College of Peers of the Realm

College of Peers of the Realm Colegiado de Pares do Reino
Type
Type	Unicameral
Term limits	Life-long
History
Founded	21 November 2014
Leadership
Lord Speaker	Jonathan, Marquis of Rozandir, Conservative Party
Vice Lord	Pedro Carvalho, Count of Lyns, Conservative Party
Dark Lord	Gabriela Amorim, Countess of Wittiza, Worker's Party
Structure
Seats	20
Political groups	Government (6)   Conservative Party (6) Opposition (10)   Worker's Party (5)   Moderate Party (5) Federative Units Monarchs   Ruling Princes (4)
Authority	Ebenthali constitution, Chapter 5th
Elections
Voting system	N/A; members nominated by the King
Meeting place
Nominally Gillisburgh

The College of Peers of the Realm (Portuguese: Colegiado de Pares do Reino; formely known as Nobility's Legislative Conclave (Nov 2014-Oct 2020)) was the unicameral legislature of the government of the Kingdom of Ebenthal. It had 20 members of which 16 were named among nobility by the sovereign for lifelong terms or until monarchical dismissal and the remaining 4 were the rulling princes of Ebenthal's federative units.

The College of Peers was officially inaugurated in November 2014 as the Legislative Nobility's Conclave as mandated by Article 5th of the 2014 Ebenthali Constitution. It underwent a reform by October 2020 which added the sub-national rulling princes to the house and changes its denomination to College of Peers of the Realm.

Its last Lord Speaker was Jonathan, Marquis of Rozandir, who held the post from June 2020 to 8 March 2021 in the form of the country's first minority government (due to the opposition inability to form a majority through coalition to rule), and the current Vice Lord is Pedro Carvalho, who assumed the post at the same time.

The College of Peers was formally disestablished by a royal decree to give place to the country's new bicameral legislature, the Konkrëse, in 8 March 2021.

Powers and duties

The College of Peers performed powers on the legislative sphere. Formelly, it enact laws, amends the constitution (this one requires a majority of two-thirds), holds the power to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence (under the monarch's sanction), to authorize the government to raise taxes and grant loans, to ratify treaties and other kinds of international agreements (with very few exceptions). The College also appoints members of special comissions, committees and of the Council of State.

Political opposition represented in the College has the power to review the cabinet's actions, make counter-proposals and mimick the Royal Cabinet with it's own, although with the only goal of scrutinize the government's one.

Structure

The College of Peers consisted on 20 members. 16 of these members, called Peers of the Realm, are appointed by the monarch to serve life-long terms while the remaining 4 members consist on the ruling princes of Ebenthal's federative units, serving for as long as their reign last and enjoying of an unique hereditary position within the parliament. Nonetheless, while both Peers and Princes may speak freely, the right of vote is exclusive to the appointed Peers. Each federative unit (5 principalities and the capital) provides 1 to 3 Peers each, by proportional representation. The leader of the major party or coalition in the College is nominally appointed by the monarch as the speaker of the house under the title of Lord Speaker, while either the leader of a neutral party, coalition or the major party's deputy leader is appointed as deputy-speaker as Vice Lord Speaker and the leader of the opposition to Dark Lord and responsible to mimick the Prime Minister and the Lord Speaker by forming a shadow cabinet to scrutinize the government's one and to make counter-proposals on parliamentary issues.

• Lord Speaker is named by the King among the majority party to be the Speaker of the House.
• Vice Lord is named by the King among the the majority or the middle party to be deputy Speaker of the House.
• Dark Lord automatically risen as the leader of the main opposition party on the event of a Premier nomination; his role mimick both the Prime Minister and Lord Speaker, where he serves as the opposition speaker and form a shadow cabinet, with no actual power, to scrutinize the government's one and make alternative proposals.

Furthermore all Peers shall enjoy the title of Lord and the style of The Most Dignified.

Procedure

The legislative procedure goes through four stages. First, a bill is introduced to the College either by a member of government or, in the case of a private member's bill, by any individual representative. The first reading takes place and then takes a vote. If the bill is dismissed, the procedure ends. The second reading takes place the next week after the first reading, in which the College debates the bill again. A new vote is taken, and if successful, the bill is submitted to the monarch for either royal assent or dismissal. If the College comes to a different conclusion during the second reading, a third reading will be held at least three days later, repeating the debate and vote, and may adopt the amendments from the second reading or finally dismiss the bill.

Parties

The table below lists parties lastly represented in the College.

Name			Ideologies	Leader	Current seats
	PC	Conservative Party Partido Conservador	Conservatism	The Marquis of Rozandir	6 / 16
	PM	Moderate Party Partido Moderado	Liberalism	The Duke of sion	5 / 16
	PT	Worker's Party Partido Trabalhista	Democratic socialism	The Countess of Zózimo	5 / 16

Composition and seats

It follows the college's last composition.

Members

Appointed MP	Party		State	Took office	Seat #	Notes
Appointed
The Marquis of Rozandir		Conservative	New Switzerland	2 February 2020	1	Lord Speaker
The Count of Lyns		Conservative	Aldiva	5 March 2019	2	Vice Lord Speaker
The Countess of Wittiza		Worker's	Gillisburgh	31 December 2019	3	Dark Lady; Leader of the opposition
The Duke of Launceston		Moderate	Gillisburgh	21 November 2014	4
The Duke of Sion		Moderate	Belmonte	20 January 2016	5
Prince Fernando		Conservative	Negromonte	30 October 2015	6	Prime Minister
The Count of Icarus		Worker's	Alvorada	7 September 2018	7
The Count of Ardo		Moderate	Belmonte	24 December 2018	8
The Duke of Guanabara		Conservative	Gillisburgh	15 April 2017	9
The Marquis of Recceswinth		Conservative	New Switzerland	13 September 2014	10
The Count of Novesfora		Conservative	Negromonte	10 May 2015	11
The Marquis of Ferea		Worker's	Carlenburg	1 July 2020	12
The Count of Galla Placidia		Worker's	Carlenburg	5 July 2020	13
The Count of Framtan		Worker's	Aldiva	28 February 2020	14
The Marquis of Terra Nova		Moderate	Belmonte	16 February 2020	15
The Count of Autem		Moderate	Alvorada	20 January 2020	16

See also

• Prime Minister of Ebenthal
• Monarchy of Ebenthal
• Ebenthal