From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 is commonly used in countries that are current or former
monarchies, a form of government with a monarch as the head. 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, e.g. medieval
parliaments.
Etymology
The English term is derived from
Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century
Old French parlement, from
parler, meaning "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 the legislature.
Early parliaments
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 was some form of
democracy. However, these claims are not accepted by most 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 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 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, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system.
Iran
The first recorded signs of a council to decide on different issues in
ancient Iran dates back to 247 BC while the
Parthian empire was in power. The
Parthians established the first Iranian empire since
the conquest of Persia by
Alexander.
In the early years of their rule, an assembly of the nobles called
“Mehestan” was formed that made the final decision on serious issues of
state.
The word "Mehestan" consists of two parts. "Meh", a word of the old Persian origin, which literally means "The Great" and "
-Stan", a
suffix in
the Persian language, which describes an especial place. Altogether Mehestan means a place where the greats come together.
The Mehestan Assembly, which consisted of
Zoroastrian religious leaders and clan elders exerted great influence over the administration of the kingdom.
One of the most important decisions of the council took place in
208 AD, when a civil war broke out and the Mehestan decided that the
empire would be ruled by two brothers simultaneously,
Ardavan V and Blash V.
In 224 AD, following the dissolution of the Parthian empire, after over 470 years, the Mahestan council came to an end.
Spain
Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and
1063, there was no representation of commoners. What is considered to be
the first parliament (with the presence of commoners), the
Cortes of León, was 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".
After coming to power, King
Alfonso IX, facing an attack by his two neighbors,
Castile and
Portugal,
decided to summon the "Royal Curia". This was a medieval organization
composed of aristocrats and bishops but because of the seriousness of
the situation and the need to maximize political support, Alfonso IX
took the decision to also call the representatives of the urban middle
class from the most important cities of the kingdom to the assembly. León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to
private property,
the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite
the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before
entering a war.
Prelates, nobles and commoners met separately in the three estates of
the Cortes. In this meeting, new laws were approved to protect commoners
against the arbitrarities of nobles, prelates and the king. This
important set of laws is known as the
Carta Magna Leonesa.
After the union of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile under the
Crown of Castile,
their Cortes were united as well in 1258. The Castilian Cortes had
representatives from Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia,
Jaén, Zamora, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cuenca, Toro, Valladolid,
Soria, Madrid, Guadalajara and Granada (after 1492). The Cortes' assent
was required to pass new taxes, and could also advise the king on other
matters. The
comunero rebels intended a stronger role for the Cortes, but were defeated by the forces of
Habsburg Emperor
Charles V in 1521. The Cortes maintained some power, however, though it became more of a consultative entity. However, by the time of
King Philip II,
Charles's son, the Castilian Cortes had come under functionally
complete royal control, with its delegates dependent on the Crown for
their income.
The very first Cortes representing the whole of Spain (and the Spanish empire of the day) assembled in 1812, in
Cadiz, where it operated as a government in exile as at that time most of the rest of Spain was in the hands of
Napoleon's army.
Portugal
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 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 the prohibition of the purchase of lands by
churches or monasteries (although they can be acquired by donations and
legacies).
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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 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.
England
Early forms of assembly
England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist and advise 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 ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old
English prose; however, the witan was certainly in existence long before
this time. The Witan, along with the folkmoots (local assemblies), is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament.
As part of the
Norman Conquest of England, 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 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 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 rule
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 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 I agreed not to collect certain
taxes without the "consent of the realm" through parliament. He also enlarged the court system.
Magna Carta and the Model Parliament
A 1215 edition of
Magna Carta, as featured on display at the British Library.
The tenants-in-chief often struggled with their spiritual counterparts and with the king for power. In 1215, they secured from
King John of England Magna Carta,
which 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
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
incorporated elected representatives from shires and towns. These
parliaments are, as such, considered forerunners of the modern
parliament.
In 1265,
Simon de Montfort, then in rebellion against
Henry III, summoned
a parliament of his supporters without royal authorization. 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 receive any representation. Come 1295,
Edward I later adopted de Montfort's ideas for representation and election in the so-called "
Model Parliament". At first, each
estate debated independently; by the reign of
Edward III,
however, Parliament recognisably assumed its modern form, with
authorities dividing the legislative body into two separate chambers.
Parliament under Henry VIII and Edward VI
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 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
Reformation Acts
supplied Parliament with unlimited power over the country. This
included authority over virtually every matter, whether social,
economic, political, or religious;
it legalised the Reformation, officially and indisputably. The king had
to rule through the council, not over it, and all sides needed to reach
a mutual agreement when creating or passing laws, adjusting or
implementing taxes, or changing religious doctrines. This was
significant: the monarch no longer had sole control over the country.
For instance, during the later years of
Mary,
Parliament exercised its authority in originally rejecting Mary's bid
to revive Catholicism in the realm. Later on, the legislative body even
denied
Elizabeth her request to marry. If Parliament had possessed this power before Cromwell, such as when
Wolsey
served as secretary, the Reformation may never have happened, as the
king would have had to gain the consent of all parliament members before
so drastically changing the country's religious laws and fundamental
identity.
The power of Parliament increased considerably after Cromwell's
adjustments. 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 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 – 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 a single body, of which the
monarch was the senior partner and the Lords and the Commons the lesser,
but still essential, members.".
