LEGISLATURE. In the most general sense of the term a legislature is any law-mak ing body, whether Congress, Parliament, Land tag or other assembly of representatives charged with the enactment of general rules of conduct binding upon the inhabitants of the state. In a narrower sense the term is descrip tive only of the law-making bodies of the States composing the American republic, al though several of these bodies are officially des ignated by other names. Thus in several States the legislature is officially known as the general assembly or the legislative assembly, and in two, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the Colonial name °general court" survives.
Legislatures are of modern origin. Among the ancient Greeks legislation was enacted by popular assemblies rather than by select bodies of representatives. Among the ancient Ro mans legislation was enacted by the comitia, likewise a popular assembly embracing all the citizens of Rome. Under the empire the em peror became the chief source of legislation and his edicts and rescripts were supplemented by a large body of judge-made law emanating from the prxtors and jurists. Representative law making bodies in the modern sense never ex isted among the Romans. Mcrntesquieu was right when he said that the ancients had no notion of a legislative body composed of rep resentatives of the people des Bk. xi, ch. 8). The English historian Free man remarks that °the ancient world trampled on the very verge of representative govern ment without actually crossing the boundary" of Federal ch. 2). Throughout the Middle Ages the chief source of legislation was the king or the feudal lord. The beginnings of the modern representative sys tem are found in the Witenagemot of early English history, out of which the English Par liament, the first representative legislature known to history, was destined ultimately to evolve. Not popularly elected at first, its mem bers came eventually to be chosen by the free holders. In the 13th century, thanks to Simon de Montfort, representatives of the boroughs were added. From early times the clergy also had their representatives, so that in the end the Parliament, as it came to be called, was in deed an assembly of the three estates of The realm: nobility, commons and clergy.
On the continent of Europe the develop ment of legislative bodies was slower of growth. The rise of cities gave an impetus to the development of the representative principle through the demand which it created for repre sentation of these agglomerations in the law making bodies. In France the beginnings of legislative representation are found in the meeting of the representatives of the three es tates in a general parliament in 1302. Called together to consult with the king, they soon ac quired the right to give or withhold supplies from the Crown. Meetings of the estates took place at regular intervals until 1614 when they ceased to be convoked by the king until the outbreak of the Revolution. From that time on France has had a Parliament, although it has not always been a truly representative body, during the period of 1800-14.
It was characteristic of the representative system of Europe until the 18th century that its legislative bodies did not represent the whole people but special classes such as the clergy, the nobility, the towns and the like. The deputies of each class were separately sum moned and often sat apart and voted sepa rately. Thus the Parliament of Sweden until comparatively recent times was composed of four chambers. Deputies usually also bore in structions from their constituencies and were obliged to vote in conformity with the man dates given. They were, therefore, not representatives in the modern sense, with power to declare the will of the people, but only delegates commissioned to consult for the common good and to report back to their con stituencies.
Ultimately nearly all the legislative bodies of Europe came to consist of two chambers. In England this transformation was completed early in the 14th century, the representatives of the nobility and clergy constituting one cham ber; the representatives of the towns, bor oughs and counties, the other. It was due wholly to the existence of this class system in England rather than to any considerations of policy or expediency that the organization of tbe British Parliament came to be bicameral in structure. Inasmuch as the distinction between clergy, nobility and commons was never intro duced into America the reason which gave rise to the bicameral system in England never M isted here. Nevertheless, all of the original
State legislatures, except those of Georgia, Pennsylvania and Vermont, were constructed on the bicameral principle. Benjamin Franklin stood almost alone among the founders of the republic in advocating the unicameral system of . legislative organization, and it was mainly due to his influence that the legislature of Pennsylvania at first consisted of a single chamber. The three States which started with single-chambered legislatures, however, soon abandoned the system for the bicameral idea and it has prevailed in all the States then ex isting and in those subsequently admitted to the Union. Likewise Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and other states which once had unicameral legislative bodies have all abandoned the single chamber principle for the bicameral system. °The bicameral system," says Francis Lieber, °accompanies the Angli can race like the common law and everywhere it °Of all forms of government that are possible among mankind," said the his torian Lecky, q do not know any which is likely to be worse than government of a single omnipotent democratic chamber." The superiority of the double-chambered legislature is defended on several grounds. In the first place, the existence of a second house serves as a check on hasty and ill-considered legislation. In the second place, the bicameral system affords protection to the people against the despotic tendencies of a single chamber — °it doubles the security of the said Judge Story, Thy requiring the concurrence of two distinct bodies in any scheme of usurpa tion or perfidy where otherwise the ambition of a single body would be sufficient." The Americans restrain their legislatures, says James Bryce, by dividing them just as the Ro mans restrained their executives by substituting two consuls for one king. On the other hand, there has been a growing disposition in recent years to question some of the advantages claimed for the bicameral system, and in a number of States, notably Oregon, Nebraska and California, there have been well-organized movements looking toward the establishment of legislatures composed of a single house. In Oregon the question of abolishing the senate was submitted to a vote of the people in 1912 and again in 1914, and although the pro posal was defeated a large vote was cast in favor of it. In Nebraska a joint com mittee of the legislature after making a careful study of the merits and demerits of the bicameral system made a report advocating the establishment of a small legislative body composed of a single chamber. Likewise in California recently a majority of both houses of the legislature voted in favor of a proposed amendment to the constitution providing for the creation of a single-chambered legislative assembly. The arguments against the bicameral system are in brief the following: It greatly increases the cost of legislation by reason of the larger number of members and employees; it conduces to deadlocks, dissension and intrigue; and it retards the dispatch of legislative busi ness. Moreover the checking function, which is the chief raison d'être for a second cham ber, works both ways; that is, it often serves to hinder the enactment of good legislation as well as to prevent bad legislation. Again, since both houses are now elected by constitu encies composed of the same persons, each house is little more than a duplicate of the other ; neither is more radical or more con servative than the other and hence neither is by its constitution and nature disposed to re strain the other. Advocates of the single chambered system also argue that the execu tive veto, the referendum and the power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature uncon stitutional now afford adequate checks against unwise and unconstitutional legislation. Fi nally, it may be remarked that there are al ready more than 60 single-chambered legisla tures in the world to-day, including those of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, the South African Union, all the provinces of Canada except Que bec and Nova Scotia and many of the German states. As is well known the legislative bodies of many large cities are also unicameral in structure. The unicameral principle, therefore, is not a theory but it is in practical operation in many countries.