Knowra Sejm Sejm The Sejm was the parliament of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, comprising the king, Senate, and chamber of deputies. Its sessions shaped legislation, taxation, and the election of kings.
Liberum veto : A parliamentary rule allowing any deputy to block a Sejm resolution by dissenting. Its use turned unanimity into a power to halt legislation and dissolve sessions.
General sejm : A national assembly of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s king, Senate, and deputies. This was the central form of Sejm through which national decisions were made.
Constitution of 3 May 1791 : A constitution adopted by the Great Sejm in 1791 to reform the Commonwealth’s political system. It replaced the liberum veto with majority voting and strengthened central government.
English Parliament : The legislature of England, later of Great Britain, comprising the monarch, Lords, and Commons. Unlike the Sejm, its two chambers developed within a different constitutional and social order.
Sejmik : A regional assembly of nobles in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Sejmiks elected deputies and instructed them before national Sejm sessions.
Nihil novi : A 1505 Polish statute requiring royal legislation to receive the consent of the Senate and the chamber of deputies. It established the principle that the king could not legislate alone.
Great Sejm : The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s reforming parliament, which sat from 1788 to 1792. Its debates produced the Constitution of 3 May and other major reforms.
Estates-General : The representative assembly of the French kingdom, convened by the monarch to represent the clergy, nobility, and commoners. Its three estates did not share the Sejm’s continuous role in electing monarchs and legislating.
Senate of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth : The upper chamber of the Commonwealth’s parliament, made up chiefly of senior clergy and officials. The Senate was one of the Sejm’s three constituent estates.
Union of Lublin : The 1569 agreement that joined the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a federated Commonwealth. It created a shared parliament for the two political communities.
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