Chamber of Deputies

Template:Short description Template:Politics The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.

Description

Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy, and the French Third Republic; the name is still informally used for the National Assembly under the nation's current Fifth Republic.

The term "chamber of deputies" is not widely used by English-speaking countries, the more popular equivalent being "House of Representatives", an exception being Burma, a former British colony, where it was the name of the lower house of the country's parliament.<ref>The Union of Burma: Background, United States Department of State, Public Services Division, 1955, page 8</ref> It was also the official description of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament) during the period of the Irish Free State.

In Malta, the House of Representatives is known, in Maltese, as Kamra tad-Deputati.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Lebanon, the literal Arabic name of that country's parliament is Majlis an-Nuwwab, or, "Chamber of Deputies"—although officially used French and even English translations are "Assemblée Nationale" and "National Assembly" respectively.

A member of a "chamber of deputies" is generally called a "deputy", the definition of which is similar to that of "congressperson" or "member of parliament". The term "deputy" may refer to any member of a legislative body or chamber; this usage is particularly common in those French-speaking countries whose parliaments are called "national assemblies" and Spanish-speaking countries with legislative bodies called "congresses"; the term is also used by Portugal's Assembly of the Republic. In Ireland, it is used as a form of address when referring to members of Dáil Éireann instead of the Irish language term Teachta Dála,<ref>Waste Management, Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021</ref> while in the Channel Islands, "Deputy" is used as the official title of most of the members of the States Assembly in Jersey<ref>Members vote against £12 flat fee for GP visits, Jersey Evening Post, 16 December 2021</ref> and all but two of the members of the States of Deliberation in Guernsey.<ref>‘Government Work Plan delivering real change’, Guernsey Press, 16 December 2021</ref>