The title was adopted on 17th June 1789 by the Third Estate. On 20th June, excluded from their regular meeting-place, they assembled in a tennis court and swore an oath (the 'Tennis Court Oath'), not to disband until a constitution was established. On 9th July the Assembly added the word 'Constituent' to its title, by which it became known, and as such carried out many important changes. In October 1791, it became the Legislative Assembly, a new body in as much as members of the old Constituent Assembly had passed a self denying ordinance preventing them from being candidates. The Legislative Assembly was overthrown in the upheavals of the summer of 1792, and replaced in September by the Convention. This body executed the king, proclaimed the First Republic, and established a new constitution. It dissolved itself, to be replaced by the Directory in October 1795. The Directory had a very limited franchise, a narrow social base, and five executive directors.

The legislative branch of government. It consists of 400 elected members of parliament who are responsible for making or changing the laws of the country.

The National Assembly is either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. The best known National Assembly, and the first legislature to be known by this title, was that established following the French Revolution in 1789, known as the Assemblée nationale. Consequently, the name is particularly common in Francophone countries, but is also found in some Commonwealth countries.