document_title: Telltale Games

question_text: when is the next telltale game coming out

text: Telltale Games

text: History

text: Company foundation

text: Telltale Games was founded by Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner and Troy Molander, a group of former LucasArts employees who had been working on Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a sequel to the 1993 game Sam & Max Hit the Road, prior to its cancellation on March 3, 2004. In an early press release the vocal public response to said cancellation was cited as a main reason the company was founded.[2] The Telltale Games team has a large collective experience working on LucasArts' famed classics.

text: Telltale Games was formed in San Rafael, California with the assistance of technology attorney Ira P. Rothken, who provided initial seed capital, procured angel investments, and negotiated deals involving Bone, Sam & Max, GameTap, Ubisoft, and others which led to initial revenue, marketing, and development of the core episodic game technology.

text: On February 11, 2005, the company released their first game, Telltale Texas Hold'em, a poker card game simulator which was intended primarily to test the Telltale Tool, their in-house game engine.[3] This was followed by two games based on Jeff Smith's Bone comic book series. More episodes were planned, but later aborted. They then developed CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder for Ubisoft, and although it was composed of several free-standing episodes, it was released exclusively at retail as a single package. The same is true for the follow-ups, CSI: Hard Evidence, CSI: Deadly Intent, and CSI: Fatal Conspiracy.

text: After securing two rounds of angel investment from San Francisco Bay Area angels including superangel Matthew Le Merle and members of angel group Keiretsu Forum,[4] Telltale attempted to buy the rights to complete Sam & Max: Freelance Police from LucasArts, but when they were denied, they secured the rights to create new games from series creator Steve Purcell. Unlike their previous games, Sam & Max: Season One (published in collaboration with GameTap) was their first episodic series released on a tight monthly schedule — a landmark for the game industry. The series proved successful, and Telltale went on to produce two additional Sam & Max seasons. Since then, they have continued to produce series based on popular licenses released in monthly, and more recently in bi-monthly, episodes. Several series that Telltale went on to work with were largely comedic, including games based on Wallace & Gromit (until 2014 when their distribution rights for Wallace & Gromit games expired) and Homestar Runner. Tales of Monkey Island, based on the popular LucasArts series, marked one of their most successful series to date, owing in part to the history many of its developers had with LucasArts adventure games.

text: Pilot program

text: To supplement their normal episodic games, Telltale created a pilot program in early 2010 to explore one-off games that would explore other gameplay and storytelling approaches that could eventually be incorporated into their episodic games.[5] The first game, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, a puzzle-solving game in collaboration with Graham Annable, was released in the middle of June 2010, while Poker Night at the Inventory, a crossover poker game featuring characters from Sam and Max, Homestar Runner, Valve's Team Fortress 2, and the webcomic Penny Arcade, was released late in 2010. Telltale followed up Puzzle Agent with a sequel, Puzzle Agent 2, in 2011. In 2013, Telltale continued the series with Poker Night 2. The pilot program is also utilized by Telltale Games to develop new gameplay ideas that are then adapted to their normal episodic game series. The Walking Dead started out as a pilot program title that was known internally as the "zombie prototype".[6]

text: Growth and franchise acquisitions

text: Having established themselves as working with comedy franchises, Telltale later chose to work with dramatic franchises as well as comedy series. In June 2010, Telltale announced that they had secured licences with NBC Universal to develop two episodic series based on Back to the Future and Jurassic Park.[7] Telltale also obtained the license from NBC Universal to develop episodic series around the Law & Order franchise in April 2011.[8]

text: By 2010, Telltale had proven itself successful, with yearly revenues of $10 million, 90% greater than the previous year.[9] Part of this was attributed to Back to the Future: The Game, which Steve Allison, the senior vice president (VP) of marketing, called in 2011 their "most successful franchise to date".[10] Allison stated that for most of their games, they only need to sell 100,000 copies to break even, but many of their recent releases have seen twice that number or more.[9] The studio expanded from 90 to 140 employees.[9] They had obtained a license in 2011 to develop a King's Quest adventure game based on the original Sierra games,[11] but Activision took back the rights in 2013, which were subsequently used by The Odd Gentlemen to create their 2015 episodic King's Quest game.[12]

text: Telltale's breakthrough success came with the licenses of the comic book series The Walking Dead and Fables in association with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2011.[9] Allison anticipated that The Walking Dead series could be a $20 to $30 million franchise.[9] Their The Walking Dead video game presented an alteration of Telltale's approach, as rather than a traditional adventure game where players would need to solve puzzles, The Walking Dead was more focused on providing a cinematic experience but presenting choices to the player, either through dialog trees or through quick time events, that would create "determinants" that would feed into latter parts of the episode and into future episodes; one example would be deciding which of one of two characters to save from a zombie attack at the spur of the moment. While these decisions do not have a direct impact on the game's overall narrative and structure, it provides a more personalized story around what decisions the player had made.[13] This format provided highly successful: the game sold one million copies in 20 days,[14][15] exceeded 8.5 million episode purchases by 2013,[16] and has led to two additional 5-episode seasons plus a 3-episode mini-season to date. The Walking Dead is considered to have revitalized the waning adventure game genre due to this more emotionally-driven focus. Since The Walking Dead, nearly all of Telltale's games have used a similar approach of being built around the impacts of the player's choices as determinants in later episodes and seasons.

text: Spurred by The Walking Dead's success, Telltale relocated to a larger space and expanded from 125 to 160 in mid-2013.[17]

text: Telltale has since had several other licensing details from popular works, including Tales from the Borderlands based on the Borderlands series from Gearbox Software,[18] and Game of Thrones, based on the HBO television show adaption,[18] Minecraft: Story Mode based on the Mojang game, Minecraft,[19] Batman: The Telltale Series from DC Comics, and Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series from Marvel Comics.[20]

text: With Batman: The Telltale Series and most of their subsequently released episodic adventure games, Telltale added a "Crowd Play" feature that can be used by those that stream their playthroughs on services like Twitch.tv. Through Crowd Play, viewers can vote for an option for the streamer to select.[21]

text: In January 2015, original chief executive officer (CEO) Dan Connors resigned; co-founder Kevin Bruner replaced him. Connors noted that with the studio's continued growth, it had begun experiencing growth-specific challenges. Connors stated that Bruner's ascension to CEO would best enable Telltale Games to act on future expansion opportunities. Connors remains on the board of directors, and also serves as a creative consultant.[22]

text: In February 2015, Lionsgate announced an investment within Telltale Games to produce a number of "Super Shows", a hybrid interactive work combining television and video game elements, which can be distributed through non-traditional channels such as through streaming services. The first Super Show planned is an original intellectual property (IP) that Telltale has been developing that is said to be able to take advantage of this format.[23] Telltale also announced that Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer and Unity Technologies' CEO John Riccitiello joined Telltale's board of directors.[24]

text: On March 15, 2017, Bruner announced he had stepped down as CEO of Telltale, turning the day-to-day operations to Conners, while still remaining on the Board of Directors. Bruner said "The time has come to pass the reins to someone that can better drive Telltale to the next level and realize all the potential that is here."[25] Pete Hawley, the former VP for Games at Zynga, was announced as the new CEO, with Conners remaining on its Board and acting in an advisory role.[26]

