Peer of the Realm

A Peer of the Realm (Portuguese: Par do Reino) was a noble appointed to serve in the College of Peers of the Realm, the Kingdom of Ebenthal's former parliament. The office was substituted by that of Lord of Parliament and Councillor.

Eligibility and appointment

To be eligible to stand as a Peer of the Realm a person must be at least 14 years old, be a citizen of Ebenthal and must be a noble either from Ebenthal or any other nation (either macro or micro). All Peers of the Realm are appointed for office by the monarch, who also designate their nominal constituencies.

The Constitution of Ebenthal allows for the Peers to hold various positions and acumulate wages.

Term

All Peers are appointed to serve life-long terms. Each federative unit (5 principalities and the capital) provides 1 to 3 Peers each, by proportional representation. Neverthless, the monarch constitutionally holds power to fire any Peer in situations on which "the national security demands extraordinary actions". If a Peer resign his job, he must be immediatly substituted on his constituency by another one from the same party, except if this resignation cause the loss of parliamentary majority, on which case the College of Peers will be disolved until a new cabinet arises from a new parliamentary majority.

Title

Peers of the Realm are entitled to use the post nominal title PR. PRs also enjoy of the style of The Most Dignified (The Mt. Dig.) and are often simply referred as "dignified" or "dignified peer of the realm". They may also be called as Lords, as they are titled nobles.

Responsabilities

Theoretically, contemporary PRs are considered to have two duties, or three if they belong to a political party. Their primary responsibility is to act in the national interest. They must also act in the interests of their constituents where this does not override their primary responsibility. Finally, if they belong to a political party, they may act in the interests of that party, subordinate to the other two responsibilities. This interpretation was based on the British MPs' obligations.

The Peers of the Realm are the main legislators of the country's political system. They may propose and vote on matter such as laws, ammendments and finances.