or ESTATES, a term applied to several orders or classes of people assembled to consult of matters for the public good.

Thus states-general is the name of an assembly consisting of the deputies of the seven United Provinces: these are usually thirty in number, some provinces sending two, others more; and whatever resolution the states-general take, must be confirmed by every province, and by every city and republic in that province, before it has the force of a law. The deputies of each province, of what numbersoever they be, have only one voice, and are esteemed as but one person, the votes being given by provinces. Each province presides in the assembly in its turn, according to the order settled among them. Guelderland presides first, then Holland, &c.

States of Holland are the deputies of eighteen cities, and one representative of the nobility, constituting the states of the province of Holland; the other provinces have likewise their states, representing their sovereignty, deputies from which make what they call the states-general. In an assembly of the states of a particular province, one dissenting voice prevents their coming to any resolution.