text: Telltale Publishing

text: Telltale has also helped other developers to publish their games. Under the moniker Telltale Publishing, Telltale entered into a publishing deal with Jackbox Games to bring the console versions of The Jackbox Party Pack to retail markets,[27] and with The Fun Pimps to publish 7 Days to Die for consoles.[28] On 18 August 2016, Telltale published Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n by Night School Studio.[29]

text: Development model

text: Telltale Games presents itself specifically as a developer of the episodic genre.[30][31][32][33] It is seen by production studios and other content producers to take a more realistic approach to movie tie-in games rather than the difficult "see the movie, play the game" model, and also collaborates with studios and screenwriters to create a strong experience that pays homage to the original film or franchise.[9] In a September 2017 interview, Job Stauffer called Telltale's role as "an interactive TV network and a studio", able to produce content across a wide range of genres on a regular basis.[34] He considered their studio something between a video game developer and a cable or streaming network with production capabilities like HBO or Netflix.[34]

text: In general, Telltale offers its games as a one-time "season pass" purchase for the game's season when the first episode of the season is released, with the user then entitled to all planned episodes for that season. For digital purchases, this entitlement is handled through the digital storefront. In retail, Telltale has published complete season after the season's digital release is over, but have also adopted a model where they can publish, at the same time as the digital release, a retail disc that contains the first episode. The disc includes a "season pass" entitlement to the remaining episodes to be digitally downloaded, tied to the disc itself rather than the user. This allows for trading or resale of the retail product that can be played by others, which according to Stauffer, makes for a "nice in-between" market model that satisfies players, retailers, and themselves.[34] For some of their games, Telltale has developed additional downloadable content, such as 400 Days for The Walking Dead, or three additional episodes for Minecraft: Story Mode Season 1, which must be purchased separately from the season pass.

text: While mainly a developer, Telltale also verifies its self-publishing ethos;[35] the only classic developer-publisher relationship was with Ubisoft for the CSI video game franchise.[36] They have struck financial arrangements with GameTap for the first two seasons of the rebooted Sam & Max games, but their publishing arrangements have been chiefly made after the games were already completed and had already been sold via digital distribution.

text: Telltale aims to also present itself on as many digital platforms and avenues as possible.[37] To date, it has released games through GameTap; on PC and OS X, through Steam and similar services, plus its own online store; on Wii, via WiiWare and disc; on Xbox 360, via Xbox Live Arcade and disc; on PlayStation 3, through PlayStation Network and disc; on iPhone and iPad, through iTunes; on PlayStation Vita; and, on Kindle Fire HDX.[38] Though Telltale normally port their own games to other systems, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder was ported to the PlayStation 2 by Ubisoft Sofia,[39] and Bone: Out from Boneville was ported to Mac OS by Vanbrio.[40] Telltale was one of the companies who Sony confirmed pledged PlayStation 4 third-party support at the PlayStation Meeting 2013.[41] Telltale has also committed to developing and re-releasing seasons for the Nintendo Switch. Stauffer stated that there's no restrictions on what titles they can bring to the Switch due to content, but they are focusing on their more recent, family-friendly titles like Minecraft: Story Mode, Batman, and Guardians of the Galaxy only due to ease of porting these to the Switch, while older titles like The Walking Dead require more effort to port.[34]

text: With Bruner's placement as CEO in January 2015, Telltale said it was currently developing a game based on its own IP—not just its licensed variable-in-game-chronology concept—as a result of this leadership change.[42]

text: Telltale's games reportedly suffer from an abnormally high rate of bugs and other technical flaws, pervasive enough to pose a significant risk of impeding players' ability to progress through a given title. A 2015 article by Kotaku noted that "their games, wonderful in many ways as they may be, have been accompanied by an undercurrent of fan anger" over widespread bugs and glitches. The article concluded that Telltale's support forums "paint a portrait of a publisher that is constantly releasing buggy and even outright broken games", seemingly lacking the resources to fix or even monitor most of them.[43]

text: Games developed

text:
Title
Release date(s)
# of episodes
Platform(s)

Telltale Texas Hold'em
000000002005-02-11-0000February 11, 2005
1 episode (standalone title)
Win

Bone: Out from Boneville
000000002005-09-15-0000September 15, 2005
1 episode (standalone title)
Win, OS X

CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder
000000002006-03-21-0000March 21, 2006
5 episodes (standalone title)
Win, PS2

Bone: The Great Cow Race
000000002006-04-12-0000April 12, 2006
1 episode (standalone title)
Win

Sam & Max Save the World
000000002006-10-17-0000October 17, 2006—000000002007-04-26-0000April 26, 2007
6 episodes (monthly)
Win, Wii, X360

CSI: Hard Evidence
000000002007-09-25-0000September 25, 2007
5 episodes (standalone title)
Win, OS X, Wii, X360

Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space
000000002007-11-08-0000November 8, 2007—000000002008-04-10-0000April 10, 2008
5 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, Wii, X360

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
000000002008-08-11-0000August 11, 2008—000000002008-12-15-0000December 15, 2008
5 episodes (monthly)
Win, OS X, PS3, Wii

Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures
000000002009-03-24-0000March 24, 2009—000000002009-07-30-0000July 30, 2009
4 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, X360

Tales of Monkey Island
000000002009-07-07-0000July 7, 2009—000000002009-12-08-0000December 8, 2009
5 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, Wii

CSI: Deadly Intent
000000002009-10-20-0000October 20, 2009
5 episodes (standalone title)
Win, Wii, X360

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
000000002010-04-15-0000April 15, 2010—000000002010-08-30-0000August 30, 2010
5 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3

Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent
000000002010-06-30-0000June 30, 2010
1 episode (standalone title)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3

CSI: Fatal Conspiracy
000000002010-10-26-0000October 26, 2010
5 episodes (standalone title)
Win, PS3, Wii, X360

Poker Night at the Inventory
000000002010-11-22-0000November 22, 2010
1 episode (standalone title)
Win, OS X

Back to the Future: The Game
000000002010-12-22-0000December 22, 2010—000000002011-06-23-0000June 23, 2011
5 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, Wii, X360, XONE

Puzzle Agent 2
000000002011-06-30-0000June 30, 2011
1 episode (standalone title)
iOS, Win, OS X

Jurassic Park: The Game
000000002011-11-15-0000November 15, 2011
4 episodes (standalone title)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, X360

Law & Order: Legacies
000000002011-12-22-0000December 22, 2011—000000002012-03-29-0000March 29, 2012
7 episodes (bi-weekly)
iOS, Win, OS X

The Walking Dead
000000002012-04-24-0000April 24, 2012—000000002012-11-20-0000November 20, 2012
000000002013-07-02-0000July 2, 2013 (400 Days)
5 episodes (bi-monthly)
1 episode (downloadable content)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, Vita, X360, XONE

Poker Night 2
000000002013-04-24-0000April 24, 2013
1 episode (standalone title)
iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, X360

The Wolf Among Us
000000002013-10-11-0000October 11, 2013—000000002014-07-08-0000July 8, 2014
5 episodes (bi-monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, Vita, X360, XONE

