Upper house

An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. Upper houses are known by a variety of titles, but the most common is senate. An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of a number of ways. An upper house may:

• Be less powerful than the lower house.
• Consist of members selected in a manner other than by popular election.
• Be intended to represent the states of a federation.
• Have a smaller membership than the lower house.
• Consist of members who serve longer terms than those of the lower house.
• Consist of a membership elected in portions, rather than all at once.

Table of contents

1 Powers 2 Election or appointment 3 Abolition 4 Titles of upper houses

Powers

• Under parliamentary systems the executive is usually chosen by, and answerable to, the lower house alone.

• Often an upper house may only delay but not veto legislation adopted by the lower house. This arises from the notion of an upper house as an advisory or revising chamber. It is the role of a revising chamber 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. The British House of Lords is sometimes seen as having a special role of safeguarding the constitution and important civil liberties against ill-considered change. By delaying but not vetoing legislation, an upper house may nevertheless defeat legislation: by giving the lower house the opportunity to reconsider, by preventing it from having sufficient time for a bill in the legislative schedule, or simply by embarrassing the other chamber into abandoning an unpopular measure.

• In many systems the upper house has restricted influence over money bills, such as the budget. Constitutions often stipulate that a money bill must originate in the lower house, or that the upper house may not block supply.

One exception to the principle of the upper house having less authority than the lower house may be the US Senate. This is often referred to as the 'upper house' of the US Congress, but is in vital respects actually more powerful than the House of Representatives (the 'lower house').

Election or appointment

• Many upper houses are not directly elected, but appointed: either by the head of government or in some other way. 'Appointment' is usually intended to produce a house of experts or otherwise distinguished citizens, who would not be returned in an election. Members of the Canadian Senate are appointed by the monarch on the direction of the Prime Minister. In contrast, the Irish Senate is indirectly elected from special panels, intended to represent different aspects of national life, such as labour, employers and culture.

• In federations the upper house may consist of delegates who are indirectly elected by state governments, as is the case in the German Bundesrat and many other upper chambers. Alternatively, members of the upper house may be directly elected but apportioned among states in a manner which is not strictly proportionate to population. In the US Senate members are directly elected but each state receives exactly two senators, regardless of its population.

• Finally, seats in an upper house may be hereditary, as has historically been the case in the British House of Lords. The House of Lords was intended to represent the nobility while the lower house, the House of Commons, represented the commoners.

Abolition

Many jurisdictions, such as Denmark, Sweden, Venezuela, New Zealand and the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and New Brunswick, once possessed upper houses but abolished them, to adopt unicameral systems. Newfoundland had a Legislative Council prior to joining Canada, as did Ontario when it was Upper Canada. The Australia state of Queensland also used to have a Legislative council, which it abolished in 1922, but all other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems.

Titles of upper houses

• Senate
• House of Lords
• Legislative Council

• Bundesrat - Germany, Austria
• Council of States - Switzerland
• Eerste Kamer - Netherlands
• Federation Council - Russia
• House of Councillors - Japan
• National Council - Slovenia
• Rajya Sabha - India

See also: List of national legislatures.