House of Aristocrats (Ebenthal)
House of Aristocrats Câmara dos Aristocratas | |
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4th Konkrëse | |
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Type | |
Type | Upper House of the Konkrëse |
Term limits | Life-long |
History | |
Founded | March 8, 2021 |
Leadership | |
Vice Lord Speaker | |
Structure | |
Seats | Unlimited |
Political groups | Non-partisan (22) (House members are non-partisan in character, but are free to affiliate with any political parties) |
Elections | |
Appointed at the monarch's will | |
Hereditary peerage | |
Meeting place | |
Raych Halle, Malmünd |
The House of Aristocrats (Portuguese: Câmara dos Aristocratas) is the upper house of the Konkrëse, the parliament of Ebenthal. Membership is by appointment and hereditary and its members, drawn from the Ebenthali nobility, often called Lords of Congress or simply Aristocrats, and serve life-long terms.
The House of Aristocrats does not have a limit on the number of seats and its members are, in the exercise of their functions, non-partisans, even if they are individually affiliated with political parties. Its members are appointed and can only be removed by the monarch, or they inherit their position from their predecessor to a noble title whose bearer was appointed as a member of the house. 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 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 which were kept from Ebenthal's former unicameral parliament, the severely Portuguese-inspired 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 for commoners to run for. Facing the Conservative Party's threats to formal protest, and advised by the leader of the Moderate Party back then, the proposal was altered to an aristocracy-exclusive legislation chamber.
Functions
According the Constitution of Ebenthal's 6th ammendment, the Lord of Congress 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
The House of Aristocrats is made up of as many members as the monarch appoints, selected exclusively from among the Ebenthali nobility; not all nobles are members of the House of Aristocrats. Members, often called Lords of Congress, Aristocrats or simply Members of the House of Aristocrats, do not represent constituencies and their lenght of term is lifetime. When a member dies or relinquishes his title, if there is a clear heir, he assumes the deceased member's position in the house. In concurrence with the result of elections to the House of Councillors, the monarch appoints a member of the Aristocrats to be the Lord Speaker, who in turn appoints the Vice Lord Speaker. By convention, the monarch appoints as Lord Speaker a member of the party or coalition that has a majority of seats in the lower house, or some noble on the Prime Minister's advice.
Members
Appointed MP | Party | State | Took office | Seat # | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Appointed | ||||||||
The Marquis of Rozandir | Non-partisan | ![]() |
2 February 2020 | 1 | Vice Lord Speaker | |||
The Count of Lyns | Non-partisan | ![]() |
5 March 2019 | 2 | ||||
The Count of Reccared | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 3 | ||||
The Prince Pedro II | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 4 | former reigning Prince of Belmonte | |||
The Prince Fernando | Non-partisan | ![]() |
30 October 2015 | 5 | ||||
The Marquis of Recceswinth | Non-partisan | ![]() |
13 September 2014 | 6 | ||||
The Count of Nordwind | Non-partisan | ![]() |
7 September 2018 | 7 | ||||
The Count of Goethe | Non-partisan | ![]() |
13 October 2022 | 8 | ||||
The Marquis of Telesia | Non-partisan | ![]() |
1 July 2020 | 9 | ||||
The Count of Galla Placidia | Non-partisan | ![]() |
5 July 2020 | 10 | ||||
The Count of Ivrea | Non-partisan | ![]() |
28 February 2020 | 11 | ||||
The Marquis of Savassi | Non-partisan | ![]() |
16 February 2020 | 12 | ||||
The Prince Hugo III | Non-partisan | ![]() |
10 March 2021 | 13 | former reigning Prince of Schwarzberg | |||
The Duchess of Frumar | Non-partisan | ![]() |
31 December 2019 | 14 | Lady Speaker | |||
The Duke of Ambarino | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 15 | Prime Minister | |||
The Countess of Barcelos | Non-partisan | ![]() |
10 March 2021 | 16 | ||||
The Marquis of Soutofeld | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 17 | ||||
The Marquis of Nova Gallar | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 18 | ||||
The Count of Theudigisel | Non-partisan | ![]() |
14 August 2022 | 19 | ||||
The Count of Balten | Non-partisan | ![]() |
24 December 2018 | 20 | ||||
The 2nd Duchess of Montana | Non-partisan | ![]() |
8 March 2021 | 21 |