Wikipedia
In France under the Old Regime, the Estates General or States-General (, ) was a legislative and consultative assembly (see The Estates) of the different classes (or estates) of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king. It had no true power in its own right—unlike the English parliament it was not required to approve royal taxation or legislation—instead it functioned as an advisory body to the king, primarily by presenting petitions from the various estates and consulting on fiscal policy. The Estates-General met intermittently until 1614 and only once afterwards, but was not definitively dissolved until after the French Revolution.
It is comparable to similar institutions across Europe, such as the States General of the Netherlands, the Parliament of England, the Estates of Parliament of Scotland, the Cortes of Spain, the Imperial Diet ("Reichstag") of the Holy Roman Empire or Germanic Empire, the Diets of the "lands", List of historic states of Germany, and the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
Usage examples of "estates general".
The Royal Commissioners were willing in his name to make considerable concessions, to withdraw the Spanish troops from the country, and to permit the Estates General to assemble.
When he got back to the restaurant he found, in addition to the inevitable stack of dishes, a heated discussion abou the draft bill pending in the Estates General.