The British Parliament is often referred to as the mother of parliaments (in fact, a false quote from John Bright, who remarked in 1865 that “England is the mother of parliaments”) because the British Parliament was the model for most other parliamentary systems and its laws created many other parliaments. [2] The origins of the British bicameral system date back to 1341, when the House of Commons first met separately from the nobility and clergy and created an upper and lower houses in which knights and citizens sat. This upper house became known as the House of Lords from 1544, and the lower house became known as the House of Commons, collectively known as the Houses of Parliament. A bicameral parliament is a legislative body consisting of two (bi) chambers (camera). It differs from a unicameral legislature, in which all members of the legislature belong to and vote in a chamber. The United Kingdom`s system of government consists of a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Meanwhile, a typical U.S. city council is an example of a unicameral legislature. From 1956 to 1958, the legislature of Andhra Pradesh consisted of a unicameral system. In 1958, when the State Legislative Council was formed, it became a bicameral system until June 1, 1985, when it was abolished. This lasted until March 2007, when the State Legislative Council was re-established and elections were held for its seats. Since then, Andhra Pradesh`s legislature has become bicameral again.
In Tamil Nadu, a resolution was passed on 14 May 1986 and the State Legislative Council was dissolved on 1 November 1986. On 12 April 2010, it was again decided to reintroduce the bicameral system, but this was not successful in 2011. Similarly, the states of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal have also dissolved the upper house of their state legislatures. The bicameral system in the United States consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate – collectively known as Congress. Section 1 of the United States Constitution establishes Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are both historical and practical reasons for having two houses of the Legislative Assembly. When the Australian states were founded as British colonies in the 19th century, they each had a bicameral parliament. The lower house was traditionally elected on the principle of “one vote, one value”, with universal male suffrage later extended to women, while the upper house was either appointed or elected on the advice of the government, with a strong bias against land voters and landowners. After federation, these became the state parliaments. In Queensland, the appointed House of Lords was abolished in 1922, while in New South Wales there were similar attempts to abolish it before the House of Lords was reformed in the 1970s to allow for direct elections. [21] In some countries with federal systems, individual states (such as the United States, Argentina, Australia and India) may also have bicameral parliaments. Some states, such as Nebraska in the United States, Queensland in Australia, Bavaria in Germany, and Tucumán and Córdoba in Argentina, later introduced unicameral systems.
(Brazilian states and Canadian provinces have all abolished upper houses.) The relationship between the two chambers varies; In some cases, they have the same power, while in others, a chamber is clearly superior in its powers. The former tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments. The latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. There are two schools of thought: critics argue that the bicameral system makes meaningful political reform more difficult and increases the risk of deadlock – especially in cases where the two chambers have similar powers – while proponents argue the merits of the bicameral model`s “checks and balances,” which they say. help prevent rash legislation.