At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed a complex institutional and political system based on the concept of a pact between the estates of the realm and the king. Laws had to be approved in the General Court of Catalonia, one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that banned the royal power to create legislation unilaterally, since 1283. The Courts were composed of the three estates, were presided over by the king of Aragon, and approved the constitutions, which created a compilation of rights for the citizenship of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Courts of 1359 established a permanent representation of deputies, called Deputation of the General (Catalan: "Diputació del General") and later usually known as Generalitat, which gained an important political power in the next centuries.