Legislature

A legislature is a governmental deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. Legislatures are known by many names, including: parliament, congress, diet and national assembly.

Chambers

The primary component of a legislature is one or more chambers or houses: assemblies that debate and vote upon bills.

Related Topics:
Debate - Vote - Bill

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Most legislatures are either bicameral or unicameral:

Related Topics:
Bicameral - Unicameral

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• A unicameral legislature is the simplest kind of law-making body and has only one house.
• A bicameral legislature possesses two separate chambers, usually described as an upper house and a lower house, which may differ in duties, powers, and methods for the selection of members.

In most parliamentary systems, the lower house is the most powerful house while the upper house is merely a chamber of advice or review. However in presidential systems the powers of the two houses are often similar or equal. In federations it is typical for the upper house to represent the component states. For this purpose the upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments, as is the case of Germany and was the case in the pre-19 century United States, or to be elected according to a formula that grants disproportionate representation to smaller states, as is the case today in Australia and the United States. Historically, as well as bicameral and unicameral bodies, there have also been rare instances of tricameral legislatures.

Related Topics:
Parliamentary system - Presidential system - Federation - Germany - United States - Australia - Tricameral

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Many legislatures are said to include not just one or more houses but also the head of state. This is because in most systems it is necessary that, after being approved by the house or houses of the legislature, a bill receive the assent of the head of state before it can become law. This may be the case even if, as is the case in many parliamentary systems, the assent of the head of state is merely a formality and will not be withheld. It is also common, however, for the head of state not to be considered a formal part of the legislature, even if they have the power to veto laws. The British Parliament formally consists of the Crown, and two houses; similarly, the Irish Oireachtas consists officially of the President and two houses. In contrast, the United States Congress consists only of its two houses and does not officially include the US president, despite the fact that he wields a veto.

Related Topics:
Head of state - British Parliament - Crown - Oireachtas

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