The legislature is
perhaps the most important organ of government in the sense that no society can
exist without law. It is also believed that an elected legislature is a major
distinguishing feature between a democratic and a military government since all
forms of government does lawmaking.
This post examines
the place and role of the legislature as a major institution of government.
It also discusses
the different types of legislature and the reasons why some countries prefer
one to the other.
Table of content
By the end of this article,
you will be able to:
1. Discuss the
origin and development of the legislative arm of government
2. Examine the
functions of the legislature in the process of governance
3. Explain the reasons why
countries operate different legislative structures
Origin of the Legislature
As the earliest
organ of government, the history of the legislature can be traced to the
classical days of the Greece and the Roman Empire.
Both countries had legislative bodies.
Indeed, the idea of
the senate as the upper house had its origin in Rome. The Roman’s Senate was exclusively composed of
the leading aristocrats in the country and thus, members were proudly referred
to as the “Fathers of Rome”.
The term senate has since
struck and many have copied it into their constitutional framework, as the
upper house. The equivalent of the senate in the British system is the House of
Lords, which is the oldest second chamber in the modern world, and the largest.
To capture the
interest of the vast majority of the citizenry, Rome also created the popular
assemblies. This is the precursor of the modern-day representative legislature,
which has increasingly assumed more prominence since it conforms to the democratic
principle of popular sovereignty or the mandate theory of representation.
The struggle between
the then pliant or rubber-stamp parliament and the absolute monarchy, popularly
known as the Puritan “Revolt” which later culminated in what is today known in
Britain as the concept of parliamentary supremacy is a major event in the
evolution of today’s legislature.
It was meant to
underscore the fact that the legislature should occupy a pre-eminent position
in its relationship with the executive. Since then, other countries have
accepted the legislative institution as the bedrock of democracy.
Read On: Types of Government with Examples
Types of the Legislature
There are two types
of the legislature: the unicameral and the bicameral legislatures.
1. Unicameral Legislature
A unicameral
legislature refers to a legislature which consists of one chamber or house.
Countries with unicameral governments include Armenia, Bulgaria, Turkey,
Sweden, among others. Unicameral systems became more popular during the 20th
century and some countries, including Greece, New Zealand, and Peru, switched from
a bicameral to a unicameral system.
Merits of Unicameral
Legislature
a. A Unicameral
legislature is less expensive to run. The salaries and allowances that would
have been paid to the members of the second chamber can be easily spent on
other facilities and infrastructures.
b. The passage of bill can also be done without delays that are associated with another round of scrutiny in the second chamber.
This has the advantage of making government business
easier, less cumbersome as well as making the response of the government to challenges
quicker, especially in situations of emergency.
c. In a unicameral
legislature, the state is spared of the internal rivalry and conflict that are
associated with a bicameral structure where the two houses often disagree on
supremacy claims. This was witnessed in Nigeria when the Joint Committee of the
Senate and House of Representatives on Constitutional Amendments openly disagreed
over which of the two houses would produce the chairman.
Demerits of
Unicameral Legislature
a. It is possible in
a unicameral legislature for hasty laws to be passed since the opportunity of a
second look by the other chamber is not available.
b. Since the second
chamber is usually composed of mature, seasoned and distinguished citizens in a
country, a country operating a unicameral legislature is denied the benefit of
wisdom, experience and partisan detachment that are usually associated with
people who had previously served the country in many capacities in the past,
and who see service at the upper chamber as a unique recognition of their
abilities and a call to higher national service.
c. A unicameral
structure is not suitable for large and heterogeneous federal states like the
United States of America and Nigeria, where the second chamber is usually designed
to allay the fears of the minorities and promote their interests.
2. Bicameral Legislature
A bicameral legislature
is a reference to a government with two legislative houses or chambers. Countries
with the bicameral legislature are: the United States (U.S.), Britain, Nigeria
etc.
In Nigeria, the two legislative
houses are: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of
107 senators elected based on three Senators to represent each of the country’s
thirty-six states and one senator to represent Abuja, the Federal Capital
Territory.
There are also 360 members
in the nation’s House of Representatives elected based on population, like its
equivalent in the U.S.A. The equal representation in the U.S. and Nigerian
Senate seeks to balance bigness and smallness, majority rule and majority
rules, centripetal and centrifugal forces that are typical of most federal
systems.
The two legislative
houses of the British Parliament are the Upper House (the House of Lords),
which has about 900 members, and Lower House (the House of Commons), which is composed
of 650 elected members.
Merits of a
Bicameral Legislature
a. The bicameral
legislature has the advantage of wider representation, including those of minorities
and special interests.
It enables the
countries operating it to cope with, and manage the pull of centrifugal forces.
b. The second
chamber can also help in checking hasty legislation since bills emanating from
the first chamber can always go to the second for fresh considerations.
c. Bicameralism can
also guard against the potential despotism of a single chamber. A second chamber,
therefore, serves as a guarantee of liberty and safeguard against legislative
tyranny of a single house.
