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

House of Representatives

House of Representatives is a name used by many states to describe the lower house of their legislature (usually called a parliament or congress or legislature). The corresponding upper house is typically called a senate. The functioning of a house of representatives can vary greatly from country to country. Some operate under the rules of a Westminster System while others are more congressional. Members of a House of Representatives are typically apportioned according to population rather than different regions.

The House of Representatives is the name of the lower house of:

• The United States Congress; see United States House of Representatives
• The Diet of Japan; see House of Representatives of Japan
• The Australian Parliament; see Australian House of Representatives
• The Irish Oireachtas, (where goes under the Irish Gaelic title: Dáil Éireann).
• The Congress of the Philippines; see House of Representatives of the Philippines
• Most (but not all) of the legislatures of the States in the United States of America; see state legislature.
• The Parliament of Malaysia (where it goes under the Malay language title of Dewan Rakyat)
• The parliament in other Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Belize
• Puerto Rico; see Puerto Rico House of Representatives

Until 1951 the House of Representatives in New Zealand was the lower house of Parliament, but since then has been unicameral. In Cyprus and Malta, the House of Representatives has always been unicameral.

In Indonesia, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) is generally known in English as the 'House of Representatives'.

Under apartheid, the House of Representatives was the House for South Africa's mixed race Coloured community, in the tricameral Parliament between 1984 and 1994.

See also: Chamber of Deputies, National Assembly, House of Commons

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