parliment

In very ancient India, during the Vedic civilization, there are mentions of two Parliament-like gatherings of the Indo-Aryan kingdoms called the Sabha and the Samiti. During the time of the Buddha, many states were even tribal republics, called the Sanghas. The Sabha has been interpreted by the historians as a representative assembly of the elect—the important men of the clan, which ran day-to-day business with the king. The Samiti seems to be a gathering of all the male members of the kingdom, and probably convened only for the ratification/election of a new king. The two largely democratic institutions, which kept a check on the absolutism of the king, were given a sacred position, and have been called the daughters of the deity Prajapati in the Vedas, the holiest of all Hindu scriptures and the earliest Indo-European literature. However, these democratic institutions became weaker as republics became larger and elected chieftainship moved towards hereditary and absolute monarchy. The Sabha and the Samiti bear almost no mention in later literature. After this, India would not have any democratic legislature till the British times, culminating in its modern democratic Parliament (whose two Houses still bear the name of Sabha).

Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and 1063, there was no representation of commoners. For so, the considered as first Spanish Parliament (with the presence of commoners) - known as Cortes- is held in the Kingdom of Leon in 1118. Prelates, nobles and commoners remained separated in the three estates within the Cortes. In this meeting new laws were approved to protect commoners against the arbitrarities of nobles, prelates and the king. This important set of laws is known as the "Carta Magna Leonesa"

Following this event, new Cortes will appear in the other different kingdoms: Catalonia in 1218, the Kingdom of Castile in 1250, Kingdom of Aragon in 1274, Kingdom of Valencia in 1283 and Kingdom of Navarre in 1300.