House of Aristocrats (Ebenthal)

House of Aristocrats
House of Aristocrats ; Câmara dos Aristocratas
	2nd Konkrëse
Type
Type	Upper House of the Konkrëse
Term limits	Life-long
History
Founded	March 8, 2021
Leadership
Lord Speaker	The Duchess of Montana, ModerateParty
Vice Lord Speaker	vacant, Moderate Party
Structure
Seats	Undefined
Political groups	Worker's Party (6); Moderate Party (3); Conservative Party (4); Republican Party (1);
Elections
Voting system	Appointed at the monarch's will
Meeting place
	Altenburg de jure; Discord de facto

The House of Aristocrats (Portuguese: Câmara dos Aristocratas) is the upper house of the Konkrëse, the parliament of Ebenthal. Membership is by appointment and its members, drawn from the Ebenthali nobility, are called Lords of Congress and serve life-long terms.

Following the House of Aristocrats Reform Act in early 2022, the House of Aristocrats does not have a defined number of seats and the parties of its members do not reflect in the formation of the government, which is up to the House of Councillors. The House of Aristocrats does not control the term of the Prime Minister or of the Government. Only the lower house and the sovereign may force the Prime Minister to resign or call elections. However, on rare occasions, if the party or coalition that forms a majority in the lower house does not reach an acceptable nomination for the position, the Prime Minister can be appointed from among the members of that same party or coalition in the upper house.

The House of Aristocrats scrutinises bills that have been approved by the House of Councillors, regularly reviewing and amending them, and it is able not only to prevent bills from passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances, as it is able to propose and approve bills independently. In this capacity, the House of Aristocrats acts as a check on the House of Councillors that is independent from the electoral process and as a primary house on its own capacity. Members of the Aristocrats may take on roles as government ministers same as members of the Councillors.

Origin

The House of Aristocrats was inspired by the British House of Lords in essence (specially in functional structure), as well as by the Hungarian House of Magnates (specially in name), with features of the Portuguese House of Peers, kept from Ebenthal's former parliament, the College of Peers of the Realm.

The original proposal of creation of an upper house for Ebenthal's parliament by Gabriela Amorim, 1st Duchess of Frumar, envisioned the seats to be life-long but elected through universal suffrage and open to commoners to run. Facing the Conservative Party's threats to formal protest, and advised by the leader of the Moderate Party, the proposal was altered to the presently adopted model.

Functions

According the Constitution of Ebenthal's 6th ammendment, the Lords of Parliament exerce the exclusive functions of either approving or reject, alter and amend bills from the House of Councillors, to recognize the validity and legitimacy of a referendum, to legislate and arbitrate on matters incidental to the execution of any power vested by the constitution in the executive, legislature or judiciary, plus the common functions of deal with taxation and loans, trade and commerce (only regarding the Central Government), to deal with conciliation and arbitration when required, to legislate on matter regarding the country's institutions, infrastructure and rules, to legislate on currency, coinage, and legal tender, on immigration and citizenship, among other things.

Procedure

A legislative bill can be formally introduced by any member of both legislative houses, as well as by the Sovereign and the rulers of the the provinces of Ebenthal, although it is more commonly introduced by the parliamentary houses only, specially the House of Aristocrats. The Lord Speaker read the proposed bill and puts it up to voting. If a bill, either introduced directly at the house or originating from the House of Councillors, is approved, it is immediatly sent to the King's office for his royal assent or veto. If a bill fails, it may be debated and voted again in a next session; if it fails again, then the bill is shelved and can only be revived after a month.

Composition and seats

Members

Appointed MP		State	Took office	Seat #	Notes
Appointed
The Marquis of Rozandir	Conservative	New Switzerland	2 February 2020	1
The Count of Lyns	Conservative	Geraldorf	5 March 2019	2
The Duchess of Frumar	Worker's	Altenburg	31 December 2019	3
The 2nd Duchess of Montana	Moderate	Altenburg	8 March 2021	4
Prince Fernando	Conservative	Schwarzberg	30 October 2015	5
The Count of Nordwind	Worker's	Lüttenbühl	7 September 2018	6
The Count of Balten	Moderate	Belmonte	24 December 2018	7
The Marquis of Recceswinth	Conservative	New Switzerland	13 September 2014	8
The Marquis of Telesia	Worker's	Altentupiland	1 July 2020	9
The Count of Galla Placidia	Worker's	Altentupiland	5 July 2020	10
The Count of Ivrea	Worker's	Geraldorf	28 February 2020	11
The Marquis of Savassi	Worker's	Belmonte	16 February 2020	12
The Prince Hugo III	Republican	Schwarzberg	10 March 2021	13	former reigning Prince of Schwarzberg
The Countess of Barcelos	Moderate	Lüttenbühl	10 March 2021	14