for: VETO (band) A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be absolute (as in the U.N. Security Council, whose permanent members can block any resolution) or limited (as in the legislative process of the United States, where a two thirds vote in both the House and Senate may override a Presidential veto of legislation.)

A veto gives power, possibly unlimited, to stop changes, but not to adopt them. The influence that the veto conveys to its holder is therefore directly proportional to the holder's conservatism, broadly defined. The more the holder of a veto supports the status quo, the more useful the veto.

The concept of a veto body originated with the Roman consuls and tribunes. Either of the two consuls holding office in a given year could block a military or civil decision by the other; any tribune had the power to unilaterally refuse legislation passed by the Roman Senate.Fact: date=February 2007

Papal elections

The term veto or exclusion or royal veto was also used to denote a form of secular interference in papal conclaves. Certain Catholic monarchs, such of those of France, Austria, and Spain, were acknowledged, tacitly at least, as having the right to exclude a cardinal as a candidate for election. The last time the veto was exercised was by Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, to exclude Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, in 1903. Rampolla was not elected, and the new pope, Pius X, revoked the practice. Secular interference of any kind in a papal election is now forbidden in canon law. See Jus exclusivae.

United Nations

In the United Nations Security Council, the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom) have veto power in substantive matters, though not in procedural ones. If any of these countries votes against a proposal, it is rejected, even if all of the other member countries vote in favour. This provision was designed to ensure that the Council could not be used to authorize military action without the assent of all of the five Great Powers of the day; there was a distinct fear that failure to receive such assent would allow the powers to abuse the Council's power to authorize police actions to the detriment of another. The principle is illustrated by the Korean War, in which a boycott of the Council by the Soviet Union allowed UNSC Resolution 82 to pass and a war to be started contrary to that Power's interests.

Westminster Systems

In Westminster Systems and most constitutional monarchies, the power to veto legislation by withholding the Royal Assent is a rarely used reserve power of the monarch. In practice, the Crown follows the convention of exercising its prerogative on the advice of its chief advisor, the prime minister.

In Spain there is not constitutional possibility of extraparliamentary veto. Only some matters that are passing in the Parliament must count with the assent of the Government (i.e. budget).