Demerits of Bicameral
Legislature
a. A two-chamber
legislature is very expensive to operate. Financial outlay.
The second chamber
is a duplication of effort, and a waste of material, financial and human
resources.
b. The establishment
of two legislative houses can also create conditions for avoidable conflict
between the two chambers. This conflict usually emanates during the passage of
bills, and which under the law must involve the two houses.
c. It is also
possible in countries where membership of the second chamber is not by election
for the executive to convert it to an avenue for political patronage. This was
the case in Nigeria in the First Republic.
Functions of the
Legislature
Basically, the
legislature performs the following functions:
1. Law-Making
The primary function
of the legislature is to make laws for the good and well-being of the people as
well as for the order and security of the state. Such laws are made in
accordance with the state’s constitution and in line with the standing laws and
procedure that the assembly has stipulated.
2. Representative
Function
Legislature as a
body composed of elected representatives of the people. Individual members of
the legislature in a democracy are elected to represent their constituencies.
They are thus expected to visit and consult their constituencies regularly to
feel their pulse for better representation.
3. Deliberative
Function
Essentially, the
legislature is an arena for keen deliberations; and for this reason, it has been
correctly described as a deliberative body. It deliberates on a wide range of
issues bordering on welfare, economy, security, among others.
4. Approval of
Annual Budgets
In most countries,
the legislature is always known to possess what is called the power of the
purse. This implies that the executive cannot legally make any spending without
the approval of the legislature. For this reason, the law requires the
executive to lay before the legislature its annual spending proposals and its sectorial
break down for consideration, vetting and possible approval. It is through this
power that the legislature,
on behalf of the
electorate, can hold the government and its officials accountable either for
misuse of public funds.
5. Confirmation of
Nominations made by the Executive
Under the
constitution, the executive can only make nominations to major government
positions as ministers, judges and ambassadors. Until these nominees are
screened and confirmed by the legislature they remain only designates into
positions. They can be deemed to have been validly appointed only after the
approval of the legislature.
6. Oversight
Functions
It is also the
responsibility of the legislature (usually through a standing committee) to
conduct investigations into the activities of government ministries,
departments and agencies to overseeing, monitor and if need be, scrutinize the
accounts and documents of government agencies in relation to the enabling
legislation. A standing committee can also organize public hearings or summon
government officials to clarify certain issues or defend decisions already made
or proposals under consideration by the agency concerned.
7. Impeachment of
the Executive
The legislature also
reserves the power to invoke the extreme step of censoring and impeaching the
President or vice-president in a presidential system or forcing the resignation
of a Prime Minister and the government he presides over if the parliament
passes a vote of no confidence on it.
In the United
States, President Richard Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, to
escape his impeachment the process, which had already commenced in the
congress. At the state level, the House of Assembly can also remove a Governor
or Deputy Governor from office.
8. Ratification of
Treaties/Agreements
The constitution of
most countries stipulates that for a treaty or agreement between one country
and another to have a full force of the law, and have a binding effect on the
peoples of both countries, it must be ratified by the legislature.
9. Constitutional
Amendments
Another important
function of the legislature is the power to amend the nation’s constitution. It
may modify sections of the constitution or replace it in its entirety.
In a federal system,
this power is shared between the inclusive government and the government of the
component states. Under the Nigerian constitution, a bill for the amendment of
the constitution must receive the support of two-thirds of members of both
houses of the National assembly as well as 24 out of the 36 of the states in
the country.
Without meeting
these stringent requirements, the bill cannot receive presidential assent.
Importance of the Legislature
From what we have
discussed so far, it is obvious that the legislature is a very important organ
of government.
Indeed, in any
reference to democratic governance, whether parliamentary or presidential, the
organ that captures the mind of many citizens as a symbol of democracy is the legislature.
The Legislative
assembly is the place where the public sees democracy in action, in form of debates
and consideration of motions and passage of resolutions and bills.
Indeed, the closest
politician to the voter is the representative of his constituency in the
legislature, like the councilor in a local government council.
Conclusion on The Legislature Branch
The legislature is
an important organ of government. In fact, it is the distinctive mark of both
democracy and a state’s sovereignty.
However, over time
in many countries, and for different reasons, the legislature is losing ground
to the executive. This problem is more acute in emerging democracies where the
legislators are still struggling to win their independence from the
over-bearing influence of the executives.
This article has
succinctly examined the origin, types, functions and importance of the
legislature. We saw that the history of the legislature is traceable to the
classical days of the Greece and Roman Empire and that there are two types of
the legislature: the unicameral and the bicameral legislatures, with peculiar
attributes.
The article has
equally identified lawmaking, representation and oversight functions, among
others as the basic functions of the legislature.
It is the performance of these functions that distinguish the legislature as the symbol of democracy.
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