, and even "joint community commissions" consisting of both for certain institutions that could be split up but are not.
Canada

Canada's provinces and territories:
*
Parliament of Ontario
*
Quebec Legislature
*
General Assembly of Nova Scotia
*
New Brunswick Legislature
*
Manitoba Legislature
*
Parliament of British Columbia
*
General Assembly of Prince Edward Island
*
Saskatchewan Legislature
*
Alberta Legislature
*
General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
*
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
*
Yukon Legislative Assembly
*
Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Denmark
*
Inatsisartut
*
Løgting
Finland

*
Åland
Germany
*
State legislatures of Germany
India
Indian states and territorial legislative assemblies:
*
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
*
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
*
Assam Legislative Assembly
*
Bihar Legislative Assembly
*
Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly
*
Delhi Legislative Assembly
*
Goa Legislative Assembly
*
Gujarat Legislative Assembly
*
Haryana Legislative Assembly
*
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
*
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
*
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
*
Karnataka Legislative Assembly
*
Kerala Legislative Assembly
*
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
*
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
*
Manipur Legislative Assembly
*
Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
*
Mizoram Legislative Assembly
*
Nagaland Legislative Assembly
*
Odisha Legislative Assembly
*
Puducherry Legislative Assembly
*
Punjab Legislative Assembly
*
Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
*
Sikkim Legislative Assembly
*
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
*
Telangana Legislative Assembly
*
Tripura Legislative Assembly
*
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
*
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
*
West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Indian states legislative councils:
*
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council
*
Bihar Legislative Council
*
Karnataka Legislative Council
*
Maharashtra Legislative Council
*
Telangana Legislative Council
*
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council
Malaysia
Netherlands
*
States-Provincial
Norway
Spain
Sri Lanka
*
Provincial Councils (Sri Lanka)
Switzerland
United Kingdom
*
Northern Ireland Assembly
*
Scottish Parliament
*
Welsh Parliament
Other parliaments
Contemporary supranational parliaments
:''List is not exhaustive''
*
Pan-African Parliament
*
Central American Parliament
*
Latin American Parliament
*
European Parliament
Equivalent national legislatures
*
Majlis, e.g. in Iran
* in Afghanistan:
Wolesi Jirga (elected, legislative lower house) and
Meshrano Jirga (mainly advisory, indirect representation); in special cases, e.g. as constituent assembly, a
Loya Jirga
* in Indonesia:
People's Consultative Assembly, consists of
People's Representative Council (elected, legislative lower house) and
Regional Representative Council (elected, legislative upper house with limited powers)
Defunct
*
Parliament of Southern Ireland (1921–1922)
*
People's Parliament (1940s)
*
Silesian Parliament (1922–1945)
*
Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921–1973)
*
Batasang Pambansâ (1978–1986)
*
National Assembly of the Republic of China (1913–2005)
See also
*
Congress
*
Delegated legislation
*
Democratic mundialization
*
Government
*
History of democracy
*
Inter-Parliamentary Union
*
Legislation
*
Parliamentary procedure
*
Parliamentary records
*
Parliament of the World's Religions
*
List of current presidents of assembly
References
External links
The International Association of Business and Parliament (IABP) Scottish Scheme*
United Kingdom Parliament
{{Authority control
Category:Legislatures
Category:Westminster system
Category:Parliamentary procedure