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Anupper house is one of twochambers of abicamerallegislature, the other chamber being thelower house.[1] 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 (and which therefore has neither an upper house nor a lower house) is described asunicameral.
While thesenate of the ancient Roman kingdom was the first assembly of aristocrats counseling a monarch, the first upper house of a bicameral legislature was the medievalHouse of Lords consisting of the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and nobility, which emerged during the reign of KingEdward III around 1341 when the Parliament clearly separated into two distinctchambers, theHouse of Commons, consisting of the shire and borough representatives, and the House of Lords.[2]
1808 Spain adopted theBayonne Statute to justifyJoseph Bonaparte as king of Spain. While never fully put into practice, the country saw liberal reform. During resistance to Napoleonic invasions, Spain adopted aliberal constitution in 1812. 1834Queen Maria Christina established theHouse of Peers alongside theDeputies of the Realm. With the constitution of 1837 it was namedSenate. Members were royal princes, hereditary nobility and clergy, and one appointed member for every 85,000 inhabitants. The Spanishupper house was suppressed in 1923, and in 1977 established an elected regional chamber.[3][4]
Following Spain's example, free-thinkingVintistas were able to govern Portugal and adopt theconstitution of 1822. During the subsequentLiberal Wars theChamber of Most Worthy Peers was established in 1826 as the upper house of theCortes Gerais. Its 90 members were nominated by themonarch. Theseptember revolution abolished the upper house in favor of anelected senate from 1838 to 1842, when the constitution of 1826 was reinstated. In1911 the upper house was abolished, and a bicameral parliament, the congress established, again with the senate as its regional representation.
In 1831, after its independence from the Netherlands, Belgiumadopted a constitution with a Senate where its members were partially appointed by the king, and partially elected by local authorities.
Landtag of Prussia had from 1850 onward thePrussian House of Lords, besides thePrussian House of Representatives. TheAustrian Imperial Council had from 1861 onward aHouse of Lords besides theHouse of Deputies.
In 1889 imperial Japan modeled itshouse of peers according to Prussian House of Lords, with its first modernMeiji constitution. With theconstitution of 1947 the upper house was replaced with theHouse of Councillors modeled after the US senate.
An upper house is usually different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects (though they vary among jurisdictions/powers):
Powers:
Status:
In parliamentary systems the upper house is frequently seen as an advisory or a "house of review" chamber; for this reason, its powers of direct action are often reduced in some way.[5] Some or all of the following restrictions are often placed on upper houses:
In parliamentary democracies and among European upper houses theItalian Senate is a notable exception to these general rules, in that it has the same powers as its lower counterpart: any law can be initiated in either house and must be approved in the same form by both houses. Additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as "perfect bicameralism" or "equal bicameralism."
The role of a revising chamber is to scrutinise legislation that may have been drafted over-hastily in the lower house and to suggest amendments that the lower house may nevertheless reject if it wishes to. An example is the BritishHouse of Lords. Under theParliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the House of Lords can no longer prevent the passage of most bills, but it must be given an opportunity to debate them and propose amendments, and can thereby delay the passage of a bill with which it disagrees. Bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month.
The House of Lords is sometimes seen as having a special role of safeguarding the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom and important civil liberties against ill-considered change.
The House of Lords has a number of ways to block legislation and to reject it; however, the House of Commons can eventually use the Parliament Act to force something through. The Commons will often accept amendments passed by the Lords; however, the two houses have sometimes reached a constitutional standoff. For example, when the Labour Government of 1999 tried to expel allhereditary peers from the Lords, the Lords threatened to wreck the Government's entire legislative agenda and to block every bill which was sent to the chamber. This standoff led to negotiations between Viscount Cranborne, the then Shadow Leader of the House, and the Labour Government, resulting in the Weatherill Amendment to theHouse of Lords Act 1999, which preserved 92 hereditary peers in the house. Compromise and negotiation between the two houses make the Parliament Act a very rarely used backup plan.
Even without a veto, an upper house may defeat legislation. Its opposition may give the lower chamber a chance to reconsider or even abandon a controversial measure. It can also delay a bill so that it does not fit within the legislative schedule, or until a general election produces a new lower house that no longer wishes to proceed with the bill.
Nevertheless, some states have long retained powerful upper houses. For example, the consent of the upper house to legislation may be necessary (though, as noted above, this seldom extends to budgetary measures). Constitutional arrangements of states with powerful upper houses usually include a means to resolve situations where the two houses are at odds with each other.
