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77-434: In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench (or front bench ) and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers . Independent and minority parties sit to
154-558: A majoritarian or plurality basis, and an electoral basis or collegium . Typically, the senate is referred to as the upper house and has a smaller membership than the lower house. In some federal states senates also exist at the subnational level. In the United States , most states and territories have senates, with the exception of Nebraska , Guam , and the U.S. Virgin Islands (whose legislatures are unicameral bodies called
231-452: A Senate. Córdoba and Tucumán changed to unicameral systems in 2001 and 2003 respectively. In Australia and Canada , only the upper house of the federal parliament is known as the Senate. All Australian states other than Queensland have an upper house known as a Legislative council . Several Canadian provinces also once had a Legislative Council, but these have all been abolished,
308-515: A bill may be bypassed by the lower house or another branch of government. The modern word senate is derived from the Latin word senātus (senate), which comes from senex , 'elder man'. A member or legislator of a senate is called senator . The Latin word senator was adopted into English with no change in spelling . Its meaning is derived from a very ancient form of social organization, in which advisory or decision-making powers are reserved for
385-587: A brief period, England became a commonwealth , with Oliver Cromwell the de facto ruler, with the title of Lord Protector . Frustrated with its decisions, Cromwell purged and suspended Parliament on several occasions. A controversial figure notorious for his actions in Ireland , Cromwell is nonetheless regarded as essential to the growth of democracy in England. The years of the Commonwealth, coupled with
462-479: 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. 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
539-575: A convocation sejm established an elective monarchy in the Commonwealth. 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
616-480: 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
693-555: 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
770-739: A long period of time. The original senate was the Roman Senate , which lasted until at least CE 603, although various efforts to revive it were made in Medieval Rome. In the Eastern Roman Empire , the Byzantine Senate continued until the Fourth Crusade , circa 1202–1204. The female form senatrix also existed. Modern democratic states with bicameral parliamentary systems are sometimes equipped with
847-410: A senate, often distinguished from an ordinary parallel lower house , known variously as the " House of Representatives ", " House of Commons ", " Chamber of Deputies ", " National Assembly ", " Legislative Assembly ", or " House of Assembly ", by electoral rules. This may include minimum age required for voters and candidates, one house employing a proportional voting system and the other being elected on
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#1732787078409924-638: A single body, of which the monarch was the senior partner and the Lords and the Commons the lesser, but still essential, members." Although its role in government had expanded significantly in the mid 16th century, 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. For
1001-597: Is consensus government with a non-partisan makeup, ministers sit amongst regular members. A front bench in Dáil Éireann , the lower house of the Oireachtas of Ireland , refers to any organised group of party members who holds any degree of speaking power (derived from the party) on specific issues. The Teachtaí Dála (TDs) who are members of the Government of Ireland constitute the government front bench, while
1078-522: Is a deliberative assembly , often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature . The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus ), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: senex meaning "the elder" or "old man") and therefore considered wiser and more experienced members of the society or ruling class . However the Roman Senate was not the ancestor or predecessor of modern parliamentarism in any sense, because
1155-488: Is commonly used in countries that are current or former monarchies . 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. What
1232-709: Is considered to be the first modern parliament, was the Cortes of León , 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". The English term
1309-500: Is derived from Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century Old French word parlement ' discussion, discourse ' , from parler , ' 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
1386-617: The Civil War , and again at the Glorious Revolution . 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
1463-467: 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
1540-485: The Official Opposition rather than those on the government front benches. Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a 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
1617-656: 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
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#17327870784091694-703: The Speaker of the House of Commons or the Lord Speaker ), and is occupied by Government ministers . The opposition frontbench is occupied by shadow ministers, of whom the most senior form the Shadow Cabinet . While backbenchers are referred to in the House of Commons of Canada (and the provincial legislatures), the front seats on the government side are reserved for cabinet ministers. Front row members of
1771-515: 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. 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. The Parliament of the United Kingdom followed at
1848-740: The "Legislature" but whose members refer to themselves as "senators") and the District of Columbia (whose unicameral legislature is called the Council). There is also the US Senate at the federal level. Similarly in Argentina , in addition to the Senate at federal level, eight of the country's provinces , Buenos Aires , Catamarca , Corrientes , Entre Ríos , Mendoza , Salta , San Luis (since 1987) and Santa Fe , have bicameral legislatures with
1925-574: 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
2002-415: 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
2079-450: 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
2156-660: 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. The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in
2233-591: The Middle Ages and equivalent of the German word Reichstag . Today the term lives on in the official names of national legislatures and other institutions in the North Germanic countries. In Yorkshire and former Danelaw areas of England, which were subject to Norse invasion and settlement, the wapentake was another name for the same institution. The Sicilian Parliament , dating to 1097, evolved as
2310-512: 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. Senate A senate
2387-798: The Roman senate was not a de jure legislative body. Many countries have an assembly named a senate , composed of senators who may be elected , appointed, have inherited the title, or gained membership by other methods, depending on the country. Modern senates typically serve to provide a chamber of "sober second thought" to consider legislation passed by a lower house , whose members are usually elected. Most senates have asymmetrical duties and powers compared with their respective lower house meaning they have special duties, for example to fill important political positions or to pass special laws. Conversely many senates have limited powers in changing or stopping bills under consideration and efforts to stall or veto
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2464-461: 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 . " 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
2541-577: The conquered territories, such as those represented by the Gulating near Bergen in western Norway: 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
2618-539: 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 included elected representatives from shires and towns. Thus these parliaments are considered forerunners of
2695-513: 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 –
