Országgyűlés ([ˈorsaːɟːyːleːʃ], National Assembly) was the name of the bicameral parliament of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The legislative power was vested in this parliament, consisting of two houses: an upper house titled the Főrendiház ([føːrɛndihaːz], House of Magnates), and a lower house titled the Képviselőház ([ˈkeːpviʃɛløːhaːz], House of Representatives).
Főrendiház
The House of Magnates was, like the current British House of Lords, composed of hereditaries, ecclesiastics, and, unlike the House of Lords, deputized representatives from autonomous regions (Similar to Resident Commissioners of United States territories). The House had no fixed membership size, as anyone who met the qualifications could sit in it. The official list:
- Princes of the royal house who have attained their majority (16 in 1904)
- Hereditary peers who paid at least 3000 florins a year land tax (237 in 1904) (at its 1896 exchange rate, £1 was worth 12 florins, so this comes to £250)
- High dignitaries of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches (42 in 1904)
- Representatives of the Protestant confessions (13 in 1904)
- Life peers appointed by the Crown, not exceeding 50 in number, and life peers elected by the house itself (73 altogether in 1904)
- Various state dignitaries and high judges (19 in 1904)
- Three delegates of Croatia-Slavonia
Képviselőház
The House of Representatives consisted of members elected, under the Electoral Law of 1874, by a complicated franchise based upon property, taxation, profession or official position, and ancestral privileges. The House consisted of 453 members, of which 413 are deputies elected in Hungary and 43 delegates of Croatia-Slavonia sent by the parliament of that province. Their terms were for five years and were remunerated.
The Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition considered the franchise "probably the most illiberal in Europe". The working classes were wholly unrepresented in the parliament, only 6% of them, and 13% of the small trading class, possessing the franchise, which was only enjoyed by 6% of the entire population.
The parliament was summoned annually by the king at Budapest. While official language was Hugarian, but the delegates of Croatia-Slavonia were allowed to use their language in the proceedings. The Hungarian parliament had power to legislate on all matters concerning Hungary, but for Croatia-Slavonia only on matters which concern these provinces in common with Hungary. The executive power was vested in a cabinet responsible to it, consisting of ten ministers, including: the president of the council, the minister for Croatia-Slavonia, a minister ad latum, and the ministers of the interior, of national defence, of education and public worship, of finance, of agriculture, of industry and commerce, and of justice.
Sources
Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events, D. Appleton and company, 1899, 69.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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