O Moderating Power it is a prerogative of the monarch within the parliamentary monarchy regime.
Conceived by Benjamin Constant, it was incorporated in the Constitution of 1824, in Brazil and in the Magna Carta of Portugal, in 1826, under the influence of Dom Pedro I.
Summary
The Moderating Power was created by the Swiss politician and intellectual Benjamin Constant.
He started from Montesquieu's scheme that divided the three branches into Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, but adds one more: the pouvoir royale (real power) translated into Portuguese as Moderator Power.
For Benjamin Constant, the monarch should not follow the English model of being a simple representation of the nation expressed in the phrase “the king reigns but does not govern”.
The sovereign should have a special position, always limited by the Constitution, the Parliament and/or the Council of Ministers.
The name itself says that it is a power that moderates the clashes between the three powers. In case of disagreement between the members, the sovereign would intervene until finding a conciliatory solution.
The Moderating Power would not be authoritarianism, as all matters should first pass through the Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Thus, the king did not run the risk of becoming a monarch absolutist.
Constitution of 1824 - Article 98
The Moderating Power was expressed in article 98 of the Constitution of 1824. This one said that his function was to take care "on the maintenance of independence, balance, and harmony of the most political powers”.
The Moderating Power would be exercised in the following situations:
I. Appointing the Senators.
II. Convoking the General Assembly extraordinarily between Sessions, when the good of the Empire asks for it.
III. The Decrees and Resolutions of the General Assembly were sanctioned, so that they have the force of law.
IV. Approving and temporarily suspending the Resolutions of the Provincial Councils.
V. Extending or postponing the General Assembly, and dissolving the Chamber of Deputies, in cases where the salvation of the State demands it; immediately summoning another to replace it.
SAW. Freely appointing and dismissing Ministers of State.
VII. Suspending the Magistrates in the cases of Art. 154.
VIII. Forgiving and moderating the penalties imposed and the Defendants convicted by the Judgment.
IX. Granting amnesty in urgent cases, and that they advise humanity, and the good of the State.
Additional Act of 1834
The Moderating Power was suspended during the Governing Period. Since it was an attribute unique to the sovereign, the rulers could not use it.
Therefore, through the amendment known as Additional Act of 1834, the Moderating Power was suspended.
Curiosities
- The Moderating Power was questioned by those who led the rebellions that took place at this time. Frei Caneca, during the Confederation of Ecuador, for example, was one of the greatest critics of the monarch's attribution of power.
- The Moderating Power was used by Dom Pedro II to expropriate a coffee plantation located in Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro. He had it replanted with seedlings from the Atlantic forest to preserve the city's water supply. Today the forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
read more:
- Montesquieu
- three powers
- Constitutional monarchy
