Everything about States-general Of The Kingdom Of The Netherlands totally explained
The
States-General (
Staten-Generaal) is the
parliament of the
Netherlands. It consists of two chambers, the more important of which is the directly elected
Tweede Kamer (literally "Second Chamber", the
lower house). The
Eerste Kamer ("First Chamber",
upper house, also known as Senate,
Dutch Senaat) is elected indirectly by members of
provincial legislatures. The meeting rooms of the Staten-Generaal are at the
Binnenhof (Inner Court) in
The Hague.
Functions
The States-General meets in joint session at least once every year at the opening of the parliamentary year, when the
Queen gives her
Speech from the Throne on the
Day of the Princelings. On special occasions, such as when the States-General vote on a marriage of a member of the royal house, when a king is crowned or when a member of the royal house dies, both houses also meet in a joint session (Dutch:
Verenigde Vergadering). The chair of the Eerste Kamer presides over these meetings. They take place in the
Ridderzaal (Knight's Hall) on the Binnenhof, except for the coronation which occurs in the
Nieuwe Kerk in
Amsterdam. The rest of the time, the two chambers hold meet separately.
Constitutionally all functions of the parliament are given to both houses, except for the right of initiative and amendment. In practice the Tweede Kamer has these functions, as the Eerste Kamer meets only one day a week. The Joint Session also appoints the monarch if there's no heir to the throne and the regent is unable to exercise his or her powers.
History
Historically the convocation of the
States-General consisted of delegates from the provincial
States, and dated from about the middle of the 15th century, under the rule of the dukes of
Burgundy. The first meeting was on
January 9,
1464 in
Bruges in
Flanders at the behest of
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. Later, regular meetings were held at
Coudenberg,
Brussels (
Brabant). After the
abjuration of the king in 1581 and the separation of the northern Netherlands from the
Spanish dominions, the States-General replaced the king as the supreme authority and national central government of the northern Netherlands, now known as the United Netherlands (with regional government taken on by the
States Provincial). The representatives, now in The Hague (
Holland), were elected by the seven sovereign
provincial estates for the general government of the
United Provinces. The States-General, in which the voting was by province – each of the seven provinces having one vote, as in the
European Union today – were established from 1593. 20% of the new Republic's territory, the so-called
Generality Lands, wasn't assigned to any provincial council and so was under the direct rule of the
Generality (
generaliteit) - as such, this territory had no vote in the States-General. Also the
Dutch East India Company and the
Dutch West India Company were under its
general supervision;
Staten Island in
New York City (originally
New Amsterdam) and
Staten Island, Argentina (Discovered by Dutchman
Jacob le Maire), for example, are named after the
Staten-Generaal.
The
Southern Netherlands kept their own States-General in Brussels.
Both States-General in The Hague and Brussels came to an end after 1795, in the South with the French annexation, in the North with the proclamation of the
Batavian Republic and the subsequent convocation of the National Assembly (
March 1,
1796). The title of
Staten-Generaal, however, continued in the title of subsequent Netherlands
parliaments, that were reconstituted in 1815, after the Napoleontic rule.
Based on the original text from 1911 Encyclopædia BritannicaFurther Information
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