The parliamentary system in western countries is the core component of capitalist democracy and plays an important role in national political life. Parliament, formerly known as hierarchical meeting, is convened by the king from time to time and consists of representatives of three different levels: nobles, priests and citizens. "In Britain, when the king called a meeting of civilian representatives, the command meeting was renamed the Council in Parliament, and it was still presided over by the king. However, in fact, the nobles and the civilians meet separately, so the British Parliament is composed of nobles and civilians. When the French revolution broke out, the third level, that is, citizens' representatives met separately and called themselves the "National Assembly". The National Assembly is the highest authority. It suppressed kings, queens, big noble and archbishops and confiscated their land and property. This is the jacobin dictatorship in history. "(1) Later, Britain implemented a parliamentary cabinet system, while France implemented a semi-parliamentary system and a semi-presidential system. Therefore, due to historical and cultural reasons, parliamentary systems in Britain and France are very different.

First, the origin and development of the British and French parliaments

Parliamentary system is the product of bourgeois revolution. In the early days of the bourgeois revolution, in order to oppose the feudal autocratic rule and weaken the power of the king, the emerging bourgeoisie used the feudal hierarchy meeting to launch a fierce struggle with the feudal monarchy. With the establishment of the capitalist system, the feudal hierarchical conference gradually evolved into a bourgeois parliament and became an important part of the capitalist political system. Britain is the birthplace of modern parliamentary system and has the reputation of "the mother of parliament". It is the highest judicial and legislative body in Britain, consisting of the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The British Parliament was born in the struggle between absolute monarchy and restriction of monarchy. As early as 12 15, King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta restricts the kingship and stipulates that a free man shall not be arrested or his property confiscated without legal judgment. It also stipulates that no additional tax may be levied without the consent of the nobles and knights' meeting. Magna Carta is called "the cornerstone of British freedom" and the first "constitution" in Britain. Henry III (1216-1272), who succeeded to the throne, continued to confront the nobles, but in order to solve the financial problem, a hierarchical meeting composed of nobles, bishops, knights and city representatives was held in 1256, which was the embryonic form of the British parliamentary system. Subsequently, under the rule of Edward I of England (1272- 1307), a parliament attended by all levels was held in 1295. In the form of parliament, the rulers of feudal countries formed a unified class alliance, and the parliament was gradually divided into two houses: the upper house, called the "House of Lords", was composed of priests and priests. The House of Commons, called the House of Representatives, consists of knights and citizens representing the county. The alliance between absolute monarchy and the bourgeois ruling class began to crack when Queen Elizabeth (1558- 1603).

1689 The bill of rights passed by the parliament stipulates that the power of the parliament is higher than the royal power, members are freely elected, and the parliament meets regularly to discuss issues such as legislation and taxation, thus establishing the principle of the capitalist parliamentary system of "parliamentary priority". 170 1 promulgated the Law of Succession to the Throne, which further clarified that Parliament is the highest legislative body above the king and enjoys great powers such as legislation, finance and deciding the succession to the throne. Finally, a bicameral parliament was established in Britain with constitutional monarchy.

Parliament came into being in Britain and then spread to America and France. The bicameral system in France also evolved from the feudal hierarchical conference. 1302, France held the first feudal hierarchy meeting composed of monks, nobles and citizens. Through this three-level meeting, the king consolidated his position, gradually eliminated the feudal separatist forces, and realized centralization and national political unity. Later levels will be opened intermittently, depending on the king's wishes. When the hierarchy meeting was held, the three hierarchy groups and academies were held separately, so the French feudal hierarchy meeting was a three-chamber system. 1789 During the French Revolution, citizens' representatives clashed with the kingship, withdrew from the hierarchical meeting and assembled on their own, which was called the National Assembly. Since 1795, the French parliament has been bicameral. On June 1958, less than 48 hours after the government of Charles de Gaulle came to power, a new constitution was formulated and put to a referendum. The whole constitution aims to make the whole country run efficiently, re-establish the status of Congress, and at the same time end the previous operation mode of Congress. 1958 10 The formal promulgation and entry into force of the Constitution marks the birth of a nearly perfect or reasonable parliamentary system.

Second, the composition of the British and French parliaments.

The composition of parliaments in western countries can be roughly divided into two main types: bicameral system and unicameral system. From the perspective of regional distribution, most countries adopting the unicameral system are newly independent countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America after the war, while countries adopting the bicameral system are mainly western capitalist countries with relatively developed capitalist economy and fully developed capitalist democracy, such as Western Europe and North America.

It can be said that bicameral system is a typical form of western parliamentary system. Britain and France are typical bicameral countries. The following is a comparison of parliamentary systems between Britain and France in terms of parliamentary composition:

Compare the number of members with the interests they represent. The British Parliament consists of the upper house (House of Lords), the lower house (House of Poor People) and the king, and exercises the highest legislative power of the country. Members of the House of Lords are elected in three ways: hereditary by the nobility, conferring titles by the king, and internal selection by the nobility. It is composed of religious aristocrats, hereditary aristocrats, lifelong aristocrats and appeal aristocrats, with more than 1000 members. Members of the House of Commons are elected by universal suffrage, with a total of 635 members. According to the law, anyone who has the right to vote at the age of 2 1 has the right to stand for election. The king is regarded as "the source of all power" and "the embodiment of the country". In political life, he is in the position of "facing North Korea without paying attention to politics" and "unifying without extinction", which has the symbolic significance of the country. In the bicameral system of the French parliament, the two houses refer to the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly consists of 577 members, each of whom is directly elected from many constituencies. The President has the right to dissolve the National Assembly after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Speakers of both Houses. Members of the Senate ***4 16 are indirectly elected, and most of them come from provinces and provincial administrative regions.

Compared with the term of office of members. The House of Lords of the British Parliament/KLOC-more than 0/000 members, with no term limit; At present, there are generally 635 members in the lower house, and each member has a term of five years. The term of office of the French bicameral parliament, the China National Assembly, is five years; The term of office of members of the Senate is nine years, and one-third of them are re-elected every three years, which makes the Senate certain and cannot be dissolved.