To become law, bills had to be passed by both houses, signed by the government minister responsible, and then granted royal assent by the Emperor.

In addition to the Imperial Council, the fifteen individual crown lands of Cisleithania had their own diets (German: Landtage).

In the course of the Revolutions of 1848, representatives from those crown lands of the Austrian Empire incorporated in the German Confederation met in an "Imperial Diet" at Vienna.

The convention was inaugurated by Archduke John on 22 July 1848 and after the Vienna Uprising of October moved to Kroměříž (German: Kremsier) in Moravia.

It not only abolished the last remnants of serfdom in the Austrian lands, but also undertook to draw up a constitution that would reflect the Empire's character of a multinational state, especially in view of the Austroslavic movement led by the Czech politician František Palacký.

It was nevertheless only a sidestep, as Schwarzenberg three days later forcefully disbanded the Kremsier Parliament and finally had the constitution annulled with the New Year's Eve Patent (Silvesterpatent) of 1851.

The dire nature of the situation was revealed to the Emperor after the Second Italian War of Independence and the bloody defeat of Austrian forces at the 1859 Battle of Solferino.

To calm the domestic front and to gain the support of wealthy Bourgeoisie, Franz Joseph issued the October Diploma in 1860.

For this reason, the Diploma was discarded and replaced by the February Patent of 1861, which was drafted by liberal minister-president Anton von Schmerling.

Cisleithania consisted of the Austrian part of the Empire, officially "The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council".

[8] Universal suffrage allowed greater representation for members of the working class, and diminished the power of the German-speaking bourgeoisie.

Whilst this was an advance for democracy, it resulted in the splintering of the House of Deputies into numerous factions based on nationality and ideology, which made it dysfunctional.

Throughout its existence, the effectiveness of the Imperial Council suffered heavily from conflicts between and within the numerous constituent nationalities of the Empire.

Governments of Cisleithania had to rely on loose ad hoc alliances, often with the support of the Polish representatives (Polenklub), and there were as many as 29 Minister-Presidents between 1867 and 1918.