Importance of the Commonwealth years
The statue of
Oliver Cromwell, as it stands outside the House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster.
Although its role in government expanded significantly during the
reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, 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. Afterward, England became a
commonwealth, with
Oliver Cromwell,
its lord protector, the de facto ruler. Frustrated with its decisions,
Cromwell purged and suspended Parliament on several occasions.
A controversial figure accused of despotism, war crimes, and even
genocide, Cromwell is nonetheless regarded as essential to the growth
of democracy in England. The years of the Commonwealth, coupled with 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.
Acts of Union
Scotland
From the 10th century the
Kingdom of Alba was ruled by chiefs (
toisechs) and subkings (
mormaers) under the
suzerainty, real or nominal, of a
High King. Popular assemblies, as in Ireland, were involved in law-making, and sometimes in king-making, although the introduction of
tanistry—naming
a successor in the lifetime of a king—made the second less than common.
These early assemblies cannot be considered "parliaments" in the later
sense of the word, and were entirely separate from the later,
Norman-influenced, institution.
By the early fourteenth century the attendance of knights and
freeholders had become important, and from 1326
burgh commissioners attended. Consisting of the Three Estates; of
clerics, lay
tenants-in-chief
and burgh commissioners sitting in a single chamber, the Scottish
parliament acquired significant powers over particular issues. Most
obviously it was needed for consent for
taxation (although taxation was only raised irregularly in Scotland in the
medieval period), but it also had a strong influence over
justice,
foreign policy,
war, and all manner of other legislation, whether political,
ecclesiastical, social or economic. Parliamentary business was also
carried out by "sister" institutions, before c. 1500 by
General Council and thereafter by the
Convention of Estates.
These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament –
taxation, legislation and policy-making – but lacked the ultimate
authority of a full parliament.
Nordic and Germanic countries
Iceland's parliament House, at Austurvöllur in
Reykjavík, built in 1880–1881. Home of one of the oldest still-acting parliaments in the world.
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 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 the conquered territories, such as those represented by the
Gulating near Bergen in western Norway.
- The Icelandic Althing, dating to 930.
- The Faroese Løgting, dating to a similar period.
- The Manx Tynwald, which claims to be over 1,000 years old.
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 the Middle Ages and equivalent of the German word
Reichstag.
Today the term lives on in the official names of national
legislatures, political and judicial institutions in the North-Germanic
countries. In the
Yorkshire and former
Danelaw areas of England, which were subject to much Norse invasion and settlement, the
wapentake was another name for the same institution.
Italy
Switzerland
The
Federal Diet of Switzerland was one of the longest-lived representative bodies in history, continuing from the 13th century to 1848.
France
Originally, there was only the Parliament 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 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 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
National Assembly became the lower house of France's bicameral legislature.
Poland
The First Sejm in Łęczyca. Recording of laws. A.D. 1180
According to the
Chronicles of
Gallus Anonymus, the first legendary Polish ruler,
Siemowit, who began the
Piast Dynasty, was chosen by a
wiec. The
veche (
Russian:
вече,
Polish:
wiec) was a popular assembly in medieval
Slavic countries, and in late medieval period, a parliament. The idea of the
wiec led in 1182 to the development of the Polish parliament, the
Sejm.
The term "sejm" comes from an old Polish expression denoting a
meeting of the populace. The power of early sejms grew between
1146–1295, when the power of individual rulers waned and various
councils and wiece grew stronger. The history of the national Sejm dates
back to 1182. Since the 14th century irregular sejms (described in
various
Latin sources as
contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta or Polish
sejm walny) have been called by Polish kings. From 1374, the king had to receive sejm permission to raise
taxes. The General Sejm (Polish
Sejm Generalny or
Sejm Walny), first convoked by the king
John I Olbracht in 1493 near
Piotrków, evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings (
sejmiks). It followed most closely the
sejmik generally, which arose from the 1454
Nieszawa Statutes, granted to the
szlachta (nobles) by King
Casimir IV the Jagiellonian. From 1493 forward, indirect elections were repeated every two years. With the development of the unique Polish
Golden Liberty the Sejm's powers increased.
The
Commonwealth's
general parliament consisted of three estates: the King of Poland (who
also acted as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russia/Ruthenia, Prussia,
Mazovia, etc.), the Senat (consisting of Ministers, Palatines,
Castellans and Bishops) and the Chamber of Envoys—circa 170 nobles (
szlachta)
acting on behalf of their Lands and sent by Land Parliaments. Also
representatives of selected cities but without any voting powers. Since
1573 at a royal election all peers of the Commonwealth could participate
in the Parliament and become the King's electors.
Ukraine
Originally established at the
Zaporizhian Sich, the
rada (council) was an institution of Cossack administration in
Ukraine
from the 16th to the 18th century. With the establishment of the Hetman
state in 1648, it was officially known as the General Military Council
until 1750.
Russia
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 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:
Nobility and high bureaucracy, including the Boyar Duma,
The Holy Sobor of high Orthodox clergy,
Representatives of merchants and townspeople (third estate).
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 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.
Novgorod and Pskov
The
veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in 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 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 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.
Roman Catholic Church
"
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 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.
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