House of Peers (Kingdom of Sicily)

The House of Peers, in the Kingdom of Sicily, was one of the two legislative houses of Parliament, from 1812 to 1816 and briefly in 1848; it was a form of peerage based on a model very similar to that of the British Peerage.

With the Sicilian Constitution of 1812, the feudal regime was abolished, and legislative power was attributed to the Parliament composed of two chambers, one called the "municipal" (corresponding to the state property branch), electable by census and open vote, and the other of the "peers", with a "perpetual, inalienable and hereditary" office.

The "Chamber of Peers of Sicily" appointed by the king, with a life term, was formed by the major former feudal lords, ecclesiastics and Sicilian military men. Although undoubtedly based on the British institution, its historical origins must be sought in the Sicilian Parliament, the ancient assembly established in the Kingdom of Sicily already in the Norman era. The constitution was conceived during the period of English protectorate on the island which referred to Lord William Bentinck.

Chapter XIX of the constitution established that "every proposal relating to subsidies and taxes must be initiated in the House of Commons. The House of Peers will only have the right to assent or dissent, without being able to make any alteration or modification". The king, who convened the two chambers at least once a year, had the power of veto over the laws of parliament. [ 1 ] With the unification of the Kingdom of Sicily with that of Naples in December 1816, and the consequent birth of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was effectively suppressed.

With the Sicilian revolution of 1848-49, the subsequent constitution of 10 February 1848 brought about several changes to this assembly institution, first of all excluding from the assembly all those families that relied on titles registered to non-Sicilian families (thus excluding those members of the Neapolitan aristocracy who, through inheritance, had come into possession of a fiefdom "decorated" as a peer). Subsequently, for the peers declared "vacant", the possibility was established that they could become elective through the nomination of a provisional member voted by the Chamber itself.

With the constitutional statute of 10 July 1848, the Sicilian Chamber of Peers was abolished and replaced by the Senate, to which peers could be elected, provided that they signed the declaration of 13 July 1848 which deposed King Ferdinand II.

• Sicilian Parliament
• Kingdom of Sicily

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