What is "vote by order"?

Question

This has something to do with the French Revolution, or maybe government in general. [):

Answer 1

Voting by order is when you divide a voting population into multiple groups, and each group gets equal votes, such that each group is equally represented.

This differs from voting by head, where every person gets an equal vote, so that every person is equally represented.

This was a major issure in France prior to the French Revolution. Representation in French government was divided into three Estates. The First Estate was comprised of the monarch and the clergy. The Second Estate was made up of all nobility except the monarch. The Third Estate was all commoners. Each Estate had equal representation in the government, such that a Third Estate vote was worth the same amount as a Second or First Estate vote, so the Third Estate wielded one-third of the government's power. This was unfair, because the Third Estate represented 98% of France's population at the time. Unrest over this disproportionate representation was one of the factors that led to the French Revolution.

In the US Congress, we use both "vote by order" and "vote by head" systems. Each state is represented in the House of Representatives according to it's population. States with larger populations get more representatives. This is a representative vote-by-head system. In the US Senate, however, each state is represented by two Senators, regardless of how many people live in the state. This is a representative vote-by-order system.

Answer 2

In addition to the previous answer you see it a lot in church votes, where the clergy votes as a group and the lay votes as group.