Montesquieu's Tripartite System
The term is ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu. Montesquieu described division of political power among a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic and the British constitutional system. Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power. The Roman constitution had three main powers, the monarchy (in the form of its yearly elected executives, the consuls), aristocracy (as represented by the Senate), and democracy (in the form of the popular assemblies, such as the Comitia Centuriata). In the British constitutional system, Montesquieu perceived a separation of powers among the monarch, Parliament, and the courts of law. Subsequent writers have noted that this was misleading, because the United Kingdom had a very closely connected legislature and executive, with further links to the judiciary (though combined with judicial independence).
Montesquieu did specify that "the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not apparent merely". "The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers, independent and unchecked", and also considered it dangerous.
Read more about this topic: Separation Of Powers
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