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The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
| Part of the Politics series |
| Politics |
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| Politicsportal |
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy, and the French Third Republic; the name is still informally used for the National Assembly under the nation's current Fifth Republic.
The term "chamber of deputies" is not widely used by English-speaking countries, the more popular equivalent being "House of Representatives", an exception being Burma, a former British colony, where it was the name of the lower house of the country's parliament. [1] It was also the official description of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament) during the period of the Irish Free State.
In Malta, the House of Representatives is known, in Maltese, as "Kamra tad-Deputati". [2] [3] In Lebanon, the literal Arabic name of that country's parliament is Majlis an-Nuwwab, or, "Chamber of Deputies" (although officially used French and English translations are "Assemblée Nationale" and "National Assembly", respectively). Brazil also has a "Chamber of Deputies", known in Brazilian Portuguese as the "Câmara dos Deputados", for a lower house of the legislative body.
A member of a "chamber of deputies" is generally called a "deputy", the definition of which is similar to that of "congressperson" or "member of parliament". The term "deputy" may refer to any member of a legislative body or chamber; this usage is particularly common in those French-speaking countries whose parliaments are called "national assemblies" and Spanish-speaking countries with legislative bodies called "congresses"; the term is also used by Portugal's Assembly of the Republic. In Ireland, it is used as a form of address when referring to members of Dáil Éireann instead of the Irish language term Teachta Dála, [4] while in the Channel Islands, "Deputy" is used as the official title of most of the members of the States Assembly in Jersey [5] and all but two of the members of the States of Deliberation in Guernsey. [6]
In the following countries, the Chamber of Deputies is part of the bicameral legislature.
In the following countries, 'Chamber of Deputies' is the name given to the unicameral parliaments :
| Country | Article | Local Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lebanon | Chamber of Deputies (Lebanon) | Parlement (Parliament) مجلس النواب (Majles Nuweb) | |
 Luxembourg | Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) | Chambre des députés (French) D'Chamber (Luxembourgish) |
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate, so-called as an assembly of the senior and therefore considered wiser and more experienced members of the society or ruling class. However the Roman Senate was not the ancestor or predecessor of modern parliamentarism in any sense, because the Roman senate was not a de jure legislative body.
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often have a different title. The terms congressman/congresswoman or deputy are equivalent terms used in other jurisdictions. The term parliamentarian is also sometimes used for members of parliament, but this may also be used to refer to unelected government officials with specific roles in a parliament and other expert advisers on parliamentary procedure such as the Senate parliamentarian in the United States. The term is also used to the characteristic of performing the duties of a member of a legislature, for example: "The two party leaders often disagreed on issues, but both were excellent parliamentarians and cooperated to get many good things done."
Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single group. As of 2022, roughly 40% of the world's national legislatures are bicameral, while unicameralism represents 60% nationally and much more at the subnational level.
Unicameralism is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly 60% of all national legislatures and an even greater share of subnational legislatures.
Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted with unicameralism and bicameralism, which are both far more common.
An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted power than the lower house. A legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.
The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the simultaneous termination of service of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assembly is chosen by a general election. Dissolution is distinct on the one hand from abolition of the assembly, and on the other hand from its adjournment or prorogation, or the ending of a legislative session, any of which begins a period of inactivity after which it is anticipated that the same members will reassemble. For example, the "second session of the fifth parliament" could be followed by the "third session of the fifth parliament" after a prorogation, but would be followed by the "first session of the sixth parliament" after a dissolution.
Dáil Éireann served as the directly elected lower house of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937. The Free State constitution described the role of the house as that of a "Chamber of Deputies". Until 1936 the Free State Oireachtas also included an upper house known as the Seanad. Like its modern successor, the Free State Dáil was, in any case, the dominant component of the legislature; it effectively had authority to enact almost any law it chose, and to appoint and dismiss the President of the Executive Council. The Free State Dáil ceased to be with the creation of the modern 'Dáil Éireann' under the terms of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. Both the Dáil and Seanad sat in Leinster House.
Dáil Éireann, also called the Revolutionary Dáil, was the revolutionary, unicameral parliament of the Irish Republic from 1919 to 1922. The Dáil was first formed on 21 January 1919 in Dublin by 69 Sinn Féin MPs elected in the 1918 United Kingdom general election, who had won 73 seats of the 105 seats in Ireland, with four party candidates elected for two constituencies. Their manifesto refused to recognise the British parliament at Westminster and instead established an independent legislature in Dublin. The convention of the First Dáil coincided with the beginning of the War of Independence.
The Parliament of Rwanda has consisted of two chambers since 2003:
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Equatorial Guinea.
In contrast to unicameralism, and bicameralism, multicameralism is the condition in which a legislature is divided into more than two deliberative assemblies, which are commonly called "chambers" or "houses". This usually includes tricameralism with three chambers, but can also describe a system with any amount more. The word "multicameral" can also relate in other ways to its literal meaning of "many chambered" with use in science or biology.
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "Senate". In some countries, the House of Representatives is the sole chamber of a unicameral legislature.
The European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) is a parliamentary network which was founded in 1977.
The Parliament of Malta is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the president of Malta. By constitutional law, all government ministers, including the prime minister, must be members of the House of Representatives.
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann. It consists of 160 members, each known as a Teachta Dála. TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.
The Cortes Gerais were the parliament of the Kingdom of Portugal during the Constitutional Monarchy period.
