LEGISLATURE, the name given to that portion of the Government of a country or State which is charged with the making, modification or repealing of the laws, and with the raising and appropriation of the revenues. In nearly all modern States the bicameral system has been adopted. Generally speaking, the so-called "lower-house" is most directly representative of the people, being elected on a wide franchise; the "upper house," second chamber or senate is either elected on a restricted or derivative franchise, or may contain nominated or hereditary ele ments, or direct representatives of certain classes or interests, or of certain divisions of the nation, as in the United States. The two houses may or may not be of equal authority. The power of initiating legislation usually belongs to both chambers, but may, as in the case of the British parliament, be restricted by confining the right of bringing forward financial measures to the lower house. The House of Representatives in the United States
Congress initiates revenue bills, but the Senate may amend them as it sees fit. The general adoption of a second chamber in addition to the popular chamber is due to the belief that it is desirable to have a body, less directly controlled by popular opinion, which may exercise supervisory and delaying functions.
Various devices have been adopted for securing an issue from a possible deadlock between the two houses of a legislature, from the device of joint sessions to the limitation to a given period of the delaying action of an upper house. The Senate of the United States has unusual powers with regard to the ratification of treaties, the ratification of appointments to office and trial for impeachment. In general, the legislatures of the different Ameri can States are similar to the national Congress. (See UNITED