![Palace of Westminster, London - Feb 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Palace_of_Westminster%2C_London_-_Feb_2007.jpg)
A legislature is an
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
with the
authority to make
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
s for a
political entity
A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...
such as a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
or
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. They are often contrasted with the
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
and
judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
powers of
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as primary legislation. In addition, legislatures may observe and steer governing actions, with authority to amend the budget involved.
The members of a legislature are called
legislator
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...
s. In a
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
, legislators are most commonly popularly
elected Elected may refer to:
* "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973
* ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008
*The Elected, an American indie rock band
See also
*Election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...
, although
indirect election
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...
and appointment by the executive are also used, particularly for
bicameral legislatures featuring an
upper chamber
An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restri ...
.
Terminology
![Legislation Terminology Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Legislation_Terminology_Map.png)
The name used to refer to a legislative body varies by country.
Common names include:
* Assembly (from ''to assemble'')
* Congress (from ''to congregate'')
* Council (from Latin 'meeting')
* Diet (from old German 'people')
* Estates or States (from old French 'condition' or 'status')
* Parliament (from French ''parler'' 'to speak')
By names:
*
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level.
Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...
*
House of Chiefs A House of Chiefs (or ''House of Traditional Leaders'') is a post-colonial assembly, either legislative or advisory, that is recognised by either a national or regional government as consisting of and providing a collective, public voice for an et ...
*
Legislative assembly
*
Legislative council
*
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
By languages:
*
Cortes
Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to:
People
* Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name
** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador
Places
* Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...
(from Spanish 'courts')
*
Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.
The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
(from Russian ''dúma'' 'thought')
*
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
(from Hebrew 'gathering' or 'assembly')
*
Rada
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Se ...
(from Ukrainian 'council')
*
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...
(from Polish 'gathering')
*
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
(from Russian 'council')
*
Thing
Thing or The Thing may refer to:
Philosophy
* An object
* Broadly, an entity
* Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant
* Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...
(from old Germanic 'assembly')
*
Veche
Veche ( rus, вече, véče, ˈvʲet͡ɕe; pl, wiec; uk, ві́че, víče, ; be, ве́ча, viéča, ; cu, вѣще, věšte) was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries.
In Novgorod and in Pskov, where the veche acquired gr ...
(from old Slavic 'council')
Though the specific roles for each legislature differ by location, they all aim to serve the same purpose of appointing officials to represent their citizens to determine appropriate legislation for the country.
History
Among the earliest recognised legislatures was the
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
''
Ecclesia.''
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop into predecessors of modern legislatures.
These were often named
The Estates. The oldest surviving legislature is the
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
, founded in 930 CE.
Functions
Democratic legislatures have six major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight.
Representation
There exist five ways that representation can be achieved in a legislature:
* Formalistically: how the rules of the legislature ensure representation of constituents;
* Symbolically: how the constituents perceive their representatives;
* Descriptively: how well the composition of the legislature matches the demographics of the wider society;
* Substantively: how well representatives actually respond to the needs of their constituents;
* Collectively: how well the representatives represent the interests of the society as a whole.
Deliberation
One of the major functions of a legislature is to discuss and debate issues of major importance to society.
This activity can take place in two forms. In debating legislatures, such as the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
, the floor of the legislature frequently sees lively debate.
In contrast, in committee-based legislatures like the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, deliberation takes place in closed committees.
Legislation
While legislatures have nominally the sole power to create laws, the substantive extent of this power depends on details of the political system. In
Westminster-style legislatures the executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass any laws it wants, as it usually has a majority of legislators behind it, kept in check by the party whip, while committee-based legislatures in
continental Europe and those in
presidential systems of the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
have more independence in drafting and amending bills.
Authorizing expenditure
The origins of the
power of the purse
The power of the purse is the ability of one group to manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra fun ...
which legislatures typically have in passing or denying
government budgets goes back to the European assemblies of nobility which the
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
s would have to consult before raising taxes.
For this power to be actually effective, the legislature should be able to amend the budget, have an effective committee system, enough time for consideration, as well as access to relevant background information.
Making governments
The power of the legislature over the government is stronger.
Oversight
There are several ways in which the legislature can hold the government accountable, including
questioning,
interpellations, and
votes of confidence.
Function in authoritarian regimes
In contrast to
democratic systems, legislatures under
authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voti ...
are used to ensure the stability of the power structure by co-opting potential competing interests within the elites, which they achieve (cap) by:
* Providing legitimacy;
* Incorporating opponents into the system;
* Providing some representation of outside interests;
* Offering a way to recruit new members to the ruling clique;
* Being a channel through which limited grievances and concessions can be passed.
Internal organization
Each chamber of the legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of
parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense ...
to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a certain number of legislators present to carry out these activities; this is called a
quorum.
Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are usually delegated to
committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
s made up of a few of the members of the .