The Walking Dead: Season Two
000000002013-12-17-0000December 17, 2013—000000002014-08-26-0000August 26, 2014
5 episodes (bi-monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, Vita, X360, XONE

Tales from the Borderlands
000000002014-11-25-0000November 25, 2014—000000002015-10-20-0000October 20, 2015
5 episodes (quarterly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, X360, XONE

Game of Thrones
000000002014-12-02-0000December 2, 2014—000000002015-11-17-0000November 17, 2015
6 episodes (bi-monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, X360, XONE

Minecraft: Story Mode
000000002015-10-13-0000October 13, 2015—000000002016-03-29-0000March 29, 2016
000000002016-06-07-0000June 7, 2016—000000002016-09-13-0000September 13, 2016 (Adventure Pass)
8 episodes (bi-monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, Wii U, NS, X360, XONE

The Walking Dead: Michonne
000000002016-02-23-0000February 23, 2016—000000002016-04-26-0000April 26, 2016
3 episodes (monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS3, PS4, X360, XONE

Batman: The Telltale Series
000000002016-08-02-0000August 2, 2016—000000002016-12-13-0000December 13, 2016
5 episodes (monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, PS3, PS4, NS, X360, XONE

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
000000002016-12-20-0000December 20, 2016—000000002017-05-30-0000May 30, 2017
5 episodes (monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, PS4, XONE

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series[44]
000000002017-04-18-0000April 18, 2017—present
5 episodes (bi-monthly)
Android, iOS, Win, OS X, PS4, NS, XONE

Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two[45]
000000002017-07-11-0000July 11, 2017—present
5 episodes
Android, iOS, Win, Mac, PS4, X360, XONE

Batman: The Enemy Within[46]
000000002017-08-08-0000August 8, 2017—present
5 episodes
Android, iOS, Win, PS4, XONE

The Walking Dead: The Final Season[46][34]
Q1-Q2 2018
TBA
Android, iOS, Win, PS4, XONE

The Wolf Among Us: Season Two[46][34]
Q3-Q4 2018
TBA
Android, iOS, Win, PS4, XONE

Game of Thrones: Season Two[47]
TBA
TBA
Android, iOS, Win, PS4, XONE

text: Games published

text:
Title
Developer(s)
Release date(s)
# of episodes
Platform(s)

Hector: Badge of Carnage
Straandlooper
000000002010-06-02-0000June 2, 2010—000000002011-09-22-0000September 22, 2011
3 episodes (monthly)
iOS, Win, OS X

The Jackbox Party Pack
Jackbox Games
000000002015-11-03-0000November 3, 2015
1 episode (standalone title)
PS3, PS4, X360, XONE

7 Days to Die
The Fun Pimps
000000002016-06-28-0000June 28, 2016
1 episode (standalone title)
PS4, XONE

Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n.ipa
Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n.apk[48]
Night School Studio
000000002016-08-16-0000August 16, 2016
1 episode (standalone title)
iOS, Android


document_title: The Winds of Winter

question_text: when is game of thrones next book coming out

root

text: The Winds of Winter

text: Plot[edit]

text: The Winds of Winter will take readers farther north than any of the previous books, and the Others will appear in the book.[2] The previous installment, A Dance with Dragons, covered less story than Martin intended, excluding at least one planned large battle sequence and leaving several character threads ending in cliffhangers.[3] Martin intends to resolve these storylines "very early" in The Winds of Winter, saying "I'm going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle at Meereen—the battle of Slaver's Bay. And then take it from there."[2] A Victarion Greyjoy chapter will begin five minutes after the end of A Dance with Dragons, taking place on the eve of the Iron Islanders' arrival in Slaver's Bay.[6] Arianne Martell sample chapters that Martin released on his website showed her heading for Griffin's Roost to see the young man who is calling himself Aegon.[7][8]

tag: p

text: Viewpoint characters[edit]

text: George R. R. Martin has confirmed that the following characters have point-of-view chapters in The Winds of Winter:

text:
Sansa Stark: One chapter was removed from A Dance with Dragons in June 2010,[9] and one sample chapter titled Alayne appeared on Martin's website in April 2015.[10]
Arya Stark: One chapter was removed from A Dance with Dragons in June 2010,[9] and one sample chapter titled Mercy appeared on Martin's website in March 2014.[11][12]
Arianne Martell: Two chapters were removed from A Dance with Dragons in June 2010.[9] One sample chapter appeared on Martin's website in January 2013,[7] and was read at Harbour Front Literaturfestival in June 2015.[13] Martin read from both chapters at MystiCon in February 2016.[14] In May 2016, Martin replaced the sample Sansa Stark chapter titled Alayne on his website from 2015 with the first Arianne Martell chapter he has read from at MystiCon.[15]
Aeron Greyjoy: One chapter was removed from A Dance with Dragons in July 2010.[16] A chapter titled The Forsaken was read in May 2016 at Balticon. It was written in, or before, 2011 but there was no confirmation that this was the chapter removed from A Dance with Dragons.[17]
Theon Greyjoy: One sample chapter appeared on Martin's website in December 2011.[18][19] It also appears as a teaser chapter at the end of the UK paperback edition of A Dance with Dragons (part two).
Victarion Greyjoy: Portions of one chapter were first read at TIFF Bell Lightbox in March 2012.[6]
Tyrion Lannister: One chapter was read at Eastercon in April 2012,[20] and another one at Worldcon in August 2013,[21] the second of which was later published in the official iOS app on March 20, 2014.[22]
Barristan Selmy: One chapter was released as a teaser at the end of the 2013 U.S. paperback edition of A Dance with Dragons.[23] In 2013 Martin read from 2 chapters at Boskone.[24][better source needed]

tag: ul

text: George R. R. Martin confirmed that there are no new viewpoint characters intended for The Winds of Winter.[25] Martin confirmed that Areo Hotah[26] and Melisandre[27] will return as viewpoints but did not state which novel their chapters will appear in, and that Bran Stark[28] will appear in the novel, but did not elaborate if as a viewpoint. In addition, he teased at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con that Jeyne Westerling, Robb Stark's widow, will appear in the prologue chapter, but did not reveal who will be the POV character.[29]

text: Background and publication[edit]

text: Chapters[edit]

text: The Winds of Winter[9] was originally intended, in the very early stages of the series, to be the final installment of A Song of Ice and Fire (then conceived as a trilogy).[30] Following his expansion of the series, Martin eventually concluded it would be succeeded by one final novel, A Dream of Spring.[31] By June 2010, Martin had finished four chapters for The Winds of Winter from the viewpoints of Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, and Arianne Martell.[9] In July 2010, he added an Aeron Greyjoy chapter that had been moved from A Dance with Dragons to The Winds of Winter, accumulating around 100 completed manuscript pages.[16] Following the publication of A Dance with Dragons in the summer of 2011, Martin announced his return to writing the series in January 2012,[3] having spent the intervening time on his U.S. and overseas book publicity tours and attending various conventions. He continued to work, with his two co-authors Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson, on the planned illustrated series companion guide The World of Ice & Fire concordance and Westeros history, which at one time he wanted to have completed by the end of 2011. He also worked on a Westeros story, the fourth Tales of Dunk and Egg novella, that will eventually find anthology publication elsewhere. A year after that eventual publication, the story and the three previously published Dunk and Egg tales will be collected and published in the U.S. by Bantam Spectra as a stand-alone fix-up novel.[32]

