Editing Sejm (section)

===Partitions===
After the fall of the [[Duchy of Warsaw]], which existed as a [[Napoleon]]ic [[client state]] between 1807 and 1815, and its short-lived [[Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw|''Sejm'' of the Duchy of Warsaw]], the [[Sejm of Congress Poland|''Sejm'' of Congress Poland]] was established in [[Congress Poland]] of the Russian Empire; it was composed of the king (the Russian emperor), the upper house (Senate), and the lower house (Chamber of Deputies). Overall, during the period from 1795 until the re-establishment of Poland's sovereignty in 1918, little power was actually held by any Polish legislative body and the occupying powers of Russia, Prussia (later united [[German Empire|Germany]]) and Austria propagated legislation for their own respective formerly-Polish territories at a national level.<ref name="autogenerated1" /><gallery widths="240" heights="119">
File:Jan_Matejko_-_Upadek_Polski_(Reytan).jpg|[[Tadeusz Rejtan]] tries to prevent the legalisation of the [[Partitions of Poland|first partition of Poland]] by preventing the members of the ''Sejm'' from leaving the chamber (1773). [[Rejtan (painting)|Painting]] by [[Jan Matejko]]
</gallery>

====Congress Poland====
{{Main|Sejm of Congress Poland}}
The Chamber of Deputies, despite its name, consisted not only of 77 envoys (sent by local assemblies) from the hereditary nobility, but also of 51 [[Chamber of Deputies|deputies]], elected by the non-noble population. All deputies were covered by [[Parliamentary immunity]], with each individual serving for a term of office of six years, with third of the deputies being elected every two years. Candidates for deputy had to be able to [[Literacy|read and write]], and have a certain amount of wealth. The legal voting age was 21, except for those citizens serving in the military, the personnel of which were not allowed to vote. Parliamentary sessions were initially convened every two years, and lasted for (at least) 30 days. However, after many clashes between liberal deputies and conservative government officials, sessions were later called only four times (1818, 1820, 1826, and 1830, with the last two sessions being secret). The ''Sejm'' had the right to call for votes on [[Common law|civil]] and [[Administrative law|administrative]] legal issues, and, with permission from the king, it could also vote on matters related to the [[fiscal policy]] and the military. It had the right to exercise control over government officials, and to file [[petition]]s. The 64-member Senate on the other hand, was composed of ''[[voivode]]s'' and ''[[Castellan|kasztelan]]s'' (both types of provincial governors), Russian envoys, diplomats or princes, and nine bishops. It acted as the Parliamentary Court, had the right to control "citizens' books", and had similar [[Legislature|legislative]] rights as did the Chamber of Deputies.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

====Germany and Austria-Hungary====
In the [[Free City of Cracow]] (1815–1846), a unicameral Assembly of Representatives was established, and from 1827, a unicameral [[Sejm of the Grand Duchy of Posen|provincial ''sejm'']] existed in the [[Grand Duchy of Poznań]]. Poles were elected to and represented the majority in both of these legislatures; however, they were largely powerless institutions and exercised only very limited power. After numerous failures in securing legislative sovereignty in the early 19th century, many Poles simply gave up trying to attain a degree of independence from their foreign master-states. In the [[Austrian partition]], a relatively powerless [[Sejm of the Estates|''Sejm'' of the Estates]] operated until the time of the [[Revolutions of 1848|Spring of Nations]]. After this, in the mid to late 19th century, only in autonomous [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] (1861–1914) was there a unicameral and functional National ''Sejm'', the [[Sejm of the Land|''Sejm'' of the Land]]. It is recognised today as having played a major and overwhelming positive role in the development of Polish national institutions.

In the second half of the 19th century, Poles were able to become members of the parliaments of Austria, Prussia and Russia, where they formed Polish Clubs. Deputies of Polish nationality were elected to the Prussian ''Landtag'' from 1848, and then to the German Empire's ''[[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]]'' from 1871. Polish Deputies were members of the Austrian State Council (from 1867), and from 1906 were also elected to the Russian Imperial State ''Duma'' (lower chamber) and to the State Council (upper chamber).<ref name=autogenerated1 />