Bicameral House and Unicameral Which Represents the People More Directly

Deliberative assembly that makes laws

A legislature is an assembly with the say-so to brand laws for a political entity such as a state or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.

Laws enacted past legislatures are usually known as primary legislation. In improver, legislatures may detect and steer governing deportment, with authority to amend the budget involved.

The members of a legislature are called legislators. In a democracy, legislators are almost ordinarily popularly elected, although indirect election and appointment by the executive are too used, particularly for bicameral legislatures featuring an upper chamber.

Terminology [edit]

Map showing the terminology for each country's national legislature

The proper name used to refer to a legislative body varies by state.

Mutual names include:

Assembly (from to assemble)
Congress (from to congregate)
Diet (from former German 'people')
Duma (from Russian dúma 'thought')
Estates or States (from quondam French 'condition' or 'status')
Parliament (from French parler 'to speak')

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 [edit]

Among the primeval recognised legislatures was the Athenian Ecclesia. ^[1] In the Middle Ages, European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop into predecessors of mod legislatures.^[ane] These were frequently named The Estates. The oldest surviving legislature is the Icelandic Althing, founded in 930 CE.

Functions [edit]

Democratic legislatures have vi major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight.^[1]

Representation [edit]

There be 5 ways that representation can be achieved in a legislature:^[1]

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 lodge as a whole.

Deliberation [edit]

One of the major functions of a legislature is to discuss and debate issues of major importance to club.^[ane] This action can take place in 2 forms. In debating legislatures, similar Parliament of the United kingdom, the floor of the legislature often sees lively contend.^[ane] In contrast, in commission-based legislatures similar the United states of america Congress, deliberation takes place in closed committees.^[ane]

Legislation [edit]

While legislatures take nominally the sole ability to create laws, the substantive extent of this power depends on details of the political system. In Westminster-fashion legislatures the executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass whatsoever laws it wants, as information technology usually has a bulk of legislators behind information technology, kept in check past the political party whip, while commission-based legislatures in continental Europe and those in presidential systems of the Americas take more independence in drafting and amending bills.^[2]

[edit]

The origins of the power of the purse which legislatures typically have in passing or denying government budgets goes back to the European assemblies of nobility which the monarchs would take to consult before raising taxes.^[3] For this power to exist actually effective, the legislature should be able to amend the budget, have an constructive committee system, enough time for consideration, as well as admission to relevant background data.^[3]

Making governments [edit]

The power of the legislature over the government is stronger.

Oversight [edit]

There are several ways in which the legislature can hold the regime accountable, including questioning, interpellations, and votes of confidence.

Function in authoritarian regimes [edit]

In dissimilarity to democratic systems, legislatures under absolutism are used to ensure the stability of the power construction past co-opting potential competing interests inside the elites, which they achieve (cap) by:^[4]

Providing legitimacy;
Incorporating opponents into the organisation;
Providing some representation of exterior interests;
Offering a way to recruit new members to the ruling clique;
Existence a aqueduct through which limited grievances and concessions can be passed.

Internal system [edit]

Each sleeping room of the legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some course of parliamentary procedure to debate political problems and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a certain number of legislators present to acquit out these activities; this is chosen a quorum.

Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving showtime consideration to newly proposed legislation, are normally delegated to committees fabricated up of a few of the members of the sleeping room(s).

The members of a legislature unremarkably represent different political parties; the members from each party more often than not meet as a conclave to organize their internal diplomacy.

Relation to other branches of authorities [edit]

Legislatures vary widely in the amount of political power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries, 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 ability among national legislatures. The High german Bundestag, the Italian Parliament, and the Mongolian State Cracking Khural tied for about powerful, while Myanmar'due south House of Representatives and Somalia's Transitional Federal Associates (since replaced by the Federal Parliament of Somalia) tied for least powerful.^[five]

Some political systems follow the principle of legislative supremacy, 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. Such a organization renders the legislature more powerful.

In parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature, which may remove information technology with a vote of no conviction. On the other hand, co-ordinate to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature in a presidential system is considered an independent and coequal co-operative of government along with both the judiciary and the executive.^{[half dozen]} Nevertheless, many presidential systems provide for the impeachment of the executive for criminal or unconstitutional behaviour.

