legislature, representative assembly empowered to enact statute law. Generally the representatives who compose a legislature are constitutionally elected by a broad spectrum of the population.

Types of Legislatures

Two common types of legislature are those in which the executive and the legislative branches are clearly separated, as in the U.S. Congress, and those in which members of the executive branch are chosen from the legislative membership, as in the British Parliament. Respectively termed presidential and parliamentary systems, there are innumerable variations of the two forms. It should be noted that while popular assemblies of citizens, as in direct democracy democracy [Gr.,=rule of the people], term originating in ancient Greece to designate a government where the people share in directing the activities of the state, as distinct from governments controlled by a single class, select group, or autocrat.
..... Click the link for more information. , are often called legislatures, the term should properly be applied only to those assemblies that perform a representative function.

In its early history, the English Parliament Parliament, legislative assembly of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Over the centuries it has become more than a legislative body; it is the sovereign power of Great Britain, whereas the monarch remains sovereign in name only.
..... Click the link for more information. , like the States-General States-General or Estates-General, diet or national assembly in which the chief estates (see estate ) of a nation—usually clergy, nobles, and towns (or commons)—were represented as separate bodies.
..... Click the link for more information. of France and the diet diet, parliamentary bodies in Japan, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the Scandinavian nations, and Germany have been called diets. In German history, the diet originated as a meeting of landholders and burghers, convoked by the ruler to discuss financial problems.
..... Click the link for more information. of the Holy Roman Empire consisted of representatives chosen according to classes or estates (see estate estate.

1 In property law, see property ; tenure .

2 In constitutional law, an estate denotes an organized class of society with a separate voice in government. Representation by estate arose in Europe in the 13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , in constitutional law). Out of the estates arose the typical bicameral system, in which an upper house represented the nobility and clergy and a lower house represented the bourgeoisie. Although the upper house assemblies of many countries are still nonelective or hereditary, they are generally much weaker than the popularly elected lower house and carry out only minor functions. Those states with unicameral legislatures include Finland and Israel.

The Congress of the United States Congress of the United States, the legislative branch of the federal government, instituted (1789) by Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States , which prescribes its membership and defines its powers.
..... Click the link for more information. is bicameral, but rather than being rooted in societal class differences, it is based upon principles of federalism. The founders of the American republic, in order to assure acceptance of the Constitution, gave each state equal representation representation, in government, the term used to designate the means by which a whole population may participate in governing through the device of having a much smaller number of people act on their behalf.
..... Click the link for more information. in the Senate, as a gesture to the smaller states, and made membership in the House of Representatives dependent upon population size, thereby favoring the larger states. Most of the American state legislatures are also bicameral.

History

While rules of law have always been a concern for society, the use of legislatures for their establishment is a relatively modern phenomenon. In earlier times, human laws were considered part of the universal natural law, discoverable through the use of reason rather than made by the declaration of the people. With the growth of belief in positive law, the increasing need in emerging modern society for adaptable law, and the decline of monarchial power, however, legislatures with law-making powers came about. One of the oldest legislatures (with the possible exception of Iceland's Althing Althing (äl`thĭng) [Icel.,=general diet], parliament of Iceland.
..... Click the link for more information. and the Isle of Man's Tynwald) is the English Parliament, which, although originally nonelective and advisory to the king, has evolved over the centuries to the point where its lower house is now elected through universal suffrage and possesses the sovereign power of the state.

Some other modern national legislatures are the U.S. Congress, the Cortes Cortes (kôr`tĕz, Span. kōr`tās), representative assembly in Spain. The institution originated (12th–13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (Spain), the Knesset (Israel), the Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann (dôl ā`rôn, dīl âr`ən)
..... Click the link for more information. (Ireland), the Bundestag Bundestag (b
..... Click the link for more information. (Germany), the Folketing Folketing (fôl`kətĭng), national parliament of Denmark.
..... Click the link for more information. (Denmark), the Riksdag Riksdag (rēks`däg, rēks`tä), national parliament of Sweden, formed in 1866.
..... Click the link for more information. (Sweden), the Storting Storting (stôr`tĭng), national parliament of Norway, dating from 1814.
..... Click the link for more information. (Norway), and the Congress of People's Deputies (Russia). The term parliament is often applied to national legislatures without regard to the official designation.

Bibliography

See W. I. Jennings, Parliament (2d ed. 1957, repr. 1969); American Assembly, State Legislatures in American Politics (1966); G. S. Blair, American Legislatures: Structure and Process (1967); W. H. Agor, ed., Latin American Legislatures—Their Role and Influence (1971); J. Smith and L. D. Musolf, ed., Legislatures in Development: Dynamics of Change in New and Old States (1979); N. J. Ornstein, ed., Role of the Legislature in Western Democracies (1981); D. Judge, The Politics of Parliamentary Reform (1984).

legislature

Lawmaking branch of a government. Before the advent of legislatures, the law was dictated by monarchs. Early European legislatures include the English Parliament and the Icelandic Althing (founded c. 930). Legislatures may be unicameral or bicameral (see bicameral system). Their powers may include passing laws, establishing the government's budget, confirming executive appointments, ratifying treaties, investigating the executive branch, impeaching and removing from office members of the executive and judiciary, and redressing constituents' grievances. Members may be appointed or directly or indirectly elected; they may represent an entire population, particular groups, or territorial subdistricts. In presidential systems, the executive and legislative branches are clearly separated; in parliamentary systems, members of the executive branch are chosen from the legislative membership. See also Bundestag; Congress of the United States; Diet; Duma; European Parliament; Knesset; Canadian Parliament.