Editing Parliament (section)

===Poland===
[[File:The_First_Sejm_1182.jpg|thumb|The First Sejm in Łęczyca. Recording of laws. A.D. 1180]]
According to the ''[[Chronicle]]s'' of [[Gallus Anonymus]], the first legendary Polish ruler, [[Siemowit]], who began the [[Piast dynasty]], was chosen by an ancient ''[[Veche|wiec]]'' council. The idea of the ''wiec'' led to the development of the Polish parliament, the ''[[Sejm]]'', in around 1180.
[[File:20070907 sejm rp 100B5000.jpg|thumb|The modern [[Sejm]]]]
The term "sejm" comes from an old Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. The power of early sejms grew between 1146 and 1295, when the power of individual rulers waned and various councils grew stronger. Since the 14th century irregular sejms (described in various [[Latin]] sources as ''contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta'') have been convened by Poland's monarchs. From 1374, the king had to receive permission from that assembly to raise [[tax]]es and the 1454 [[Nieszawa Statutes]] granted the [[szlachta]] (nobles) unprecedented concessions and authority. The General Sejm (Polish ''sejm generalny'' or ''sejm walny''), first convoked by the [[John I Albert]] in 1493 near [[Piotrków Trybunalski|Piotrków]], evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings called ''[[sejmik]]s''. Simultaneously, the [[Senate of Poland|Senate]] was founded on the earlier ''[[curia regis]]'', convened at the king's discretion. Hence, the year 1493 marked the beginning of a [[Bicameral parliament|bicameral legislative body of government]]. With the subsequent development of Polish [[Golden Liberty]] in the next several decades, the Sejm's powers systematically increased. Poland was among the few countries in Europe where the parliament played an especially important role in its national identity as it contributed to the unity of the nation and the state. 

The general parliament of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] consisted of three estates – the King of Poland, the Senate (consisting of Ministers, Palatines, Castellans and Roman Catholic Bishops) and the Chamber of Envoys comprising 170 nobles acting on behalf of their holdings as well as representatives of major cities, who did not possess any voting privileges. In 1573, a convocation sejm established an [[Royal elections in Poland|elective monarchy]] in the Commonwealth.