Legislative assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its houses.
The name is used by a number of countries, including member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations and other countries. It is also used by their sub-national divisions, such as the Indian states and union territories, Australian states and Canadian provinces.
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Empire from 26 March to 20 April 1906. At stake were the 477 seats in the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the legislative assembly. Election for the First State Duma, which only ran from 27 April to 8 July (O.S.) 1906, returned a significant bloc of moderate socialists and two liberal parties which demanded further reforms. For this reason, it is sometimes called the Duma of Public Anger (Дума народного гнева).
In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with responsible government in which the Executive Council was appointed from the majority in the elected Legislative Assembly. This gave the colony nearly full internal autonomy while reserving control of foreign and defence policy, for the most part, to London. This was in contrast to a Crown colony, in which the British Government ruled directly via an appointed Governor, with or without the assistance of an appointed Council.
Self-governing colonies for the most part had no formal authority over constitutional matters such as the monarchy and the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London serves as the ultimate avenue of appeal in matters of law and justice.
A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the British (former) colonies. However, it has also been used as designation in other (non-Commonwealth) nations. A member of a legislative council is commonly referred to as an MLC.
A legislative council was generally the first legislative body of a British colony, with members who were all appointed by the viceregal representative (who also presided over the council). Gradually, with the passage of time and increasing levels of self-governance, legislative councils were supplemented by a lower, elected chamber (often called a legislative assembly or house of assembly). This resulted in either the abolition of the council to form a unicameral and wholly elected legislature (as done in New Zealand in 1951, Southern Rhodesia in 1923, Singapore in 1955 and Ceylon in 1931) or the democratisation of and a gradual decrease in powers exercised by the council, as done in India in 1919 and in Australian states throughout the twentieth century.
The dissolution of a legislative assembly (or parliament) 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.
In most Continental European countries, dissolution does not have immediate effect – that is, a dissolution merely triggers an election, but the old assembly itself continues its existing term and its members remain in office until the new assembly convenes for the first time. In those systems, ordinarily scheduled elections are held before the assembly reaches the end of a fixed or maximum term, and do not require a dissolution.
The Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijani: Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikasının Ali Məclisi) is the legislative assembly of Nakhchivan. It was established in 1990, when Nakchivan declared independence from the Soviet Union to become an autonomous republic of Azerbaijan. It governs the republic, and is subordinate to the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. The current parliamentary chairman (since 2023) and the de facto leader of Nakhchivan is Anar Ibrahimov.
A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non-federal matters.
The States of Germany and Austria are governed by Landtage. In addition, the legislature of the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol is known in German as a Landtag. Historically, states of the German Confederation also established Landtage. The Landtag of Liechtenstein is the nation's unicameral assembly.
The National Council (Consulta Nazionale) was an unelected provisional legislative assembly set up in the Kingdom of Italy after the end of World War II. It fulfilled the roles of parliament until regular elections could be held. It first sat on 25 September 1945 and was dissolved after the national elections on 2 June 1946, which formed the first Constituent Assembly of Italy.
The state governments of India are the governments ruling over the 28 states and three union territories (there are eight union territories but only three union territories have legislative assemblies as well as governments) of India with the head of Council of Ministers in every state being the Chief Minister, who also serves as the head of the government. Power is divided between the Union Government (federal government) and the state governments. The federal government appoints a Governor for each state, who serves as the ceremonial head of state, and a Lieutenant Governor (or Administrator) for certain union territories, whose powers vary depending on the specific union territory.
Each state has a legislative assembly. A state legislature that has one house – the State Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) – is a unicameral legislature. A state legislature that has two houses – the State Legislative Assembly and State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) – is a bicameral legislature. The Vidhan Sabha is the lower house and corresponds to the Lok Sabha (House of the people) while the Vidhan Parishad is the upper house and corresponds to the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) of the Parliament of India.