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Montesquieu Contribution to the Constitution
Montesquieu’s doctrine of Separation of Powers
Baron de Montesquieu on separation of power
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Recommended: Montesquieu Contribution to the Constitution
WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT
SUBMITTED BY;- ANUM ZARA SUBMITTED TO:- MISS TABITA
SUBMITTED ON:- 8 DECEMBER 2015
MAJOR;-
POLITICAL SCIENCE
SEMESTER;-
5
MONTEQUIEU THEORY ON SEPERATION OF POWER
Introduction:-
Montesquieu was a French lawyer, man of letters and political philosopher. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of power. Montesquieu was not the first one to develop the theory of separation of power but he only analyzed the function of government. The government consists of three branches having for their functions.
1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judiciary Montesquieu saw two types of governmental power
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Complete Separation is not possible:
The government is a single entity. Its three organs can never be completely separated. The legislative, executive and judicial functions are interdependent and inter-related functions and hence cannot be fully separated.
2. Complete Separation is not desirable:
Complete separation of three organs of government is neither possible nor desirable. It is not desirable because without among mutual coordination these cannot carry out its functions effectively and efficiently. Complete separation of powers can seriously limit the unity and co-ordination needed by the three
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Unhistorical:
The theory of Separation of Powers is unhistorical since it has never been operative in England. While formulating and advocating this theory, Montesquieu advocated that it was at work in England. Under the British parliamentary system of government, there was and continues to be a close relationship between the British Parliament and the Cabinet. Even there is no separation of judiciary from legislature in so far the British House of Lords acts as the highest court of appeals. The British Constitution has never been based on the theory separation of powers.
5. The three Organs of Government are not equal:
The Theory of Separation of Powers wrongly assumes the equality of all the three organs of the government. The legislature of the state is always regarded as the primary organ of government. The work of the government begins by law-making. However, in actual practice the executive acts the most powerful organ of the government. The judiciary is the weakest of the three organs, yet it is always held in high esteem by the people. Hence the three organs are neither equal nor equally respected.
Advantages:-
Separation of power promotes efficiency in administration and it safeguards the liberty of
The separation of powers separates the central government into three branches. The three branches are the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. All of the different branches have power over specific things. This guards against tyranny because it doesn’t allow any of the branches to do whatever they want. In Doc B, it says that the great departments of power should be separate and distinct. This helps because if they all had the same power, they would have control over anything they wanted to.
The same things go to the three branches of government; they don't have too much power because of checks and balances. So each branch has its own powers split evenly. This is another reason why separation of powers protect America from tyranny. Checks and balances help protect America from tyranny. Checks and balances protect America because each branch can cancel out one another.
In conclusion this is why tyranny and federalism, separation of power, checks and balances and big and small states all mean that they are important to know also the branches are a big part especially in the separation of
Separation of powers means what it says. Power id distributed among the three branches of government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. In Document B of the DBQ Packet, James Madison quotes, “’the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands… may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny…. (L)iberty requires that the three great departments should be separate and distinct.’” In other words, if one person or group owns too much power in a government, then they are considered a tyrant, whether the person (or group) who gained the power was elected into power, born into it, or declared themselves ruler. If the government was not divided into three branches and was only a single department, then too much power would be granted to that government, defying Madison’s ideals of a tyranny-free country. With the government split into different departments, each branch owns its own set of powers. The legislative branch creates laws, the executive branch administers the laws, and the judicial branch interprets laws. Separation of powers guards against tyranny because it helps prevent the development of a branch of government that may ratify, carry out, and portray laws as they wish. Power is distributed among branches ensuring that all offices play a role in the United States’
The separation of powers keeps any one branch from gaining too much power by creating 3 separate, distinct branches power can be shared equally among. According to Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”(Document B) In other words, to avoid tyranny and achieve liberty, the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) must be separate and diverse. The purpose of a separation of powers is to divide the powers of the government so there is not only one central source of power. The three branches must be as distinct as possible to avoid falling into the hands of one individual leader. There are also checks and balances between these three branches. Checks and balances are a system of each branch monitoring an...
Montesquieu states “government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another”. From this doctrine American Political Philosophers derived the separation of powers into the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches. Montesquieu’s presentation of the branches of government were adopted into American political documents upon their creation. The idea that there wasn’t one governing body, but three was unheard of. Most occupants of the new “America” came from England a country ruled by a King. Therefore making it a Monarchy where a single family is seen as divine and ordained by God to be the ruler over that country. The power is passed down generation to generation and each firstborn son is then placed in power after his father. So, the idea of having a government that does not just depend on one family, but many different persons to run it was not a common philosophy. But, the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights thought that this would be a new and honorable way to run their fledgling country. So thus, the Democratic Republic of the United States was born. Designating the three branches with their own roles in society guaranteed that no one branch would have more power that the others, but it would just have different powers. The three branches are like a triangle. They balance eachother out and support each
Our Constitution establishes three branches of government and defines their very existence. The reason for the three branches is to separate the powers. The phrase “separation of powers” isn’t in the constitution, but it best explains the intention of the Constitution. It is essential that the assignment of lawmaking, enforcing and interpreting be spread out among the separated powers to ensure that all power doesn’t fall into the lap of one group, or even a power-hungry individual. The powers of which I’m speaking that were intentionally separated by way of the Constitution are the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and finally, the Judicial Branch.
Dividing power helps to check its growth in any one direction, but power cannot be divided absolutely equally. In the republican form of government, the legislative branch tends to be the most powerful. That is why the framers divided the Congress into two branches, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and provided for a different method of election in each branch. Further safeguards against legislative tyranny may be neces...
...o creates laws and the judicial system still reviews them. Montesquieu's idea of separation of power was to achieve the proper amount of equality, justice, and virtue for the citizens in a tripartite system of government. It is evident that the Framers of the United States Constitution drew inspiration from the works of this eighteenth-century philosophe, in which his greatest contribution led to the creation of a democratic republic. The ideas of justice and virtue, which is the main principle in any republic, depends on its citizens that they put their country's interest ahead of themselves for the well-being of the state. This remains true and a prominent theme in the US Constitution and its amendments, which provide a base rule and guidelines for all to abide by, thereby granting all of its citizens the peace of mind necessarily for justice to exists.
- this may be achieved through a parliamentary system of government or a constitutional monarchy of through the separation of governmental powers into agencies such as executive, legislative and judiciary, the classical example being the U.S, government
Liberal democratic society emphasises a need for separation of power/ three branches/ oversight, to prevent a large concentration of power and uphold liberally democratic values. May be useful to make use of and quote Montesquieu’s separation of powers system, the “tripartite” system, from “In the Spirit of the Laws” (1748):
On the other hand, the democracy powers are divided into three independent branches of government; executive, legislative, and judicial. The leaders of the executive and legislative branches, the president, vice president and Senate, are decided by direct vote of the electorate. The judges in the judicial branch are sele...
Separation of powers is the separation of branches under the constitution by the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. Federalism is a government system that includes the national government, which shares sovereign powers with fifty state governments.
This exercises the idea of independence within ‘different functions of government’; it is represented by the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Separating the three prevents a dangerous occurrence where power is entirely centralized in one group.... ... middle of paper ... ... Carl F. Stychin and Linda Mulcahy, Legal Methods and Systems, (4th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2010).
One of the biggest threats to a thriving country is a tyrannical government. To prevent this, the Founders declared that the power of the government must be separated. This principle, the Separation of Powers, states that, to prevent tyranny, one governmental branch cannot have supremacy over the country. The power must be divided among three branches. These are the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The Separation of Powers is of equal importance now as when the Constitution was written because it prevents tyranny.