Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish word sejm is derived from old Czech sejmovat, which means to bring together or to summon. In English, the terms general, full, or ordinary sejm are used for the sejm walny. ==Genesis==

'' in the reign of King Casimir the Great (14th-century Poland) The Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established by the Union of Lublin in 1569 and merged the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Sejm of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Both countries had centuries-long tradition of public participation in policy making, traced to the Slavic assembly known as the wiec. ==Political influence==

, took place in 1573 Sejms, including their senate (the upper chamber), and sejmiks severely limited the king's powers. Already the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland has a great impact on the king's powers. From 1505 the king could not pass laws himself without the approval of the sejm, this being forbidden by Polish szlachta privilege laws like nihil novi. Usually larger voivodeships could send 6 deputies, smaller 2; ziemias, depending on their sizes, would send 2 or 1. Numbers of deputies elected to the sejm by sejmiks from particular localities, in the order of precedence, based on a 1569 decree, were as follows: ==Sejm gatherings==

Proceedings A sejm began with a solemn mass, a verification of deputies mandates, and election of the Marshal of the Sejm (also known as the Speaker). The Grand Chancellor of Lithuania and Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania were regarded as guardians of the laws and were obliged to refuse to affix the Lithuanian seals to any documents that would violate the laws or act to the detriment of the state. Location , where most of the federal Polish–Lithuanian sejms in the territory of Lithuania were held, including the last one in 1793 The majority of the sejms were held at the Warsaw's Royal Castle. In practice, most of the sejms were still held in Warsaw, which hosted 148 sejms, compared to 11 sejms hosted in Grodno. Polish–Lithuanian monarch Augustus III even described Grodno as "hated small town" and Polish nobles reluctantly travelled to the federal Polish–Lithuanian sejms in Grodno. In his welcoming speech during the 1784 Grodno Sejm Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha mildly reproached Poniatowski that "It has been thirty-two years already that Lithuania did not see legislative meetings in its nest". The sejms in Warsaw were held in the Warsaw Castle, within the Chamber of Deputies (Hall of Three Pillars), with the upper Senate Chamber located literally above it. Jędruch gives a higher number of 245, and notes that 192 of those were successfully completed, passing legislation. 32 sejms were vetoed with the infamous liberum veto, particularly in the first half of the 18th century. The last two sejms of the Commonwealth were the irregular four-year Great Sejm (1788–92), which passed the Constitution of the 3 May, and the infamous Grodno Sejm (1793) where deputies, bribed or coerced by the Russian Empire following the Commonwealth defeat in the War in Defense of the Constitution, annulled the short-lived Constitution and passed the act of Second Partition of Poland. ==Special sessions==

Royal elections in 1764 (detail) In addition to the regular sessions of the general sejm, three special types of sejms handled the process of the royal election in the interregnum period. Those were: • Convocation sejm (Sejm konwokacyjny). This sejm was called upon a death or abdication of a king by the Primate of Poland. The deputies would focus on establishing the dates and any special rules for the election (in particular, preparation of pacta conventa, bills of nobility privileges to be sworn by the king), and screening the candidates. This sejm was to last two weeks. • Election sejm (Sejm elekcyjny), during which the nobility voted for the candidate to the throne. This type of sejm was open to all members of the nobility who desired to attend it, and as such they often gathered much larger number of attendees than the regular sejms. The exact numbers of attendees have never been recorded, and are estimated to vary from 10,000 to over 100,000; subsequently the voting could last for days (in 1573 it was recorded that it took four days). To handle the increased numbers, those sejms would be held in Wola, then a village near Warsaw. Royal candidates themselves were barred from attending this sejm, but were allowed to send representatives. This sejm was to last six weeks. • Coronation sejm (Sejm koronacyjny). This sejm was held in Kraków, where the coronation ceremony was traditionally held by the primate, who relinquished his powers to the chosen king. This sejm was to last two weeks. Other special sessions is adopted by the Four-Year Sejm and Senate at the Royal Castle, Warsaw Confederated sejm (Sejm skonfederowany) first appeared in 1573 (all convocation and election sejms were confederated), and became more popular in the 18th century as a counter to the disruption of liberum veto. Seen as emergency or extraordinary sessions, they relied on majority voting to speed up the discussions and ensure a legislative outcome. Many royal election sejms were confederated, as well as some of the normal sejm walny (general sejm) sessions. Jędruch, who classifies the regular general sejm session as ordinary, in addition to the convocation, election and coronation sessions, also distinguished the following additional types: • Council of state • Constitutional • Delegation (ending with a formation of committees) • Extraordinary • General sejmik held instead of a sejm • General council (rada walna) without the king present. That sejm would be convoked by the primate when the king could not attend and had no legislative powers. It was attended by deputies from the preceding sejm. Held three times (in 1576, 1710 and 1734). • Inquest, debating the case of royal impeachment. Two such sejms were held (in 1592 and 1646). • Pacification, to quell a potential civil war after a disputed election, to pacify the opponents through political concessions. Five such sejms were held (in 1598, 1673, 1698, 1699 and 1735). ==See also==