The

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

() was the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of the Parliament of Portugal during the periods of validity of the Constitution of 1838 (1838-1842) and of the Constitution of 1911 (1911-1933).

First Senate (1838–1842)

The Chamber of Senators (''Câmara dos Senadores'') or Senate was the upper house of the ''

Cortes Gerais The Cortes Gerais ( pre-1911 spelling: Cortes Geraes,https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:574055/PDF/ meaning ''General Courts'' in Portuguese) were the parliament of the Kingdom of Portugal during the Constitutional Monarchy ...

'' - the legislature of the Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy -, during the period in which the Constitution of 1838 was in force. It replaced the previous Chamber of the Peers, which was the upper house during the period of the

Constitutional Charter of 1826 The Charter of 1826 or ''Carta Constitucional'', often simply referred to as the ''Carta'', was the second constitution in Portuguese history. It was given to the country in 1826 by King Dom Pedro IV. The constitution remained in force, with th ...

. When the Constitutional Charter was restored in 1842, the Chamber of Peers was also restored and the Senate disbanded.

Second Senate (1911–1933)

The Senate of the Republic (''Senado da República'') was the upper house of the Congress of the Republic, the legislature of the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic (; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the History of Portugal (1834-1910), period of constitutional monarchy ma ...

. The Senate was elected for a six-year term, but the terms of senators of the Republic were staggered to allow elections every three years (alongside elections to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

). The first senate was elected by the National Constituent Assembly, but later senates were elected by the people. Initially, the Senate included senators representing Nationwide party lists and other senators representing

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

and

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

. During the erstwhile "New Republic" of

Sidónio Pais Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais (1 May 1872 – 14 December 1918) nicknamed "the President-King" (), was the 4th president of Portugal, serving in 1918. A Portuguese people, Portuguese politician, Officer (armed forces), militar ...

in 1918, additional senators represented special interests: agriculture, industry, commerce, public services, "liberal professions", arts and sciences. Although the Chamber of Deputies was the dominant house of the Congress, the Senate had the power of approving or rejecting nominations of colonial governors and high commissioners.

Other historic uses in Portugal

The term "senate" was used, in the past, as an alternative designation of the municipal government bodies of some main cities of Portugal and of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

, otherwise known as '' câmaras'' (chambers, also translated as "municipal councils"). In 1832, the designation of all municipal councils was standardized as ''câmara municipal'' (municipal chamber). A notable exception was the

Municipal Council of Macau A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, which was able to maintain its traditional title ''Leal Senado'' (Loyal Senate), bestowed to it in 1810, until the

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

to Chinese administration in 1999. During the 1913-1936 period, a number of councillors of each ''câmara municipal'' formed an executive commission which constituted the executive body of the municipality, with the plenary of the councillors constituting a

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Po ...

occasionally referred to as "municipal senate".

References

Defunct upper houses Government of Portugal First Portuguese Republic 1838 establishments in Europe 1842 disestablishments in Europe 1911 establishments in Portugal 1933 disestablishments in Portugal {{Portugal-poli-stub