Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers Flashcards
(48 cards)
The Spirit of the laws was written by the Baron of Montesquieu when?
1748
Much of what Montesquieu wrote about the doctrine of the separation of powers in Book XI chapter 6 was taken from…?
Contemporary English writers and from John Locke
What new ideas did he contribute to the doctrine?
- he emphasized certain elements that had not previously received such attention
- he accorded the doctrine a more important position than did most previous writers
Of the theories of government, the doctrine of the separation of powers has, in modern times, been…?
the most significant, both intellectually and in terms of its influence upon institutional structures
What are the 2 great pillars of Western political thought in support of systems of “constitutional” government?
- representative government
- the doctrine of the separation of powers
The political liberty of which Montesquieu spoke is directly promoted by?
apportioning power among political actors in a way that minimizes opportunities for those actors to determine conclusively the reach of their own powers
Montesquieu’s constitution of liberty is…?
the constitution that most plausibly establishes the rule of law
How did Britain achieve this constitution of liberty?
by assigning three fundamentally different governmental activities to different actors
Montesquieu’s analysis was informed by…?
the 18th century orthodoxy that no sovereign power could viably be divided
Liberty from the the arbitrary exercise of power would be served by?
apportioning power among multiple actors
This apportioning of power was only sustainable among…?
essentialist lines
Whats was the protective qualification to a essentialist separation ?
the extent to which actors participated in the exercise of more than one kind of power
What were Montesquieu’s 3 types of government?
Republican
Monarchical
Despotic
In republican governments…?
People are possessed of the supreme power
In a Monarchy…?
a single person governs by fixed and established laws
in a Despotic government…?
a single person directs everything by his own will and impulse
Republican government can be subdivided into 2 categories, …?
Aristocracy - a state in which the supreme power is in the hands of a part of the people
Democracy - where supreme power is in the body of the people
In a despotic government there is no…?
check to the power of the ruler and no limitations to safeguard the individual. The idea of a separation of powers in any form is foreign
In an aristocracy…?
the legislative and executive authority are in the same hands
“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person…”
“…there can be no liberty”
“Again, there is no liberty…”
“…if the judiciary power not be separated from the legislative and executive”
The representative body ought not to exercise the executive function, because…?
it is not suited to it
Montesquieu believed that the various functions of government should be…?
entrusted to distinct agencies of government, which would be largely independent of each other in the exercise of these functions
The executive officer ought to have?
a share in the legislative power by a veto over legislation, but he ought not to have the power to enter positively into the making of legislation
