Chapter 250: More Constitutional Reforms (1/2)

A new day had arrived, and with it, Berengar had found himself thrust headfirst into work and approving his reforms. The first order of business was redrafting his Constitution so that it could apply to the entirety of the Duchy. As the Duke of Austria who had just put down the rebellion of his most disloyal subjects not long ago. Berengar was in a unique position to overhaul his territory.

As such, he was currently in the process of fixing some of the errors of his Constitution that he had previously established. For example, he was moving away from the House of Commons and House of Lords to implement a more streamlined bicameral legislation partially based upon the early days of the United States Constitution from his past life.

A House of Representatives was established as the lower house of his bicameral legislature. These representatives would be voted in by those people who met the qualifications to vote. Such as German men of upstanding character and proven intellect.

The second department of his legislature was the Senate which was voted in by the County Legislatures. Much like America, the House of Representatives would be determined by the total population, while the Senate would have two individuals per State or in this case, County as Senators.

These representatives and senators had a term limit of four years. If deemed incompetent, corrupt, or any other number of charges could be removed by the executive and replaced with a person of his choosing until the next election.

The House and Senate worked was similar to that of the United States but functioned in a more streamlined manner. Those would first introduce a bill, which would be sent to the Senate for retirement or acceptance when passed by a majority vote.

From there, it would be given to the Duke where he could either sign it into law, revise it to his wishes and then send it back to the Senate for approval once more, or veto it.

Unlike the American Constitution, there was no overriding of a Duke's Veto, though the bill could still be reintroduced through the legislative process. However, a veto was usually considered a firm stance by the Duke that he did not desire such a law.

The so-called House of Lords would be repurposed as the Duke's Council, which essentially acted as a cabinet. Their responsibility would be to help lead Berengar's reforms while serving under him. The Duke's council could be appointed and dismissed at any time according to the reigning Duke's determination.

Part of the Duke's Council's responsibilities were selecting a successor to the Duke in the event that the Duke had passed away without appointing a successor himself. The process to this was voting upon eligible members of the von Kufstein Dynasty for the position. Whoever had the most votes was chosen.

This was a fail-safe, established so that the most competent successor would be chosen in the event that the Duke was to pass away before selecting the best candidate from his Dynasty to replace him. The Duke's Council would only choose the successor in very limited circumstances.

The Executive Branch of government was ruled by the Duke at a federal level, as for a State and Local level, the reigning Noble of the territory would act as governor. They would still need to introduce a localized form of government such as a State Legislature, and Court System, to aid them in their reign.

The nobility who ruled over their territories were allowed to continue to do so as governors, though the succession laws that applied to the Duke were also applied to all Governors. This was to ensure the most competent person was selected as the Governor of their region.

Of course, each Duke had executive powers, which allowed them to pass legislation without the approval of the federal and county legislatures. However, these could just as quickly be repealed by the next Duke. This was to ensure the political power of Berengar and his descendants so that they did not just become another powerless figurehead.

With the Legislative, and Executive branches refined, the Judicial branch was further elaborated and based upon the American Republic from Berengar's previous life. With a supreme court, which determined what was legal based upon the Constitution.

As with all judges, these supreme court justices were appointed by the Duke and served for life. However, if the Duke determined that they had failed to fulfill their duties according to the law and instead operated on some form of personal agenda, he could have them removed and replaced.

This Constitutional system allowed for some semblance of freedom while still retaining significant control of the government in the hands of Berengar and his Dynasty. In doing so, he created a Semi-Constitutional Monarchy; as in practice, Berengar still had the power to effectively make any decision he pleased and could stack the government in his favor.

He also maintained a strict stance of a small, intelligent electorate comprised of full-blooded law-abiding German males, preventing any foreign influence in his elections as the non-german minority had no voting rights whatsoever. Thus maintaining the idea of a united German fatherland for years to come.

Of course, he once more allowed a transitional period of ten years where he still ruled as an absolute monarch. This transitional period could be further extended by the Duke if deemed necessary. This way, he could slowly assimilate his territory into his new style of government.

After drafting these constitutional reforms, Berengar sighed heavily; he had spent a lot of time and effort revising his Constitution. It would also likely change in the future when he went from Duke to King, to Emperor. For now, this was the best effort he could put forth.

With this, Linde arrived in his room and placed a flagon of beer on Berengar's desk, and in her own hands was a goblet filled with milk. She took a look at the reforms and noticed the exhausted expression on her lover's face. After doing so, she sighed before commenting on Berengar's work.