Editing Sejm (section)

===Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth===
{{Main|Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth}}
[[File:Kazimierz Wojniakowski, Uchwalenie Konstytucji 3 Maja.jpg|thumb|left|In 1791, the "[[Great Sejm|Great ''Sejm'']]" or [[Four-Year Sejm|Four-Year ''Sejm'']] of 1788–1792 and Senate adopted the [[May 3rd Constitution]] at the [[Royal Castle, Warsaw|Royal Castle in Warsaw]]]] Over time, the envoys in the [[lower chamber]] grew in number and power as they pressed the king for more privileges. The ''Sejm'' eventually became even more active in supporting the goals of the privileged classes when the King ordered that the landed nobility and their estates (peasants) be drafted into [[Pospolite ruszenie|military service]]. 
{{Politics of Poland}}
The [[Union of Lublin]] in 1569, united the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385-1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] and the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] as one single state, the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], and thus the ''Sejm'' was supplemented with new envoys from among the [[Lithuanian nobility]]. The Commonwealth ensured that the state of affairs surrounding the three-estates system continued, with the ''Sejm'', Senate and King forming the estates and supreme deliberating body of the state. In the first few decades of the 16th century, the Senate had established its precedence over the ''Sejm''; however, from the mid-1500s onwards, the ''Sejm'' became a very powerful representative body of the ''[[szlachta]]'' ("middle nobility"). Its chambers reserved the final decisions in legislation, taxation, [[budget]], and [[treasury]] matters (including military funding), [[foreign policy]], and the [[Ennoblement|confirment of nobility]].

The 1573 [[Warsaw Confederation]] saw the nobles of the ''Sejm'' officially sanction and guarantee [[religious tolerance]] in Commonwealth territory, ensuring a refuge for those fleeing the ongoing [[Protestant reformation|Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]] wars in Europe.

Until the end of the 16th century, [[unanimity]] was not required, and the [[majority voting|majority-voting]] process was the most commonly used system for voting. Later, with the rise of the [[Polish magnate]]s and their increasing power, the unanimity principle was re-introduced with the institution of the nobility's right of ''[[liberum veto]]'' ([[Latin]]: "free [[veto]]"). Additionally, if the envoys were unable to reach a unanimous decision within six weeks (the time limit of a single session), deliberations were declared void and all previous acts passed by that ''Sejm'' were annulled. From the mid-17th century onward, any objection to a ''Sejm'' resolution, by either an envoy or a senator, automatically caused the rejection of other, previously approved resolutions. This was because all resolutions passed by a given session of the ''Sejm'' formed a whole resolution, and, as such, was published as the annual "constituent act" of the ''Sejm'', e.g. the "''[[Anno Domini]]'' 1667" act. In the 16th century, no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but, from the second half of the 17th century, the ''liberum veto'' was used to virtually paralyze the ''Sejm'', and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse.

The ''liberum veto'' was abolished with the adoption of the [[Constitution of 3 May 1791]], a piece of legislation which was passed as the "Government Act", and for which the ''Sejm'' required [[Great Sejm|four years to propagate and adopt]]. The constitution's acceptance, and the possible long-term consequences it may have had, is arguably the reason that the powers of [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Austria]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]] and [[Prussia]] then decided to [[Partitions of Poland|partition the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], thus putting an end to over 300 years of Polish parliamentary continuity. It is estimated that between 1493 and 1793, a ''Sejm'' was held 240 times, the total debate-time sum of which was 44 years.<ref name=autogenerated1/>