text: In December 2011, Martin posted a Theon Greyjoy viewpoint chapter from The Winds of Winter; he also announced that another sample chapter would be included at the end of the North American paperback version of A Dance with Dragons,[2][33] which was originally expected to be released in summer 2012,[2] but was released on October 29, 2013.[34] (International paperback editions of A Dance with Dragons published a year earlier did not include a new, as yet unpublished sample chapter.)[35] In the first quarter of 2012, Martin read new chapters of other characters at public events, including the chapters of Victarion Greyjoy and Tyrion Lannister.[20] Martin continued work editing anthologies and completing a large, highly detailed series atlas The Lands of Ice and Fire, which was published in October 2012.[36][37] Martin published another sample chapter from Arianne Martell's POV on his website in January 2013.[7] On March 27, ten days before the Game of Thrones season four premiere, Martin posted a chapter on his website, titled Mercy. Martin said the new chapter is actually an old one, though never published nor publicly read.[11] In April 2015, Martin posted a Sansa Stark viewpoint chapter from The Winds of Winter titled Alayne.[10] In May 2016, Martin replaced this chapter with an Arianne Martell chapter he had read from at Mysticon,[15] and an Aeron Greyjoy chapter that was removed from A Dance with Dragons was read at Balticon.

text: As of June 2016, a total of 11 chapters from The Winds of Winter have been either read publicly or published as a sample chapter. The point of view characters with released material are Victarion, Aeron, Tyrion, Barristan, Arianne, Theon, Mercy (Arya), and Alayne (Sansa).[38] Several websites, including Goodreads, have dedicated entire discussion panels to any material that has been released from The Winds of Winter, including plot twists, theories, and speculations.

text: At Guadalajara International Book Fair 2016, George R.R. Martin gave some clues about the dark nature of The Winds of Winter: ... "I’ve been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places. .... Things get worse before they get better, so things are getting worse for a lot of people.”[39]

text: Publication date[edit]

text: Martin believes the last two volumes of the series will be massive works of 1,500+ manuscript pages each.[1] He does not intend to separate characters by geography again, as he was forced to do because of the unpublishable length of A Feast for Crows' original manuscript. But, as Martin stated in a 2011 interview, "Three years from now when I'm sitting on 1,800 pages of manuscript with no end in sight, who the hell knows".[40] In April 2011, shortly before the publication of A Dance with Dragons which took him six years to write, Martin hoped that "the last two books will go a little quicker than this one has" and estimated that it would take "three years to finish the next one at a good pace".[41][42] By October 2012, 400 pages of the sixth novel had been written, although Martin considered only the first 200 as "really finished", the rest still needing revisions.[43] In April 2013, Martin estimated that he had a quarter of the book.[44] In the past, Martin has angered some of his fan base for repeatedly estimating his publication dates too optimistically; therefore, he has refrained from making hard estimates for The Winds of Winter's final release date.[3] Ultimately the book "will be done when it's done".[30] In 2012, Martin had acknowledged his concerns about the final novel, A Dream of Spring, not being completed by the time Game of Thrones catches up in its story line to the novels.[45]

text: In January 2014, Martin's UK publisher, Jane Johnson, declared on Twitter that the book would "certainly" not be published before 2015.[46] In September 2014 Johnson stated that the book was "not a 2015 release",[47] a statement she repeated in January 2015.[48][49] In April 2015, Martin commented on his blog that The Winds of Winter will not be eligible for the 2016 Hugo Award which is awarded for science fiction or fantasy works of the previous year[50] but he also said he would like to have it published before the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones (which would cover material from the book) aired in 2016.[51][52] In Autumn 2015, statements made by the Spanish editor and the Polish translator of the novel indicated that it was expected to be published in 2016.[53][54][55][56]

text: In early January 2016, Martin confirmed on his Live Journal that he had not met an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher for release of the book before the sixth season of the HBO show. He added that there was "a lot still left to write" and that completion of the book was "months away still... if the writing goes well". Martin also revealed there had been a previous deadline of October 2015 that he had considered achievable in May 2015, and that in September 2015 he had still considered the end-of-year deadline achievable. He further confirmed that some of the plot of the book might be revealed in the upcoming season of Game of Thrones[57] but one of the showrunners, David Benioff, claimed that while certain key elements would be the same, the show would diverge from the book in many respects.[58] In February 2016, Martin stated that he had dropped all his editing projects except for Wild Cards, and that he would not be writing any teleplays, screenplays, short stories, introductions or forewords before delivering The Winds of Winter.[59]

text: In September 2014, Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight and Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post estimated the release date sometime between 2015 and 2018, based on extrapolation of Martin's writing pace.[4][5] In 2017, Goodreads advertised its expected publication in 2020.[60]

text: On January 10, 2017, Martin announced on his blog in a response to a comment that he believed that The Winds of Winter will be released "this year", referring to 2017. However, he also noted that he believed the same thing would occur the previous year.[61][62][38] He confirmed on his blog that he was still working on The Winds of Winter as of July 22, 2017, being "still months away" from finishing the book. He also indicated that it may not be published until 2018 or later.[63]


document_title: Parliament

question_text: where is the oldest parliament in the world located

question_tokens: where is the oldest parliament in the world located

text: Parliament

text: Etymology[edit]

text: The English term is derived from Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century Old French parlement, from parler, meaning "to talk".[1] The meaning evolved over time, originally referring to any discussion, conversation, or negotiation through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by a monarch. By the 15th century, in Britain, it had come to specifically mean the legislature.[2]

text: Origins[edit]

text: According to the UNESCO, the Decreta of Leon of 1188, of the Kingdom of Leon, Spain, is the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system.[3]

text: Various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. However, they all historically trace their origins back to the Viking expansion originating from the Petty kingdoms of Norway as well as Denmark, replicating Viking government systems in the conquered territories, such as those represented by the Gulating near Bergen in western Norway.

text:
The Icelandic Althing.[4]
The Faroese Løgting.[5]
The Manx Tynwald.

text: Proto-parliamentarian institutions[edit]

text: Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders. This is called tribalism.[6] Some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council.[7] The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, and therefore there was some form of democracy.[8] However, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies.[9][10][11][12][13]

text: Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy.[14] The Athenian assembly (ἐκκλησία, ekklesia) was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, and therefore the ekklesia was different from the parliamentary system.

text: The Roman Republic had legislative assemblies, who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace, and the creation (or dissolution) of alliances.[15] The Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy.[16]

text: Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura (a method of taking decisions in Islamic societies) is analogous to the parliament.[17] However, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system.[18][19][20]

text: Spain[edit]

text: Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and 1063, there was no representation of commoners. What is considered to be the first Spanish parliament (with the presence of commoners), the Cortes of León, was held in the Kingdom of León in 1188.[21][22][23] After coming to power, King Alfonso IX, facing an attack by his two neighbors, Castile and Portugal, decided to summon the "Royal Curia". This was a medieval organisation composed of aristocrats and bishops but because of the seriousness of the situation and the need to maximise political support, Alfonso IX took the decision to also call the representatives of the urban middle class from the most important cities of the kingdom to the assembly.[24] León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war.[25] Prelates, nobles and commoners met separately in the three estates of the Cortes. In this meeting new laws were approved to protect commoners against the arbitrarities of nobles, prelates and the king. This important set of laws is known as the Carta Magna Leonesa.

