diet²

 

parliamentary bodies in Japan, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the Scandinavian nations, and Germany have been called diets. In German history, the diet originated as a meeting of landholders and burghers, convoked by the ruler to discuss financial problems. The imperial diet or Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire began as a loose assembly of ecclesiastic princes and imperial cities, meeting at irregular intervals. After 1489 three colleges representing electors, princes, and imperial cities arrived at decisions separately—even over war and peace—then combined them. The emperor could ratify the whole or parts. Among the most important diets were those of Worms (1495) and Cologne (1512); see Maximilian I, Holy Roman emperor. The most important diets of the Reformation were Worms (1521), Speyer (1529), and Augsburg (1530, 1547, 1555). The diet declined in importance and after the peace of Westphalia (1648) it became an assembly of independent princes, meeting after 1663 at Regensburg as a conference of ambassadors without legislative power. For the federal diet of 1815–66, which succeeded the imperial diet, see German Confederation. The term was revived for the legislature of the German Empire in 1871, and was used until the end of World War II; see Reichstag.

The Japanese diet was established as the national legislature in 1889. Until 1947, the upper house (Peers) was appointive, the lower (Representatives) elected. Its powers were negative: no bill could become law without its approval, except in an emergency; the government could function with last year's budget if the current one was not approved; legislation was initiated by the executive. After 1947, the upper house was made elective (Councillors). Suffrage became universal, and the lower house gained precedence over the selection of the prime minister, budgets, and treaties; it can override the upper house on bills with a two-thirds majority. Most legislation is initiated by the cabinet. Since 1947 the Japanese diet, once peripheral, is central to Japan's politics; see Japan, under Government and Politics.

In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is derived from Medieval Latin dietas, and ultimately comes from the Latin dies, "day". The word came to be used in this sense because these assemblies met on a daily basis.

Historic uses

In this sense, it commonly refers to the Reichstag assemblies of the Holy Roman Empire; see Reichstag (institution), Diet of Augsburg, Diet of Nuremberg, Diet of Regensburg, Diet of Speyer and Diet of Worms. The assemblies of the Hungarian nobility, customarily called together every three years in Pozsony, were also called "Diéta" in the Habsburg Empire before the 1848 revolution.

The Riksdag of the Estates was the diet of the four estates of Sweden, from the 15th century until 1866. The Diet of Finland was the successor to the Riksdag of the Estates in the Grand Duchy of Finland, from 1809 to 1906.

The Swiss Diet was known as Tagsatzung.

In other countries the name of the comparable assembly came from the generality of the States:

• Belgium and the Netherlands: Staten Generaal
• France: États Généraux
• Spain: Generalitat de Catalunya, Generalitat Valenciana, Cortes Generales

Current use

• The modern German parliament, called the Bundestag, literally means "Federal Diet"; the derivation is that "tag" in German means "day," indicating the Latin-derived meaning. The term is rarely if ever translated into English in English-language texts, even on first reference.
• The name of the Swedish parliament is the Riksdag, which being cognate to German Reichstag literally means "Day of the Realm" or "Day of the Nation."
• The Japanese Parliament (the Kokkai) is conventionally called the Diet in English, indicating the heavy Prussian influence on the Meiji Constitution, Japan's first modern written constitution.

See also

• The States
• Landtag
• Federal Assembly

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