Moderating power (Empire of Brazil)

The Moderating power (Portuguese: Poder moderador) in the Empire of Brazil was the fourth state branch instituted by the 1824 Brazilian Constitution alongside the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. It was the most innovative and original item conceived by the 1824 Constitution.

This fourth branch, exclusively exercised by the emperor, served as a "mechanism for absorbing the attrition between the legislative and executive branches"^[1] and in its role as "keeper of the balance", it granted emperor Pedro II throughout his reign "that situation of primacy which he exercised with so much pleasure and peace".^[2]

When analyzing the Moderating Power and the parliamentary government, Tobias Barreto explained the reason for the adoption of both by arguing that:^[3]

"[The] institutions that are not a product of customs, but rather a product of reason, do not withstand the test of experience for a long time and soon break up against the facts".

Galvão Sousa argued that, thanks to the Moderating Power, Brazil was able to "open a valve through which it could escape parliamentary anarchy".^[4] According to historian João Camilo Torres, the reason for the existence of the Moderating Power was due to the fact that "the monarch, due to dynastic continuity, not being part of groups, classes, nor having regional connections, owing his power to parties or economic groups, having electoral promises to keep, not needing to 'think ahead' – as the future of his family will be guaranteed if peace and national grandeur are preserved – since he is not subject to the temptation to avail himself of a quick passage through his government to take personal benefits and advantages at the expense of the nation, leaving the burden to his successors", as his "successor is his own son, and History often charges grandchildren with crimes committed by their grandparents".^[5]