text: Following this event, new Cortes would appear in the other different territories that would make up Spain: Principality of Catalonia in 1218, the Kingdom of Castile in 1250, Kingdom of Aragon in 1274, Kingdom of Valencia in 1283 and Kingdom of Navarre in 1300.

text: After the union of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile under the Crown of Castile, their Cortes were united as well in 1258. The Castilian Cortes had representatives from Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Zamora, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cuenca, Toro, Valladolid, Soria, Madrid, Guadalajara and Granada (after 1492). The Cortes' assent was required to pass new taxes, and could also advise the king on other matters. The comunero rebels intended a stronger role for the Cortes, but were defeated by the forces of Habsburg Emperor Charles V in 1521. The Cortes maintained some power, however, though it became more of a consultative entity. However, by the time of King Philip II, Charles's son, the Castilian Cortes had come under functionally complete royal control, with its delegates dependent on the Crown for their income.[26]

text: The Cortes of the Crown of Aragon kingdoms retained their power to control the king's spending with regard to the finances of those kingdoms. But after the War of the Spanish Succession and the victory of another royal house – the Bourbons – and King Philip V, their Cortes were suppressed (those of Aragon and Valencia in 1707, and those of Catalonia and the Balearic islands in 1714).

text: Claims that Spain was united under the Catholic Monarchs in the late 15th century are belied by these facts; moreover, the very first Cortes representing the whole of Spain (and the Spanish empire of the day) did not assemble until 1812, in Cadiz, where it operated as a government in exile for, ironically, at that time most of the rest of Spain was in the hands of Napoleon's army.

text: England[edit]

text: Early forms of assembly[edit]

text: England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist and advise the king on important matters. Under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, for "meeting of wise men". The first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose; however, the witan was certainly in existence long before this time.[27] The Witan, along with the folkmoots (local assemblies), is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament.[28]

text: As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, replacing it with a Curia Regis ("King's Council"). Membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who "rented" great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy, and sought the advice of the curia regis before making laws. This is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament; judges sit in the Supreme Court of Judicature. Only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court.

text: Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I.[29] Like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments. The significant difference between the Model Parliament and the earlier Curia Regis was the addition of the Commons; that is, the inclusion of elected representatives of rural landowners and of townsmen. In 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm. He also enlarged the court system.

text: Magna Carta and the Model Parliament[edit]

text: The tenants-in-chief often struggled with their spiritual counterparts and with the king for power. In 1215, they secured from John the Magna Carta, which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of a council. It was also established that the most important tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics be summoned to the council by personal writs from the sovereign, and that all others be summoned to the council by general writs from the sheriffs of their counties. Modern government has its origins in the Curia Regis; parliament descends from the Great Council later known as the parliamentum established by Magna Carta.

text: During the reign of King Henry III, 13th-Century English Parliaments incorporated elected representatives from shires and towns. These parliaments are, as such, considered forerunners of the modern parliament.[30]

text: In 1265, Simon de Montfort, then in rebellion against Henry III, summoned a parliament of his supporters without royal authorization. The archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons were summoned, as were two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each borough. Knights had been summoned to previous councils, but it was unprecedented for the boroughs to receive any representation. Come 1295, Edward I later adopted de Montfort's ideas for representation and election in the so-called "Model Parliament". At first, each estate debated independently; by the reign of Edward III, however, Parliament recognisably assumed its modern form, with authorities dividing the legislative body into two separate chambers.

text: Parliament under Henry VIII and Edward VI[edit]

text: The purpose and structure of Parliament in Tudor England underwent a significant transformation under the reign of Henry VIII. Originally its methods were primarily medieval, and the monarch still possessed a form of inarguable dominion over its decisions. According to Elton, it was Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, then chief minister to Henry VIII, who initiated still other changes within parliament.

text: The Reformation Acts supplied Parliament with unlimited power over the country. This included authority over virtually every matter, whether social, economic, political, or religious[citation needed]; it legalised the Reformation, officially and indisputably. The king had to rule through the council, not over it, and all sides needed to reach a mutual agreement when creating or passing laws, adjusting or implementing taxes, or changing religious doctrines. This was significant: the monarch no longer had sole control over the country. For instance, during the later years of Mary, Parliament exercised its authority in originally rejecting Mary's bid to revive Catholicism in the realm. Later on, the legislative body even denied Elizabeth her request to marry[citation needed]. If Parliament had possessed this power before Cromwell, such as when Wolsey served as secretary, the Reformation may never have happened, as the king would have had to gain the consent of all parliament members before so drastically changing the country's religious laws and fundamental identity[citation needed].

text: The power of Parliament increased considerably after Cromwell's adjustments. It also provided the country with unprecedented stability. More stability, in turn, helped assure more effective management, organisation, and efficiency. Parliament printed statutes and devised a more coherent parliamentary procedure.

text: The rise of Parliament proved especially important in the sense that it limited the repercussions of dynastic complications that had so often plunged England into civil war. Parliament still ran the country even in the absence of suitable heirs to throne, and its legitimacy as a decision-making body reduced the royal prerogatives of kings like Henry VIII and the importance of their whims. For example, Henry VIII could not simply establish supremacy by proclamation; he required Parliament to enforce statutes and add felonies and treasons. An important liberty for Parliament was its freedom of speech; Henry allowed anything to be spoken openly within Parliament and speakers could not face arrest — a fact which they exploited incessantly. Nevertheless, Parliament in Henry VIII's time offered up very little objection to the monarch's desires. Under his and Edward's reign, the legislative body complied willingly with the majority of the kings' decisions.

text: Much of this compliance stemmed from how the English viewed and traditionally understood authority. As Williams described it, "King and parliament were not separate entities, but a single body, of which the monarch was the senior partner and the Lords and the Commons the lesser, but still essential, members."[citation needed].

text: The importance of the Commonwealth years[edit]

text: Although its role in government expanded significantly during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the Parliament of England saw some of its most important gains in the 17th century. A series of conflicts between the Crown and Parliament culminated in the execution of King Charles I in 1649. Afterward, England became a commonwealth, with Oliver Cromwell, its lord protector, the de facto ruler. Frustrated with its decisions, Cromwell purged and suspended Parliament on several occasions.

text: A controversial figure accused of despotism, war crimes, and even genocide, Cromwell is nonetheless regarded as essential to the growth of democracy in England.[31] The years of the Commonwealth, coupled with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the subsequent Glorious Revolution of 1688, helped reinforce and strengthen Parliament as an institution separate from the Crown.

text: Acts of Union[edit]

text: The Parliament of England met until it merged with the Parliament of Scotland under the Acts of Union. This union created the new Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.

