Popular Music Essential Information & explanations, latest on
Parliament_.
Parliament
Alternate use: Parliament (band)
For Parliamentarism, see: Parliamentary system
A parliament is a legislative body, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement , the action of parler (to speak) : a parlement is a talk, a discussion, hence a meeting (an assembly, a court) where people discuss matters.
The Dutch Parliament
The British Parliament is traditionally referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments", as it has been the model for most other parliamentary systems and its Acts have created so many other parliaments. The first English Parliament was called into being in the reign of King Henry III in the 13th century. In the United Kingdom, Parliament consists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch, although the role of the Queen as part of the Parliament is generally omitted by non-legal commentators. The House of Lords is unique among those Parliaments that have adopted the Westminster system, in that it combines judicial and legislative functions. However, separation of its judicial functions into a separate body has been planned ever since the original Judicature Act 1873, and in the long run is probably inevitable. (See Parliament of the United Kingdom.)
In a similar fashion, the Australian Parliament consists of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Governor-General as (nominally) the Monarch's representative (though in practice the Governor-General acts independently of the Monarch), although the Australian Senate is modelled after the United States Senate, not the House of Lords. Unlike the House of Lords and the Canadian Senate, the Australian Senate is elected and has much more power than its British or Canadian counterparts. In the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, the Australian Senate was able to force the then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, to leave office by refusing to pass the budget. (See Parliament of Australia.)
Closer in that regard to the British model is the Parliament of Canada, which consists of the House of Commons, the Senate and the Queen, represented by the Governor-General. The Canadian Senate, like the House of Lords, is an appointed, not elected, body. But the Canadian Senate contains only the equivalent of Life Peers, lacking any members who hold their seat by inheritance or through a religious office such as bishop. (See Parliament of Canada.)
The New Zealand Parliament consists of a 120-member unicameral House of Representatives from which an executive cabinet of about 20 ministers is appointed. There is no written Constitution. Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by a Governor General. (See Politics of New Zealand and New Zealand.)
Parliaments originated as meetings hosted by the sovereign of the leading nobles and commoners of the kingdom; this explains the Queen's role as part of the British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand institutions.
See also
The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government by P. J. O'Rourke
Parliament of Whores : A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government by P.J. O'Rourke
The Government and Politics of the European Union by Neill Nugent
Parliament of Blood by Scott Ciencin
History of the House of Lords by Frank Pakenham Longford
Presidents, Parliaments, and Policy by Stephan Haggard
Autodafe : The Journal of the International Parliament of Writers by International Parliament of Writers
Autodafe, Volume 2 by Russell Banks
Behemoth: Or the Long Parliament by Thomas Hobbes
The European Parliament by David Judge
The Reichstag: Sir Norman Foster's Parliament Building by Bernhard Schulz
A Parliament of Souls: In Search of Global Spirituality (Companion to the Public Television) by Michael Tobias
The Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World's Parliament of Religions, 1893 by Richard Hughes Seager
Parliament of Whores (Unabridged) by audible.com
A Global Ethic: The Declaration of the Parliament of the World's Religions by Parliament of the World's Religions
Bibliographic Resources
Updates and comments at Essential Facts blog
Are you interested in Feng Shui?
Price Theory Resources
World Class Photographers
Some philosophical movements
Top PDF and eBook Downloads
|
|
Interesting Links
Sports
Kitchen Knowledge
Hollywood Icons
Flowers & gardening
Mythology
Philosophy
Politics
Retirement
Accounting & Finance
Automobiles
Marketing
Psychology
Country Music
Popular Music
Rock & Roll
Academic Subjects
Ancient Greeks
Art & Design
Biology
Biology & Biologists
California
Cats & Dogs
Ethics
Legal Topics
Linguistics
Logic
The Greats
Architectural Dates & Places
* Mathematics & Mathematicians
Medical Update d06
Investments
Transportation
Mathematics
Brilliant Mathematicians
Classic Authors
Fear No Exams
Nexus
Characters & countries
Computers + 2
Science & Computers
Quantum Theory
Home, Site-Map
|
