The name used to refer to a legislative body varies by country.
Common names include:
• Assembly (from Old French asemblee, cf. assemble)
• Congress (from Latin congressum, "having … 展开

Democratic legislatures have six major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and … 展开

Legislatures vary widely in the amount of political power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries, and executives. In 2009, political scientists 展开

A legislature may debate and vote upon bills as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple separate assemblies, called by various names including legislative chambers, debate chambers, and houses, which debate and vote separately and have … 展开

Among the earliest recognised formal legislatures was the Athenian Ecclesia. In the Middle Ages, European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop … 展开

Each chamber of the legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote … 展开

Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains a fixed number of legislators; because legislatures … 展开