LEGISLATURE. 



427 



opinion appears to be in favour of two houses, the 

 instances of Britain and the United States of America, 

 giving great weight to this division of the legis- 

 lative power, and a single house in the case of large 

 nations seems to be ill adapted to modern representa- 

 tive governments. During the middle ages, indeed, 

 and as long as the assembly of the estates existed, 

 these formed, in general, certainly, only one body ; 

 for, although the different estates may have met in 

 different rooms, they had no proper independence of 

 each other. In England, which has led the way in 

 constitutional institutions, a happy conjunction of cir- 

 cumstances early united the clergy with the high 

 nobility into one house, and the lower nobility, or 

 gentry, with the representatives of the cities, into 

 another ; whilst, in the countries of the European 

 continent, the clergy, the nobility, and the representa- 

 tives of the cities, although they constituted different 

 estates (in some cases, the superior nobility [mug- 

 nates] and the free peasants formed also distinct 

 estates), made but one legislative body; and, in 

 most cases, the representation was so unequal, 

 that the nobility and clergy entirely outweighed 

 the commons, threw all the burdens of the state 

 upon the citizens and peasantry, and prevented, 

 almost entirely, the development of constitutional 

 establishments. In England, however, the division 

 into two houses has had the effect of repressing the 

 assumptions of different classes, by making them 

 mutually checks upon each other, developing consti- 

 tutional and public law, and introducing general 

 taxation, and has contributed most essentially to the 

 superiority in political advantages of the English peo- 

 ple over the other nations of Europe. See the article 

 Britain, division Parliament; in that article, also, 

 will be found an account of the privileges of the two 

 houses, and of the difference between them. 



In the more important British colonial establish- 

 ments, political institutions, modelled, to a considera- 

 ble degree, on those of the mother country, have been 

 introduced a governor, with a council (appointed 

 by the British government), and a house, or assembly, 

 with members elected by the people. This is the 

 case where the extent and population of the colony 

 warrants such an organization, and where the colony 

 does not belong to a company, or where the great 

 number of natives, living interspersed with the colon- 

 ists, does not prevent such an establishment. Thus 

 a council and a house of assembly exist in the two 

 Canadas, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the British 

 West Indies, and they existed in many of the colonies, 

 which afterwards declared themselves the United 

 States of America. The latter established, on declar- 

 ing themselves independent, a congress, consisting 

 of delegates from the several states, invested with 

 certain powers by the articles of confederation, and 

 forming but one body. After the close of the revolu- 

 tionary struggle, the federal constitution established 

 a house of representatives, chosen by the people of 

 the several states, and a senate, consisting of members 

 chosen by the legislatures of the several states for 

 six years. The separate states also established each 

 two houses of legislature, with the exception of Ver- 

 mont, which has but one. In Massachusetts and 

 New Hampshire, the senators are apportioned 

 among districts, with reference to the amount of 

 taxes paid by the districts respectively. In the other 

 states, the rule of apportionment is that of numbers. 

 In the tabular view of all the constitutions of the 

 United States, affixed to the article Constitution, the 

 reader will find the term for which, and the conditions 

 upon which, the members of the two houses are 

 elected, in the different states, and for the federal 

 government. 



The French revolution began by uniting the three 



estates in one house, in 1789. Different constitutions 

 were framed in rapid succession. The constitution 

 of Sept. 3, 1791 (monarchical), established but one 

 legislative house. The constitution of June 24, 1793 

 (republican), declared, in section thirty-nine, the 

 legislative body " one, indivisible, and permanent." 

 The constitution of the year III., Sept. 23, 1795 

 (with a directory of five members), established a 

 council of elders, consisting of 250 members, and 

 a council of five hundred. The members of the 

 latter were to be, at least, thirty-five years of age, 

 those of the former, at least, forty years. The coun- 

 cil of five hundred had the exclusive right of initiat- 

 ing laws. Both were chosen for three years. The 

 constitution of Dec. 13,1799 (consular), establishea 

 a legislative body, which could only adopt or reject 

 propositions made by the government, and communi- 

 cated and discussed by the tribunate. (See Legisla- 

 tive Body.) The members were chosen for five 

 years. There was also a conservative senate. (See 

 Senate.} The consulate for life, and the imperial 

 government, retained the legislative body, but the 

 tribunate was abolished. The Charte Const ilution- 

 nelle at last established houses of peers (for life 

 or hereditary), and of representatives the latter on 

 the basis of taxation. See Charte Constitutionnelle , 

 Election, and France.) In the article France, it will 

 be seen, that, in 1830, when the elder Bourbon line 

 was declared to have forfeited the throne, it was pro- 

 vided, in the additions to the charter, that the organi- 

 zation of the peerage should undergo a revision in 

 1831: the result we shall give under the article Peer. 

 Poland, by the constitution granted by the emperor 

 Alexander, had two houses a senate, consisting of 

 members appointed for life by the sovereign, and not 

 by the viceroy, and a house of representatives. The 

 kingdom of Norway has two chambers the Logthing 

 (q. v.) and the Odelsthing, both together composing 

 the Storthing, (q. v.) Bavaria, Hanover, Wurtem- 

 berg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, have each two 

 houses. The constitution which Joseph Napoleon 

 gave to Spain, July 6, 1808, established one house, 

 the cortes, consisting of three estates, the prelates, 

 nobility and people, with a senate, which, however, 

 is not to be considered as a branch of the legislature. 

 The constitution of the cortes of March 19, 1812, 

 established but one house the cortes. This organ- 

 ization was imitated in Piedmont, Naples and Portu- 

 gal, at the time of the respective revolutions in those 

 countries. The constitution granted to Naples by 

 Joseph Napoleon, June 20, 1808, established one 

 house a national parliament consisting of five 

 benches (sedili), those of prelates, nobility, land- 

 holders, learned men and merchants. Lord Ben- 

 tinck's constitution for Sicily (1812) established two 

 houses. In Sweden, by the constitution of June 7, 

 1809, thereis but one house, consisting of the estates 

 the nobility, clergy, citizens, and crown peasants. 

 In the kingdom of the Netherlands, there were two 

 houses of the states-general, one composed of mem- 

 bers for life ; and, also, two houses of the provincial 

 estates. Saxe-Weimar has but one house, as had 

 Saxe-Hildburghausen, at least before its union with 

 Meiningen. Under the article Netherlands, we shah" 

 give the new Belgian constitution. In the Ionian 

 Islands, there is a senate of ten members, and a legis- 

 lative body of forty members. (See Ionian Islands) 

 The diet of Switzerland (Tagsatzung) consists of 

 nineteen deputies, who vote according to instructions 

 from their respective cantons. The constitution of 

 the German diet (Bundestag) is similar. (See Ger- 

 manic Confederation.) Neither of these bodies has 

 any resemblance to the congress of the United States 

 of America. The constitutions of the new American 

 governments, as Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, &c., have, 