The members of a legislature usually represent different
political parties; the members from each party generally meet as a
caucus to organize their internal affairs.
Relation to other branches of government
Legislatures vary widely in the amount of
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
they wield, compared to other political players such as
judiciaries
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
,
militaries
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, and
executives. In 2009, political scientists
M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a
Parliamentary powers index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures. The German
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
, the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
, and the Mongolian
State Great Khural tied for most powerful, while Myanmar's
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and Somalia's
Transitional Federal Assembly (since replaced by the
Federal Parliament of Somalia) tied for least powerful.
Some political systems follows the principle of
legislative supremacy
Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all ...
, which holds that the legislature is the supreme branch of government and cannot be bound by other institutions, such as the judicial branch or a written
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
. Such a system renders the legislature more powerful.
In
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and
semi-presidential
A semi-presidential republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a ...
systems of
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
, the
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
is responsible to the legislature, which may remove it with a
vote of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
. On the other hand, according to the
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
doctrine, the legislature in a
presidential system is considered an independent and coequal branch of government along with both the
judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
and the executive. Nevertheless, many presidential systems provide for the
impeachment of the executive for criminal or unconstitutional behaviour.
Legislatures will sometimes delegate their legislative power to
administrative
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
or
executive agencies
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nor ...
.
Members
Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as
legislator
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...
s, who
vote
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an Constituency, electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision making, decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election camp ...
on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains a fixed number of legislators; because legislatures usually meet in a specific room filled with seats for the legislators, this is often described as the number of "seats" it contains. For example, a legislature that has 100 "seats" has 100 members. By extension, an
electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a "seat", as, for example, in the phrases "
safe seat" and "
marginal seat
A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...
".
After election, the members may be protected by
parliamentary immunity or
parliamentary privilege, either for all actions the duration of their entire term, or for just those related to their legislative duties.
Chambers
A legislature may
debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...
and
vote
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an Constituency, electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision making, decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election camp ...
upon
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
s as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple separate
assemblies, called by various names including
''legislative chambers'',
''debate chambers'', and ''houses'', which debate and vote separately and have distinct powers. A legislature which operates as a single unit is
unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...
, one divided into two chambers is
bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is
tricameral
Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted with unicameralism and bicameralism, each of which is far more common.
Varieties of tricameralism
A disputed type of tricameralism is one whe ...
.
![House of Commons Chamber 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/House_of_Commons_Chamber_1.png)
In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is usually considered the
upper house
An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...
, while the other is considered the
lower house. The two types are not rigidly different, but members of upper houses tend to be indirectly elected or appointed rather than directly elected, tend to be allocated by
administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
s rather than by population, and tend to have longer terms than members of the lower house. In some systems, particularly
parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
s, the upper house has less power and tends to have a more advisory role, but in others, particularly
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
presidential systems, the upper house has equal or even greater power.
![Deutscher Bundestag Plenarsaal Seitenansicht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Deutscher_Bundestag_Plenarsaal_Seitenansicht.jpg)
In
federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
s, the upper house typically represents the federation's component states. This is also the case with the supranational legislature of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governmentsas in the European Union and in Germany and,
before 1913, in the United Statesor be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Australia and the United States since 1913.
Tricameral
Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted with unicameralism and bicameralism, each of which is far more common.
Varieties of tricameralism
A disputed type of tricameralism is one whe ...
legislatures are rare; the
Massachusetts Governor's Council
The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Counc ...
still exists, but the most recent national example existed in the waning years of White-minority rule in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
Tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. The only legislature with a number of chambers bigger than four was the
Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia
The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was c ...
; initially established as a Pentacameral body in 1963, it was turned into a hexacameral body in 1967.
Size
Legislatures vary widely in their size. Among
national legislatures
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included in ...
, China's
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
is the largest with 2,980 members,
while
Vatican City
Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—'
* german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ')
* pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—'
* pt, Cidade do Vati ...
's
Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7.
Neither legislature is democratically elected: The Pontifical Commission members are appointed by the Pope and the
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
is
indirectly elected
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...
within the context of a
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
.
Legislature size is a trade off between efficiency and representation; the smaller the legislature, the more efficiently it can operate, but the larger the legislature, the better it can represent the political diversity of its constituents. Comparative analysis of national legislatures has found that size of a country's
lower house tends to be proportional to the
cube root of its
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
; that is, the size of the lower house tends to increase along with population, but much more slowly.
See also
*
List of legislative buildings
A legislative building is a building in which a legislature sits and makes laws for its respective Polity, political entity. The term used for the building varies between the political entities, such as "building", "capitol", "hall", "house", or ...
*
Election apportionment diagram
*
Evidence-based legislation
Evidence-based legislation (EBL) is a legislative concept which calls for the use of the best available scientific evidence and systematically collected data, when available, by legislatures as a basis for their formulation and writing of law. Evi ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
{{Portal bar, Law, Politics
Separation of powers