Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Legislature

Legislature (lej"is*lā`tur; 135) , noun

[Compare French législature.]

The body of persons in a state or kingdom invested with power to make and repeal laws; a legislative body.
Without the concurrent consent of all three parts of the legislature, no law is, or can be, made. — Sir M. Hale

The legislature of Great Britain consists of the Lords and Commons, with the king or queen, whose sanction is necessary to every bill before it becomes a law. The legislatures of most of the United States consist of two houses or branches; but the sanction or consent of the governor is required to give their acts the force of law, or a concurrence of two thirds of the two houses after he has refused his sanction and assigned his objections.