2772-472: 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, other scholars (notably from Hizb ut-Tahrir ) highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist and advise
2849-627: The development of the Polish parliament, the Sejm , in around 1180. The term "sejm" comes from an old Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. The power of early sejms grew between 1146 and 1295, when the power of individual rulers waned and various councils grew stronger. Since the 14th century irregular sejms (described in various Latin sources as contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta ) have been convened by Poland's monarchs. From 1374,
2926-448: The ecclesiastics and the king. In 1215, they secured Magna Carta from King John of England . This 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
3003-415: The eldest men. For the same reason, the word senate is correctly used when referring to any powerful authority characteristically composed by the eldest members of a community, as a deliberative body of a faculty in an institution of higher learning is often called a senate. This form of adaptation was used to show the power of those in body and for the decision-making process to be thorough, which could take
3080-494: 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 reign 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
3157-526: 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
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3234-591: The front benches, or in the New Zealand House of Representatives front seats , are reserved for the government and opposition leaders. The government ministers sit to the Speaker's right, whilst the opposition leaders sit to the Speaker's left (as seen from the Speaker's chair). The term frontbencher is therefore also used in New Zealand but usually refers to the foremost leaders and spokespersons of
3311-431: The governing party are not referred to as frontbenchers, but as cabinet ministers. Some "frontbenchers" actually sit in the centre of the second row, so as to be seen directly behind the party leader during Question Period (and thus, in the television frame). The same arrangement exists for each provincial legislature and the territorial legislature of Yukon . In the case of Nunavut and Northwest Territories where there
3388-465: 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
3465-527: 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
3542-451: The king had to receive permission from that assembly to raise taxes and the 1454 Nieszawa Statutes granted the szlachta (nobles) unprecedented concessions and authority. The General Sejm (Polish sejm generalny or sejm walny ), first convoked by the John I Albert in 1493 near Piotrków , evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings called sejmiks . Simultaneously, the Senate
3619-425: 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
3696-631: 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 around 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose; however, the Witan
3773-482: 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
3850-600: 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
3927-608: 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: 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
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#17327870784094004-538: The last being Quebec 's Legislative council in 1968. In Germany , the last senate of a state parliament, the Bavarian Senate , was abolished in 2000. Senate membership can be determined either through elections or appointments. For example, elections are held every three years for half the membership of the Senate of the Philippines , the term of a senator being six years. In contrast, members of
4081-529: The legislature of the Kingdom of Sicily . The Diet of Hungary, or originally Parlamentum Publicum and Parlamentum Generale ( Hungarian : 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
4158-434: The legislature. 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
4235-488: The members of parties in declared opposition to the government constitute the opposition front bench. The Parliament of Australia also has a front bench, which includes all ministers and shadow ministers. In more recent times, journalists have casually referred to ministers as frontbenchers rather than expressing the due deference of their ministerial positions. New Zealand follows the Westminster tradition whereby
4312-512: The modern parliament. In 1265, Simon de Montfort , then in rebellion against Henry III, summoned a parliament of his supporters without royal authorisation. 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 be represented. In 1295, Edward I adopted De Montfort's ideas for representation and election in
4389-408: 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 Acts of Supremacy established the monarch as head of the Church of England. The power of Parliament, in its relationship with the monarch, increased considerably after
4466-411: 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
4543-583: 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. According to the Chronicles of Gallus Anonymus , the first legendary Polish ruler, Siemowit , who began the Piast dynasty , was chosen by an ancient wiec council. The idea of the wiec led to
4620-434: 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 agreed not to collect certain taxes without the "consent of the realm" through parliament. He also enlarged the court system. The tenants-in-chief often struggled for power with
4697-412: 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
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#17327870784094774-405: 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
4851-410: 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
4928-497: 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
5005-419: The side or on benches between the two sides, and are referred to as crossbenchers . Frontbenchers may be part of a Frontbench Team with other members of their political party. In the House of Commons , the Government frontbench is traditionally called the Treasury bench ( HM Treasury is the oldest government department). The government frontbench is on the right hand side as seen by the Chairman (typically
5082-408: The so-called " Model Parliament ". At first, each estate debated independently; by the reign of Edward III , however, Parliament had grown closer to its modern form, with the legislative body having two separate chambers. 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
5159-470: 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
5236-472: The union with Ireland. Originally, there was only the Parlement 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
5313-418: The unity of the nation and the state. The general parliament of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of three estates – the King of Poland, the Senate (consisting of Ministers, Palatines, Castellans and Roman Catholic Bishops) and the Chamber of Envoys comprising 170 nobles acting on behalf of their holdings as well as representatives of major cities, who did not possess any voting privileges. In 1573,
5390-456: 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
5467-439: Was certainly in existence long before then. 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
5544-553: Was founded on the earlier curia regis , convened at the king's discretion. Hence, the year 1493 marked the beginning of a bicameral legislative body of government . With the subsequent development of Polish Golden Liberty in the next several decades, the Sejm's powers systematically increased. Poland was among the few countries in Europe where the parliament played an especially important role in its national identity as it contributed to
5621-443: 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
5698-550: 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
5775-405: Was some form of democracy . However, these claims are not accepted by other scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies . Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy . The Athenian assembly ( ἐκκλησία , 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
5852-497: 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 last Estates General transformed itself into a National Assembly , a legislative body whose existence is independent of the royal power. A thing or ting ( Old Norse and Icelandic : þing ; other modern Scandinavian : ting , ding in Dutch )
5929-517: 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
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