text: France[edit]

text: Originally, there was only the Parliament of Paris, born out of the Curia Regis in 1307, and located inside the medieval royal palace, now the Paris Hall of Justice. The jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris covered the entire kingdom. In the thirteenth century, judicial functions were added. In 1443, following the turmoil of the Hundred Years' War, King Charles VII of France granted Languedoc its own parliament by establishing the Parliament of Toulouse, the first parliament outside of Paris, whose jurisdiction extended over the most part of southern France. From 1443 until the French Revolution several other parliaments were created in some provinces of France (Grenoble, Bordeaux).

text: All the parliaments could issue regulatory decrees for the application of royal edicts or of customary practices; they could also refuse to register laws that they judged contrary to fundamental law or simply as being untimely. Parliamentary power in France was suppressed more so than in England as a result of absolutism, and parliaments were eventually overshadowed by the larger Estates General, up until the French Revolution, when the National Assembly became the lower house of France's bicameral legislature.

text: Scotland[edit]

text: From the 10th century the Kingdom of Alba was ruled by chiefs (toisechs) and subkings (mormaers) under the suzerainty, real or nominal, of a High King. Popular assemblies, as in Ireland, were involved in law-making, and sometimes in king-making, although the introduction of tanistry—naming a successor in the lifetime of a king—made the second less than common. These early assemblies cannot be considered "parliaments" in the later sense of the word, and were entirely separate from the later, Norman-influenced, institution.

text: The Parliament of Scotland evolved during the Middle Ages from the King's Council of Bishops and Earls. The unicameral parliament is first found on record, referred to as a colloquium, in 1235 at Kirkliston (a village now in Edinburgh).

text: By the early fourteenth century the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and from 1326 burgh commissioners attended. Consisting of the Three Estates; of clerics, lay tenants-in-chief and burgh commissioners sitting in a single chamber, the Scottish parliament acquired significant powers over particular issues. Most obviously it was needed for consent for taxation (although taxation was only raised irregularly in Scotland in the medieval period), but it also had a strong influence over justice, foreign policy, war, and all manner of other legislation, whether political, ecclesiastical, social or economic. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, before c. 1500 by General Council and thereafter by the Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making – but lacked the ultimate authority of a full parliament.

text: The parliament, which is also referred to as the Estates of Scotland, the Three Estates, the Scots Parliament or the auld Scots Parliament (Eng: old), met until the Acts of Union merged the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England, creating the new Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.

text: Following the Scottish devolution referendum, 1997, and the passing of the Scotland Act 1998 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament was reconvened on 1 July 1999, although with much more limited powers than its 18th-century predecessor. The parliament has sat since 2004 at its newly constructed Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh, situated at the foot of the Royal Mile, next to the royal palace of Holyroodhouse.

text: Nordic and Germanic development[edit]

text: A thing or ting (Old Norse and Icelandic: þing; other modern Scandinavian: ting, ding in Dutch) was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free men of the community and presided by lawspeakers. Today the term lives on in the official names of national legislatures, political and judicial institutions in the North-Germanic countries. In the Yorkshire and former Danelaw areas of England, which were subject to much Norse invasion and settlement, the wapentake was another name for the same institution.

text: The thing was the assembly of the free men of a country, province or a hundred (hundare/härad/herred). There were consequently, hierarchies of things, so that the local things were represented at the thing for a larger area, for a province or land. At the thing, disputes were solved and political decisions were made. The place for the thing was often also the place for public religious rites and for commerce.

text: The thing met at regular intervals, legislated, elected chieftains and kings, and judged according to the law, which was memorised and recited by the "law speaker" (the judge).

text: Later national diets with chambers for different estates developed, e.g. in Sweden and in Finland (which was part of Sweden until 1809), each with a House of Knights for the nobility. In both these countries, the national parliaments are now called riksdag (in Finland also eduskunta), a word used since the Middle Ages and equivalent of the German word Reichstag.

text: Poland[edit]

text: According to the Chronicles of Gallus Anonymus, the first legendary Polish ruler, Siemowit, who began the Piast Dynasty, was chosen by a wiec. The veche (Russian: вече, Polish: wiec) was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries, and in late medieval period, a parliament. The idea of the wiec led in 1182 to the development of the Polish parliament, the Sejm.

text: The term "sejm" comes from an old Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. The power of early sejms grew between 1146–1295, when the power of individual rulers waned and various councils and wiece grew stronger. The history of the national Sejm dates back to 1182. Since the 14th century irregular sejms (described in various Latin sources as contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta or Polish sejm walny) have been called by Polish kings. From 1374, the king had to receive sejm permission to raise taxes. The General Sejm (Polish Sejm Generalny or Sejm Walny), first convoked by the king John I Olbracht in 1493 near Piotrków, evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings (sejmiks). It followed most closely the sejmik generally, which arose from the 1454 Nieszawa Statutes, granted to the szlachta (nobles) by King Casimir IV the Jagiellonian. From 1493 forward, indirect elections were repeated every two years. With the development of the unique Polish Golden Liberty the Sejm's powers increased.

text: The Commonwealth's general parliament consisted of three estates: the King of Poland (who also acted as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russia/Ruthenia, Prussia, Mazovia, etc.), the Senat (consisting of Ministers, Palatines, Castellans and Bishops) and the Chamber of Envoys—circa 170 nobles (szlachta) acting on behalf of their Lands and sent by Land Parliaments. Also representatives of selected cities but without any voting powers. Since 1573 at a royal election all peers of the Commonwealth could participate in the Parliament and become the King's electors.

text: Ukraine[edit]

text: Cossack Rada was the legislative body of a military republic of the Ukrainian Cossacks that grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The republic did not regard social origin/nobility and accepted all people who declared to be Orthodox Christians.

text: Originally established at the Zaporizhian Sich, the rada (council) was an institution of Cossack administration in Ukraine from the 16th to the 18th century. With the establishment of the Hetman state in 1648, it was officially known as the General Military Council until 1750.

text: Russia[edit]

text: The zemsky sobor (Russian: зе́мский собо́р) was the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The term roughly means assembly of the land.

text: It could be summoned either by tsar, or patriarch, or the Boyar Duma. Three categories of population, comparable to the Estates-General of France but with the numbering of the first two Estates reversed, participated in the assembly:

text: Nobility and high bureaucracy, including the Boyar Duma

text: The Holy Sobor of high Orthodox clergy

text: Representatives of merchants and townspeople (third estate)

text: The name of the parliament of nowadays Russian Federation is the Federal Assembly of Russia. The term for its lower house, State Duma (which is better known than the Federal Assembly itself, and is often mistaken for the entirety of the parliament) comes from the Russian word думать (dumat), "to think". The Boyar Duma was an advisory council to the grand princes and tsars of Muscovy. The Duma was discontinued by Peter the Great, who transferred its functions to the Governing Senate in 1711.

text: Novgorod and Pskov[edit]

text: The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the republic of Novgorod until 1478. In its sister state, Pskov, a separate veche operated until 1510.

