a modern democratic system but a guild democratic system. The Italian cities in the middle medieval period had "lobbies war" democracies without institutional guarantee systems (a full developed balance of powers). During late medieval and renaissance periods, Venice became an oligarchy and others became "Signorie". They were, in any case in late medieval times, not nearly as democratic as the Athenian-influenced city-states of Ancient Greece (discussed above), but they served as focal points for early modern democracy. Veche, Wiec – popular assemblies in Slavic countries. In Poland wiece have developed in 1182 into the Sejm – the Polish parliament. The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the republics of Novgorod until 1478 and Pskov until 1510. The elizate system of the Basque Country in which farmholders of a rural area connected to a particular church would meet to reach decisions on issues affecting the community and to elect representatives to the provincial Batzar Nagusiak/Juntos Generales. The rise of democratic parliaments in England and Scotland: Magna Carta (1215) limiting the authority of powerholders; first representative parliament (1265). The Magna Carta implicitly supported what became the English writ of habeas corpus, safeguarding individual freedom against unlawful imprisonment with right to appeal. The emergence of petitioning in the 13th century is some of the earliest evidence of this parliament being used as a forum to address the general grievances of ordinary people. Ukrainian Cossacks was one of the forms of democracy. They had such forms as elections, civil discussion of decisions and the hetman's accountability to the people. Indigenous peoples of the Americas Professor of anthropology Jack Weatherford has argued that the ideas leading to the United States Constitution and democracy derived from various indigenous peoples of the Americas including the Iroquois. Weatherford speculated that this democracy was founded between the years 1000–1450, that it lasted several hundred years, and that the U.S. democratic system was continually changed and improved by the influence of Native Americans throughout North America. Elizabeth Tooker, a professor of anthropology at Temple University and an authority on the culture and history of the Northern Iroquois, has reviewed Weatherford’s claims and concluded they are myth rather than fact. The idea that North American Indians had a democratic culture is several decades old, but not usually expressed within historical literature. The relationship between the Iroquois League and the Constitution is based on a portion of a letter