House of Aristocrats (Ebenthal)

House of Aristocrats
*Câmara dos Aristocratas*
House of Aristocrats ; Câmara dos Aristocratas
5th Konkrëse parliamentary session
Type
Type	Upper House of the Konkrëse
Term limits	1 year
History
Founded	8 March 2021
Leadership
Lord President	The Marquis of Rozandir
Lord Vice President	vacant
Structure
Seats	9 (currently)
Political groups	Non-partisan (9); (House members are non-partisan in character, but are free to affiliate with any political parties)
Elections
Voting system	Appointed at the monarch's will
Voting system	Hereditary peerage
Meeting place
	Malmünd

The House of Aristocrats (Portuguese: Câmara dos Aristocratas) is the upper chamber of the Konkrëse, the parliament of Ebenthal. It is made up of as many members as half the number of members of the House of Councillors. They are appointed at the Sovereign's discretion among the members of the nobility of Ebenthal to serve one-year terms. Unlike in the lower chamber, members of the House of Aristocrats do not represent constituencies or political parties. If a member of the house dies or relinquish their title, provided that there is a willing heir, they assume the position of the deceased for the remainder of the term of office. Although the Aristocrats does not control the term of the Prime Minister and his cabinet, on rare occasions, if the party or coalition that forms a majority in the lower chamber 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 Guterfolg, 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 members of the House of Aristocrats 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 Ebenthal's administrative divisions, although it is more commonly introduced by the parliamentary houses only. The Lord President 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 half the number of members of the, all appointed by the Monarch, selected exclusively from among the Ebenthaler nobility. Members, often called Aristocrats or simply Members of the House of Aristocrats, do not represent constituencies and their lenght of term is equal to that of members of the Councillors. When a member dies or relinquishes their title, if there is a clear heir, they assume 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 President, who in turn appoints the Lord Vice President. By convention, the monarch appoints as Lord President someone ideologically related to the party or coalition that has a majority of seats in the lower house, or some noble on the Prime Ministers's advice.

Members

Appointed MP		State	Took office	Seat #	Notes
Appointed
The Marquis of Rozandir	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	2 February 2020	1	Lord President
The Prince of Soussen	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	22 January 2023	2
The Baron of Sommerlath	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	22 January 2024	3
The Marquis of Braunau	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	22 January 2024	4
The Marquis of Amsee	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	22 January 2024	5
The Duchess of Guterfolg	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	31 December 2019	6
The Countess of Barcelos	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	10 March 2021	7
The Count of Aldringen	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	14 August 2022	8
The Baron of Telesia	Non-partisan	Ebenthal	22 January 2024	9

References