CONVENTION is also the name given to an extraordinary assembly of the estates of the realm, held without the king's writ; as the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne. Such also was the convention of estates in 1688, which, upon the flight of James II., declared that he had abdicated the throne, and that the right of succession had devolved to King William and Queen Mary;—upon which the assembly expired as a convention, and was converted into a parliament.