Parliament of England

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Parliament of England
Royal coat of arms of England, 1558–1603
Type
Type	Unicameral (c. 1236[1]–1341 / 1649–1657) Bicameral (1341–1649 / 1657–1707)
Houses	Upper house: House of Lords (1341–1649 / 1660–1707) House of Peers (1657–1660) Lower house: House of Commons (1341–1707)
History
Established	c. 1236[1]
Disbanded	1 May 1707
Preceded by	Curia regis
Succeeded by	Parliament of Great Britain
Leadership
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal	William Cowper1 since 1705
Speaker of the House of Commons	John Smith1 since 1705
Structure
House of Commons political groups	Final composition of the English House of Commons: 513 Seats   Tories: 260 seats   Whigs: 233 seats   Unclassified: 20 seats
Elections
House of Lords voting system	Ennoblement by the Sovereign or inheritance of an English peerage
House of Commons voting system	First past the post with limited suffrage1
Meeting place
Palace of Westminster, Westminster, Middlesex
Footnotes
1Reflecting Parliament as it stood in 1707. See also: Parliament of Scotland, Parliament of Ireland

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised the English monarch. Great councils were first called Parliaments during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216–1272). By this time, the king required Parliament's consent to levy taxation.

Originally a unicameral body, a bicameral Parliament emerged when its membership was divided into the House of Lords and House of Commons, which included knights of the shire and burgesses. During Henry IV's time on the throne, the role of Parliament expanded beyond the determination of taxation policy to include the "redress of grievances", which essentially enabled English citizens to petition the body to address complaints in their local towns and counties. By this time, citizens were given the power to vote to elect their representatives—the burgesses—to the House of Commons.

Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the English monarchy, a process that arguably culminated in the English Civil War and the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I.