In recent times, parliamentary systems have tended to weaken the powers of upper houses relative to their lower counterparts. Some upper houses have been fully abolished; others have had their powers reduced by constitutional or legislative amendments. Also, conventions often exist that the upper house ought not to obstruct the business of government for frivolous or merely partisan reasons. These conventions have tended to harden with a passage of time.
Though usually constitutionally subordinate to the lower house regarding the enactment of primary legislation, upper houses in parliamentary systems may have greater power over the passage of secondary legislation: For example both the German Bundesrat and the British House of Lords have the capacity to fully veto delegated legislation.
In presidential systems, the upper house is frequently given other powers to compensate for its restrictions:
There are a variety of ways an upper house's members are assembled: by direct or indirect election, appointment or a mixture of these. Many upper houses are not directly elected but appointed: either by the head of state, by the head of government or in some other way. This is usually intended to produce a house of experts or otherwise distinguished citizens, who would not necessarily be returned in an election. For example, members of theSenate of Canada are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister.
In the past, some upper houses had seats that were entirely hereditary, such as in the British House of Lords until 1999 and in the Japanese House of Peers until it was abolished in 1947.
It is also common that the upper house consists of delegates chosen by state governments or local officials. Members of theRajya Sabha in India are nominated by various states and union territories, while 12 of them are nominated by the President of India. Similarly, at the state level, one-third of the members of the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) are nominated by local governments, one-third by sitting legislators, and the rest are elected by select members of the electorate. The United States Senate was chosen by state legislatures until the passage of theSeventeenth Amendment in 1913.
The upper house may be directly elected but in different proportions to the lower house - for example, the senates of Australia, Brazil and the United States have a fixed number of elected members from each state, regardless of the population.
Many jurisdictions once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems, includingCroatia,Denmark,Estonia,Hungary,Iceland,Iran,Mauritania,New Zealand,Peru,Sweden,Turkey,Venezuela, manyIndian states,Brazilian states,Canadian provinces, subnational entities such asQueensland, and some other jurisdictions.Newfoundland had a Legislative Council prior to joiningCanada, as didOntario when it wasUpper Canada andQuebec from 1791 (asLower Canada) to 1968.
Nebraska is the only state in theUnited States with a unicameral legislature, having abolished itslower house in 1934, while theSenate of Nebraska, the upper house prior to 1934, continues to assemble.
TheAustralian state ofQueensland also once had an appointed Legislative Council before abolishing it in 1922. All other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems, though all members are now directly elected (the two self-governing territories, along withNorfolk Island until 2016, have always been unicameral).
Like Queensland, theGerman state ofBavaria had an appointed second chamber, theSenate of Bavaria, from 1946 to 1999.
TheSenate of the Philippines was abolished – and restored – twice: from 1935 to 1945 when a unicameral National Assembly convened, and from 1972 to 1987 when Congress was closed, and later a new constitution was approved instituting a unicameral Parliament. The Senate was re-instituted with the restoration of a bicameral Congress via a constitutional amendment in 1941, and via adoption of a new constitution in 1987.
A previous government ofIreland (the 31st Dáil) promised areferendum on the abolition of its upper house, theSeanad Éireann, during the 24th Seanad session. By a narrow margin, the Irish public voted to retain it. Conservative-leaningFine Gael and Left-leaningSinn Féin both supported the abolition, while the centristFianna Fáil was alone among major parties in supporting the retention of the Seanad.
| Government | Upper house unique title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Dom naroda | House of Peoples |
 Denmark | Landstinget | Deliberative assembly |
 Ethiopia | Yefedereshn Mekir Bet | House of Federation |
 India | Rajya Sabha | Council of States |
| Vidhan Parishad | Legislative Council | |
 Indonesia | Dewan Perwakilan Daerah | Regional Representative Council |
 Japan | Sangiin | House of Councillors |
 Kingdom of Hungary | Főrendiház | House of Magnates |
 Malaysia | Dewan Negara | State Council (Senate) |
 Myanmar | Amyotha Hluttaw[6] | National Congress |
 Nepal | Rastriya Sabha | National Assembly |
 Republic of China (Taiwan) | Control Yuan[7] | Supervisory House |
 Slovenia | Državni svet | National Council |
 Somaliland | Golaha Guurtida | House of Elders |
 South Africa | National Council of Provinces | |
 Thailand | Wutthisapha | Senior Council (Senate) |
 Tunisia | National Council of Regions and Districts | |
 Turkmenistan | Halk Maslahaty | People's Council |
Definitions from Wiktionary
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Data from Wikidata
