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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 Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases. It was formed after the overthrow of Royal Governor Edmund Andros who governed all of New York and New England. Under the new charter the General Court drew together areas which before Andros had been separately governed within the Dominion of New England, including Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony and Maine. 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) The General Court was established in 1630 when the Massachusetts Bay Colony obtained a new charter. 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.
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