The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled, The General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when the colonial assembly, in addition to making laws, sat as a judicial court of appeals. Before the adoption of the state constitution in 1780, it was called the Great and General Court, but the official title was shortened by John Adams, author of the state constitution, apparently in the name of republican simplicity. It is a bicameral body. The upper house is the Massachusetts Senate which is composed of 40 members. The lower body, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has 160 members. (Until 1978, it had 240 members) It meets in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts.
The current President of the Senate is Therese Murray, and the Speaker of the House is Robert DeLeo. Democrats hold super-majorities in both chambers.
State Senators and Representatives both serve two-year terms.
Read more about Massachusetts General Court: House of Representatives, Senate, Legislative Procedure
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