A legislature is the official body that has the power to make or change laws for a country, a state, or a similar place. It is not one person; it is the whole house, or houses, of law-makers. Some places have one chamber; others have two, and both together are still the legislature. The word is formal and a little bookish. Daily news more often uses the local name — Parliament, Congress, and the like. Though actually, writers reach for legislature when they need a word that is not tied to one country. Do not mix it with legislation: legislation is the laws on paper; the legislature is the body that writes them. People also use it a little loosely for the place they meet, as in “news from the legislature today.”