Law Library of Congress Report on Parliaments Around the World

The Law Library of Congress has published a report entitled Parliaments Around the World that compares who makes the laws and how they are made in Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

An accompanying blog post gives you an idea of the breadth of questions the report can answer:

"... how many senators are there in the Australian parliament and how are they elected? What are 'Private Members’ Bills' in Westminster-style parliaments? What is the 'Standing Committee' of China’s National People’s Congress and what is its constitutional role? When did the Finnish parliament first start holding regular meetings? Can the President of France veto legislation? How many members are there in the German Bundestag? How old does a person have to be to run for election to Japan’s National Diet? How many committees are there in the Chamber of Representatives in Mexico? What are the deadlines for the submission of a budget bill to South Korea’s National Assembly and to Sweden’s parliament? And when will the next election take place for the UK parliament?"

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.