Parliament

England's first Parliament sat in 1265, and continued to meet until the Kingdom of England merged with the Kingdom of Scotland, in 1707.

The new Parliament of Great Britain inherited the structure and precedents of the earlier Parliament.

The Kingdom of Ireland merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain, in 1801, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom inherited the structure and precedents of the earlier Parliaments.

Anglo-Saxon kings met with a Witenagemont, or Witan -- old English for "wise men".

The national legislatures of manuy countries that were once part of the British Empire are modeled after the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and are often called "Parliament". One notable exception is the Congress of the breakaway United States.