Montesquieu Separation Of Powers Analysis

THE SEPARATION OF POWERS- WHY DO WE NEED IT ?

The Separation of Powers has been a key feature of our Democratic system. History has time and again shown us that unlimited power in the hands of one person or one group in most cases means that others are suppressed or their powers have been curtailed. The separation of powers in a democracy is to prevent the abuse of power and to safeguard the freedom of all. The doctrine of separation of powers had envisaged a tripartite system of government. Under this system the state is divided into three branches namely: the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary branch, and each branch are assigned its own set of tasks. These branches are also known as the organs

He based his exposition on the English constitution of the early eighteenth century as he understood it. He followed attempts by Aristotle and Locks in dividing the power of government. Montesquieu has explained that, in order to prevent the abuse of powers, the power of the government should not be left entirely to one body or individual; instead it should be separated or divided in some way. He went further and divided the power of government into three major functions. These were: law-making function (the legislative), Law-applying function (the executive) and law-enforcing function (the judicial). This separation of powers is perceived in the India. One branch of government must not exercise the power of another, for instance executive should not legislate. However, if it is to be found that there was an abuse of power there can be no political

The main object, as per Montesquieu - Doctrine of separation of power is that there should be government of law rather than having willed and whims of the official. Also another most important feature of this doctrine is that there should be independence of judiciary i.e. it should be free from the other organs of the state and if it is so then justice would be delivered properly. The judiciary is the scale through which one can measure the actual development of the state if the judiciary is not independent then it is the first step towards a tyrannical form of government i.e. power is concentrated in a single hand and if it is so then there is a cent percent chance of misuse of power. Hence the Doctrine of separation of power do plays a vital role in the creation of a fair government and also fair and proper justice is dispensed by the judiciary as there is independence of judiciary. Also the importance of the above said doctrine can be traced back to as early as 1789 where the constituent Assembly of France in 1789 was of the view that ―there would be nothing like a Constitution in the country where the doctrine of separation of power is not