The House of Commons reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

House of Commons

In a bicameral parliament of a Westminster System , the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. The Commons generally holds much more power than the upper house (the senate or House of Lords). The leader of the majority party in the House of Commons usually becomes the prime minister.

Most Westminster-system nations have since changed the name of their lower house to "the House of Representatives." There are only two existing Houses of Commons. These are the:

• British House of Commons (at the Palace of Westminster, London)
• Canadian House of Commons (on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa)

The House of Commons was also the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, before its abolition under the 1801 Act of Union, and the short-lived Parliament of Southern Ireland in 1920, which was subsequently superseded by the Dáil of the Irish Free State. Similarly, the House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland before its abolition in 1972.

See also

• House of Representatives
• Chamber of Deputies
• House of Assembly
• House of Keys
• Legislative Assembly
• National Assembly
• Lok Sabha

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