text: Since the Novgorod revolution of 1137 ousted the ruling grand prince, the veche became the supreme state authority. After the reforms of 1410, the veche was restructured on a model similar to that of Venice, becoming the Commons chamber of the parliament. An upper Senate-like Council of Lords was also created, with title membership for all former city magistrates. Some sources indicate that veche membership may have become full-time, and parliament deputies were now called vechniks. It is recounted that the Novgorod assembly could be summoned by anyone who rung the veche bell, although it is more likely that the common procedure was more complex. This bell was a symbol of republican sovereignty and independence. The whole population of the city—boyars, merchants, and common citizens—then gathered at Yaroslav's Court. Separate assemblies could be held in the districts of Novgorod. In Pskov the veche assembled in the court of the Trinity cathedral.

text: The Roman Catholic Church[edit]

text: "Conciliarism" or the "conciliar movement", was a reform movement in the 14th and 15th century Roman Catholic Church which held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with the Roman Church as corporation of Christians, embodied by a general church council, not with the pope. In effect, the movement sought – ultimately, in vain – to create an All-Catholic Parliament. Its struggle with the Papacy had many points in common with the struggle of parliaments in specific countries against the authority of Kings and other secular rulers.

text: Development of modern parliaments[edit]

text: The development of the modern concept of parliamentary government dates back to the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) and the parliamentary system in Sweden during the Age of Liberty (1718–1772).

text: Parliaments of the United Kingdom[edit]

text: The British Parliament is often referred to as the Mother of Parliaments (in fact a misquotation of John Bright, who remarked in 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments") because the British Parliament has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its Acts have created many other parliaments.[32] Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British "three-tier" model. Most countries in Europe and the Commonwealth have similarly organised parliaments with a largely ceremonial head of state who formally opens and closes parliament, a large elected lower house and a smaller, upper house.[33][34]

text: The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the Acts of Union that replaced the former parliaments of England and Scotland. A further union in 1801 united the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland into a Parliament of the United Kingdom.

text: In the United Kingdom, Parliament consists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch. The House of Commons is composed of 650 (soon to be 600) members who are directly elected by British citizens to represent single-member constituencies. The leader of a Party that wins more than half the seats, or less than half but is able to gain the support of smaller parties to achieve a majority in the house is invited by the Monarch to form a government. The House of Lords is a body of long-serving, unelected members: Lords Temporal - 92 of whom inherit their titles (and of whom 90 are elected internally by members of the House to lifetime seats), 588 of whom have been appointed to lifetime seats, and Lords Spiritual - 26 bishops, who are part of the house while they remain in office.

text: Legislation can originate from either the Lords or the Commons. It is voted on in several distinct stages, called readings, in each house. First reading is merely a formality. Second reading is where the bill as a whole is considered. Third reading is detailed consideration of clauses of the bill.

text: In addition to the three readings a bill also goes through a committee stage where it is considered in great detail. Once the bill has been passed by one house it goes to the other and essentially repeats the process. If after the two sets of readings there are disagreements between the versions that the two houses passed it is returned to the first house for consideration of the amendments made by the second. If it passes through the amendment stage Royal Assent is granted and the bill becomes law as an Act of Parliament.

text: The House of Lords is the less powerful of the two houses as a result of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. These Acts removed the veto power of the Lords over a great deal of legislation. If a bill is certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons as a money bill (i.e. acts raising taxes and similar) then the Lords can only block it for a month. If an ordinary bill originates in the Commons the Lords can only block it for a maximum of one session of Parliament. The exceptions to this rule are things like bills to prolong the life of a Parliament beyond five years.

text: In addition to functioning as the second chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords was also the final court of appeal for much of the law of the United Kingdom—a combination of judicial and legislative function that recalls its origin in the Curia Regis. This changed in October 2009 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom opened and acquired the former jurisdiction of the House of Lords.

text: Since 1999, there has been a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which is a national, unicameral legislature for Scotland. However, the Scottish Parliament does not have complete power over Scottish Politics, as it only holds the powers which were devolved to it by Westminster in 1997. It cannot legislate on defence issues, currency, or national taxation (e.g. VAT, or Income Tax). Although this might change because of the outcome of the independence referendum. Additionally, the Scottish Parliament can be dissolved at any given time by the British Parliament without the consent of the devolved government. This applies to all devolved governments within the United Kingdom, a limit on the sovereignty of the devolved governments.

text: Parliament of Sweden[edit]

text: In Sweden, the half-century period of parliamentary government beginning with Charles XII's death in 1718 and ending with Gustav III's self-coup in 1772 is known as the Age of Liberty. During this period, civil rights were expanded and power shifted from the monarch to parliament.

text: While suffrage did not become universal, the taxed peasantry was represented in Parliament, although with little influence and commoners without taxed property had no suffrage at all.

text: Parliamentary system[edit]

text: Many parliaments are part of a parliamentary system of government, in which the executive is constitutionally answerable to the parliament. Some restrict the use of the word parliament to parliamentary systems, while others use the word for any elected legislative body. Parliaments usually consist of chambers or houses, and are usually either bicameral or unicameral although more complex models exist, or have existed (see Tricameralism).

text: In some parliamentary systems, the prime minister (PM) is a member of parliament (Britain), whereas in others not (Netherlands). They are commonly the leader of the majority party in the lower house of parliament, but only hold the office as long as the "confidence of the house" is maintained. If members of the lower house lose faith in the leader for whatever reason, they can call a vote of no confidence and force the PM to resign.

text: This can be particularly dangerous to a government when the distribution of seats among different parties is relatively even, in which case a new election is often called shortly thereafter. However, in case of general discontent with the head of government, his replacement can be made very smoothly without all the complications that it represents in the case of a presidential system.

text: The parliamentary system can be contrasted with a presidential system, such as the American congressional system, which operates under a stricter separation of powers, whereby the executive does not form part of, nor is it appointed by, the parliamentary or legislative body. In such a system, congresses do not select or dismiss heads of governments, and governments cannot request an early dissolution as may be the case for parliaments. Some states, such as Taiwan (Republic of China), have a semi-presidential system which falls between parliamentary and congressional systems, combining a powerful head of state (president) with a head of government, the prime minister, who is responsible to parliament.

text: List of national parliaments[edit]

text: Parliaments of the European Union[edit]

text:
European Parliament
Parliament of Austria (consisting of the National Council and the Federal Council)
Belgian Federal Parliament (consisting of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate)
National Assembly of Bulgaria
Croatian Parliament
House of Representatives (Cyprus)
Parliament of the Czech Republic (consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate)
Folketing (Denmark)
Riigikogu (Estonia)
Parliament of Finland
Parliament of France (consisting of the National Assembly and the Senate)
Bundestag (Germany)
Hellenic Parliament (Greece)
National Assembly (Hungary)
Oireachtas (Ireland) (consisting of the President of Ireland, Dáil Éireann (Lower House) and Seanad Éireann (Senate))
Parliament of Italy (consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate)
Saeima (Latvia)
Seimas (Lithuania)
Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg)
House of Representatives (Malta)
States General of the Netherlands (consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate)
National Assembly of the Republic of Poland (consisting of the Sejm and the Senate)
Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
Parliament of Romania (consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate)
National Council (Slovakia)
Parliament of Slovenia (consisting of the National Assembly and the National Council)
Cortes Generales (Spain) (consisting of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate)
Riksdag (Sweden)
Parliament of the United Kingdom (consisting of the Queen, the House of Commons and the House of Lords)

text: Others[edit]

text:
Parliament of Albania
Parliament of Australia (consisting of the Queen, the House of Representatives, and the Senate)

The federal government of the Commonwealth of Australia has a bicameral parliament and each of Australia's six states has a bicameral parliament except for Queensland, which has a unicameral parliament.

