List of legislatures by country

This is a list of legislatures by country, whether parliamentary or congressional, that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives with the power to legislate. In the lists below all entities included in the list of countries are included.

Names of legislatures

The legislatures are listed with their names in English and the name in the (most-used) native language of the country (or the official name in the second-most used native language in cases where English is the majority "native" language).

The names of the legislatures differ from country to country. The most used name seems to be National Assembly, but Parliament and Congress are often used too. The name Parliament is in some cases even used when in political science the legislature would be considered a congress. The upper house of the legislature is often named the Senate. In some cases, countries use very traditional names. In Germanic countries variations Thing (e.g. Folketinget) are used. A thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free men of the community and presided by lawspeakers. A variant is the use of the word Tag or Dag (e.g. Bundestag), used because things were held at daylight and often lasted all day. Other traditional names are the Estates General and variations of Sejm. In Islamic countries Majlis is often included in the name. This can be translated as "Council" or "Assembly".

List of legislatures

Notes

See also

• Elections by country (legislatures elections)
• List of national governments
• List of national leaders
• List of national supreme courts
• List of state legislatures of the United States
• Legislative Assemblies of Canada's provinces and territories
• Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
• National parliaments of the European Union