Insta Pedia at 23:34, 27 August 2022

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{{Short description|History of legislature simplification}}
This is a '''list of abolished [[upper house]]s''' of [[bicameral]] legislatures and parliaments at national and lower levels of government. The reasons for abolition include removal of unelected houses, under-representation of ethnic/religious minorities{{Citation needed}}, under-representation of women,{{Citation needed}} [[cost reduction|cost-cutting]] in government expenditure, longer and unlimited terms in office (leading to accusations of [[monarchism]]), and to speed up the process of legislation due to upper house scrutiny.

==Australia==
===Queensland===
The [[Legislative Council of Queensland]] was the upper house of the [[Parliament of Queensland]], and was entirely appointed by the [[Governor of Queensland]].

The appointed membership, along with the Council's opposition to many of the reform measures of the Ryan Labor Government which was elected in 1915, resulted in the government formulating a policy to abolish the Council, a proposal continually rejected by Council Members, and defeated in a 1917 referendum.

After the Labor Government of [[Ted Theodore]] had Acting Governor William Lennon appoint 14 Labor Members to the Council, giving the Government a majority in the Upper House, the Legislative Council sat for the last time on 27 October 1921, the day after it voted itself out of existence.

All other Australian states continue to have a bicameral system.

==Canada==
===Provincial-level===
Some [[Canada|Canadian provinces]] once possessed upper houses, but abolished them to adopt [[unicameral]] systems. [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] had a [[Legislative Council]] prior to joining [[Canada]], as did Ontario when it was [[Upper Canada]]. Newfoundland has the power to re-establish its upper house, the Legislative Council, pursuant to Term 14 (2) of the Terms of Union.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.exec.gov.nl.ca/royalcomm/resources/nf_act.htm |title=Newfoundland Act - Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada}}</ref> Manitoba had an upper chamber until it was abolished in 1876, New Brunswick's upper chamber was abolished in 1892, Prince Edward Island's upper chamber was abolished in 1893, Nova Scotia's upper chamber was abolished in 1928 and Québec's [[Legislative Council of Quebec|upper chamber]] was abolished in 1968.<ref>[http://www.parl.gc.ca/procedure-book-livre/Document.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&sbdid=73CC891E-0676-4773-850B-CCDCB472AD8C&sbpid=BE842475-5632-4969-835B-FC015CE50169#C177CB45-8B49-41E4-9D0E-6E66706BB58F ''House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Second Edition''], Audrey O’Brien and Marc Bosc, 2009</ref>

==Denmark==
The [[Landstinget]] was the upper house of the legislature of [[Denmark]] from 1849 until 1953. It was abolished in the [[1953 Danish constitutional and electoral age referendum|1953 referendum]] when the new constitution was approved.

==Estonia==
According to the [[Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992)|1938 Constitution]], the [[Riigikogu]] had two chambers, which replaced the unicameral system. The lower chamber was called Riigivolikogu and the upper chamber was named Riiginõukogu. Both chambers were disbanded in 1940, following the [[occupation of the Baltic States|Soviet occupation]], and rigged<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930031407/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764407,00.html Justice in The Baltic] at Time magazine on Monday, August 19, 1940</ref> elections for only the lower chamber Riigivolikogu were held. According to the 1992 [[Constitution of Estonia]], the parliament is once again unicameral.<ref>[http://www.riigikogu.ee/index.php?id=34614 The legislative bodies of the Republic of Estonia] (in Estonian)</ref>

==India==
===State-level===
The [[State Legislative Council (India)|State Legislative Council]] or Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the [[State Legislature (India)|state legislature]] in India. The states of [[Assam]], [[Bombay State|Bombay]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Tamil Nadu]] and [[West Bengal]] have abolished the Vidhan Parishad in their legislatures. The Vidhan Parishad of [[Andhra Pradesh]] was abolished in 1985 but revived again in 2007.<ref name="A">{{cite web |title=Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council History |url=https://legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in/States/Andhra%20pradesh/andhracouncil-w.htm |publisher=National Informatics Centre |access-date=2010-09-03}}</ref>

==Sweden==
The [[Första kammaren]] was the upper house of the legislature of [[Sweden]] from 1866 to 1970 until an amendment was made to the 1809 Instrument of Government in the 1970 general election.

==New Zealand==
The (appointed) [[New Zealand Legislative Council]] was abolished in 1951.

==United States==
===State-level===
[[Nebraska]] is the only state in the United States to have a [[Nebraska Legislature|unicameral legislature]], which it achieved when it abolished its lower house instead of the upper house in 1934. For this reason, state legislators in Nebraska are sometimes called "senators", as the [[Nebraska State Senate]] has been the sole house of the state legislature since the [[Nebraska State House of Representatives]] permanently dissolved in 1937. During the governorship of [[Jesse Ventura]] in [[Minnesota]], he called for the state to have a unicameral legislature, but these plans never materialized.

==Other countries==
{{See also|Senate#Defunct and unestablished senates}}

[[Costa Rica]] (1847-1871 and 1919), Four states of [[Brazil]]: [[Bahia]], [[Ceará]], [[Pernambuco]], [[São Paulo (state)|São Paulo]] (1930), [[Control Yuan|Republic of China (Taiwan)]] (1993), [[Chamber of Counties of Croatia|Croatia]] (2001), [[Greek Senate|Greece]] (1935), [[Hungary]], [[House of Councillors of Korea|South Korea]] (1960), [[Senate of the Republic of Peru|Peru]] (1992), [[Senate (Portugal)|Portugal]] (1926), [[Senate of the Republic (Turkey)|Turkey]] (1980), [[Venezuelan Senate|Venezuela]] (1999), and [[Mauritanian Senate|Mauritania]] (2017) once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt [[unicameral]] systems.

In October 2013, a [[Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2013|constitutional referendum]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]] proposed the establishment a unicameral system by abolishing [[Seanad Éireann]], the upper house of parliament.<ref name="it1417902">{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/government-publishes-seanad-abolition-referendum-details-1.1417902 |title=Government publishes Seanad abolition referendum details |last=Burke Kennedy |first=Eoin |work=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2013/63/ |title=Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 |work=Bills 1992–2013 |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=9 July 2013}}</ref> The proposal was narrowly rejected by a margin of 51.7% against vs. 48.3% in favour.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGee |first1=Harry |last2=Carroll |first2=Steven |title=Seanad to be retained after Government loses referendum |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/seanad-to-be-retained-after-government-loses-referendum-1.1551657 |access-date=5 October 2013 |newspaper=Irish Times }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of abolished lower houses]]
* [[Unicameralism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{National upper houses}}

[[Category:Defunct upper houses| ]]
[[Category:Legislatures-related lists]]
[[Category:Upper houses of country subdivisions]]

List of abolished upper houses - Revision history

Insta Pedia at 23:34, 27 August 2022