Jatiya Sangsad (Bangladesh)
Parliament of Barbados
Parliament of Canada (consisting of the Queen, an Upper House styled the Senate, and the House of Commons)

The federal government of Canada has a bicameral parliament, and each of Canada's 10 provinces has a unicameral parliament.

National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China

Legislative Council of Hong Kong

Løgtingið (Faroe Islands)
Parliament of Fiji
Parliament of Ghana
Parliament of Iceland
Parliament of India (consisting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha)
Council of Representatives of Iraq
National Diet of Japan (consisting of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors)
Parliament of Lebanon
Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia
Parliament of the Isle of Man – Tynwald
Knesset (Israel)
Parliament of Malaysia
Parliament of Montenegro
Parliament of Morocco
Parliament of Nauru
Parliament of Nepal (recently reorganised)
Parliament of New Zealand
Parliament of Norway (Storting)
Majlis-e-Shoora, Pakistan
National Assembly of Serbia
Parliament of Singapore
Parliament of South Africa
Parliament of Sri Lanka
National Assembly of Thailand
Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration
Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Parliament of Zimbabwe

text: List of subnational parliamentary governments[edit]

text: Australia[edit]

text: Australia's States and territories:

text:
Parliament of New South Wales
Parliament of Victoria
Parliament of Queensland
Parliament of Western Australia
Parliament of South Australia
Parliament of Tasmania
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
Parliament of the Northern Territory

text: Belgium[edit]

text: In the federal (bicameral) kingdom of Belgium, there is a curious asymmetrical constellation serving as directly elected legislatures for three "territorial" regions—Flanders (Dutch), Brussels (bilingual, certain peculiarities of competence, also the only region not comprising any of the 10 provinces) and Wallonia (French)—and three cultural communities—Flemish (Dutch, competent in Flanders and for the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels), Francophone (French, for Wallonia and for Francophones in Brussels) and German (for speakers of that language in a few designated municipalities in the east of the Walloon Region, living alongside Francophones but under two different regimes)

text:
Vlaams Parliament ("Flemish Parliament"; originally styled Vlaamse Raad "Flemish Council") served both the Flemish Community (whose same it uses) and, in application of a Belgian constitutional option, of the region of Flanders (in all matters of regional competence, its decisions have no effect in Brussels)
Parliament of the French Community
parliament of the German Community
parliament of the Walloon region
parliament of the Brussels-capital region;

text: Canada[edit]

text: Canada's provinces and territories:

text:
Legislature of Ontario
Quebec Legislature
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Saskatchewan Legislature
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Yukon Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of Nunavut

text: Denmark[edit]

text:
Inatsisartut
Løgting

text: Finland[edit]

text: Parliament of Åland

text: Germany[edit]

text: State legislatures of Germany

text: Malaysia[edit]

text: Netherlands[edit]

text: States-Provincial

text: Norway[edit]

text: Spain[edit]

text: Switzerland[edit]

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text:
Northern Ireland Assembly
Scottish Parliament
Welsh Assembly

text: Other parliaments[edit]

text: Contemporary supranational parliaments[edit]

text:
Pan-African Parliament
Central American Parliament
Latin American Parliament
European Parliament

text: Equivalent national legislatures[edit]

text:
Majlis, e.g. in Iran
in Afghanistan: Wolesi Jirga (elected, legislative lower house) and Meshrano Jirga (mainly advisory, indirect representation); in special cases, e.g. as constituent assembly, a Loya Jirga
in Indonesia: People's Consultative Assembly, consists of People's Representative Council (elected, legislative lower house) and Regional Representative Council (elected, legislative upper house with limited powers)

text: Defunct[edit]

text:
Parliament of Southern Ireland (1921–1922)
People's Parliament (1940s)
Silesian Parliament (1922–1945)
Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921–1973)
Batasang Pambansâ (1978-1986)
National Assembly of the Republic of China (1913–2005)


document_title: Interatrial septum

question_text: the flaplike opening in the interatrial septum of the fetus

text: Interatrial septum

text: Structure[edit]

text: The intratrial septum is a septum that lies between the left atrium and right atrium of the human heart.

text: Development[edit]

text: The interatrial septum forms during the first and second months of fetal development. Formation of the septum occurs in several stages. The first is the development of the septum primum, a crescent-shaped piece of tissue forming the initial divider between the right and left atria. Because of its crescent shape, the septum primum does not fully occlude the space between left and right atria; the opening that remains is called the ostium primum. During fetal development, this opening allows blood to be shunted from the right atrium to the left.

text: As the septum primum grows, the ostium primum progressively narrows. Before the ostium primum is completely occluded, a second opening called the ostium secundum begins to form in the septum primum. The ostium secundum allows continued shunting of blood from the right atrium to the left.

text: To the right of the septum primum, the septum secundum begins to form. This thick, muscular structure initially takes on the same crescent shape as the septum primum, except that it originates anteriorly, whereas the septum primum originates posteriorly. As the septum secundum grows, it leaves a small opening called the foramen ovale. The foramen ovale is continuous with the ostium secundum, again providing for continued shunting of blood.

text: The ostium secundum progressively enlarges and the size of the septum primum diminishes. Eventually, the septum primum is nothing more than a small flap that covers the foramen ovale on its left side. This flap of tissue is called the valve of the foramen ovale. It opens and closes in response to pressure gradients between the left and right atria. When the pressure is greater in the right atrium, the valve opens; when the pressure is greater in the left atrium, the valve closes. Because the lungs are nonfunctional in fetal life, pressure in the pulmonary circulation is greater than that of the systemic circulation. Consequently, the right atrium is generally under higher pressures than the left atrium, and the valve of the foramen ovale is normally open.

text: At birth[edit]

text: At birth, there is a reversal in the pressure gradient between the atria, resulting in functional closure of the valve of the foramen ovale. Permanent anatomical closure of the foramen ovale occurs with time in normal infants. Inappropriate closure of the foramen ovale results in patent foramen ovale.

text: Clinical significance[edit]

text: An Atrial septal defect is a relatively common heart malformation that occurs when the interatrial septum fails to develop properly.

text: Persistence of the ostium secundum is the most common atrial septal defect.[1] Additionally, in a subset of the population, the foramen ovale is not overtly patent but the two septa have not fused. In normal physiologic circumstances, the septum primum acts as a one-way valve preventing blood flow as described above; but, if pathologic conditions cause right atrial pressure to exceed left atrial pressure, blood may flow through the foramen ovale from right to left.

text: Failure of the septum primum to fuse with the endocardial cushion can lead to an ostium primum atrial septal defect.[2] This is the second most common type of atrial septal defect[1] and is commonly seen in Down's syndrome. Typically this defect will cause a shunt to occur from the left atrium to the right atrium.  Children born with this defect may be asymptomatic, however, over time pulmonary hypertension and the resulting hypertrophy of the right side of the heart will lead to a reversal of this shunt. This reversal is called Eisenmenger's syndrome.