Legislatures volition sometimes delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies.^[vii]

Members [edit]

Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains a fixed number of legislators; because legislatures ordinarily 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 unmarried legislator tin besides exist described as a "seat", as, for example, in the phrases "safe seat" and "marginal seat".

Later election, the members may be protected by parliamentary immunity or parliamentary privilege, either for all deportment the elapsing of their entire term, or for just those related to their legislative duties.

Chambers [edit]

A legislature may contend and vote upon bills as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple carve up assemblies, called past various names including legislative chambers, debate chambers, and houses, which debate and vote separately and have distinct powers. A legislature which operates as a unmarried unit is unicameral, ane divided into two chambers is bicameral, and 1 divided into three chambers is tricameral.

In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is usually considered the upper house, while the other is considered the lower business firm. The two types are non rigidly different, only members of upper houses tend to be indirectly elected or appointed rather than directly elected, tend to be allocated by administrative divisions rather than by population, and tend to accept longer terms than members of the lower house. In some systems, especially parliamentary systems, the upper firm has less power and tends to accept a more informational role, only in others, particularly federal presidential systems, the upper firm has equal or even greater power.

In federations, the upper firm typically represents the federation'southward component states. This is besides the case with the supranational legislature of the European Matrimony. The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments – every bit in the European Union and in Germany and, before 1913, in the U.s. – or be elected co-ordinate to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the example in Australia and the United States since 1913.

Tricameral legislatures are rare; the Massachusetts Governor'due south Council withal exists, just the almost recent national example existed in the waning years of White-minority rule in South Africa. Tetracameral legislatures no longer be, only they were previously used in Scandinavia.

Size [edit]

Legislatures vary widely in their size. Amongst national legislatures, Prc's National People'southward Congress is the largest with 2,980 members,^[8] while The holy see's Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7.^[9] Neither legislature is democratically elected: The Pontifical Commission members are appointed past the Pope and the National People's Congress is indirectly elected inside the context of a one-party state.^[8] ^[10]

Legislature size is a trade off between efficiency and representation; the smaller the legislature, the more than efficiently it tin operate, just 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 land'south lower firm tends to be proportional to the cube root of its population; that is, the size of the lower house tends to increment along with population, merely much more slowly.^[11]

Meet also [edit]

Listing of legislative buildings
Congress
Election circulation diagram
Bear witness-based legislation
House of Associates
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Council
National Assembly
Parliament

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Hague, Rod, author. (14 October 2017). Political scientific discipline : a comparative introduction. pp. 128–130. ISBN978-i-137-60123-0. OCLC 961119208. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Hague, Rod, author. (14 October 2017). Political science : a comparative introduction. pp. 130–131. ISBN978-one-137-60123-0. OCLC 961119208. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b Hague, Rod, author. (fourteen October 2017). Political scientific discipline : a comparative introduction. pp. 131–132. ISBN978-one-137-60123-0. OCLC 961119208. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Hague, Rod, author. (14 October 2017). Political science : a comparative introduction. ISBN978-ane-137-60123-0. OCLC 961119208. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors listing (link)
^ Fish, M. Steven; Kroenig, Matthew (2009). The handbook of national legislatures: a global survey. Cambridge Academy Press. ISBN978-0-521-51466-8.
^ "Governing Systems and Executive-Legislative Relations (Presidential, Parliamentary and Hybrid Systems)". United nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 2008-ten-17. Retrieved 2008-x-16 .
^ Schoenbrod, David (2008). "Delegation". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Grand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 117–eighteen. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n74. ISBN978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024.
^ ^a ^b "IPU PARLINE database: "General information" module". IPU Parline Database. International Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
^ "Vatican city Country". Vatican city State. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
^ Pope John Paul II (26 Nov 2000). "Central Law of Vatican Urban center State" (PDF). The holy see Country. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008. Retrieved thirty April 2019.
^ Frederick, Brian (December 2009). "Non Quite a Full House: The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives". Bridgewater Review . Retrieved 2016-05-15 .