Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers

Question 1

The Spirit of the laws was written by the Baron of Montesquieu when?

Answer 1

1748

Question 2

Much of what Montesquieu wrote about the doctrine of the separation of powers in Book XI chapter 6 was taken from…?

Answer 2

Contemporary English writers and from John Locke

Question 3

What new ideas did he contribute to the doctrine?

Answer 3

• he emphasized certain elements that had not previously received such attention
• he accorded the doctrine a more important position than did most previous writers

Question 4

Of the theories of government, the doctrine of the separation of powers has, in modern times, been…?

Answer 4

the most significant, both intellectually and in terms of its influence upon institutional structures

Question 5

What are the 2 great pillars of Western political thought in support of systems of “constitutional” government?

Answer 5

• representative government

- the doctrine of the separation of powers

Question 6

The political liberty of which Montesquieu spoke is directly promoted by?

Answer 6

apportioning power among political actors in a way that minimizes opportunities for those actors to determine conclusively the reach of their own powers

Question 7

Montesquieu’s constitution of liberty is…?

Answer 7

the constitution that most plausibly establishes the rule of law

Question 8

How did Britain achieve this constitution of liberty?

Answer 8

by assigning three fundamentally different governmental activities to different actors

Question 9

Montesquieu’s analysis was informed by…?

Answer 9

the 18th century orthodoxy that no sovereign power could viably be divided

Question 10

Liberty from the the arbitrary exercise of power would be served by?

Answer 10

apportioning power among multiple actors

Question 11

This apportioning of power was only sustainable among…?

Answer 11

essentialist lines

Question 12

Whats was the protective qualification to a essentialist separation ?

Answer 12

the extent to which actors participated in the exercise of more than one kind of power

Question 13

What were Montesquieu’s 3 types of government?

Answer 13

Republican
Monarchical
Despotic

Question 14

In republican governments…?

Answer 14

People are possessed of the supreme power

Question 15

In a Monarchy…?

Answer 15

a single person governs by fixed and established laws

Question 16

in a Despotic government…?

Answer 16

a single person directs everything by his own will and impulse

Question 17

Republican government can be subdivided into 2 categories, …?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

In a despotic government there is no…?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

In an aristocracy…?

Answer 19

the legislative and executive authority are in the same hands

Question 20

“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person…”

Answer 20

“…there can be no liberty”

Question 21

“Again, there is no liberty…”

Answer 21

“…if the judiciary power not be separated from the legislative and executive”

Question 22

The representative body ought not to exercise the executive function, because…?

Answer 22

it is not suited to it

Question 23

Montesquieu believed that the various functions of government should be…?

Answer 23

entrusted to distinct agencies of government, which would be largely independent of each other in the exercise of these functions

Question 24

The executive officer ought to have?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

The legislature should not…?

Answer 25

be able to judge the person, or conduct of the person, who executes the law

Question 26

Montesquieu founded his republic on?

Answer 26

Liberty

Question 27

Political liberty is there only when?

Answer 27

there is no abuse of power

Question 28

Every man invested with power…?

Answer 28

is apt to abuse it

Question 29

To prevent the abuse of power, it is necessary that

Answer 29

by the very disposition of things power should be a check to power

Question 30

The means of preserving liberty is?

Answer 30

the structure of government

Question 31

What were Montesquieu’s 3 types of powers of government

Answer 31

• the legislative
• the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations
• the executive in regard to things that dependent on the civil laws

Question 32

Of his 3 types of power which had the power to enact laws?

Answer 32

the legislative

Question 33

Which type of power was basically a foreign relations power?

Answer 33

the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations

Question 34

Which type of power was to punish crimes and resolve disputes that arise between individuals?

Answer 34

the executive in regard to things dependent on the civil laws

Called the Judiciary power

Question 35

Political liberty demands…?

Answer 35

the separation of the three powers of government so that they rest in different hands

Question 36

if any two powers or all are combined…?

Answer 36

power will be too much concentrated and insufficiently checked

Question 37

The judicial power should be given…?

Answer 37

ad hoc juries composed of the defendant’s peers, with judgments being determined as precisely as possible by written law

Question 38

The legislative power should be divided, with its main part going to…?

Answer 38

duly elected representatives of the whole people and the other part going to a distinguished body of nobles

Question 39

The executive power should be…?

Answer 39

a monarch whose check on the legislature would consist of a veto power

Question 40

While the executive’s ministers could be examined and punished by the legislature…?

Answer 40

he himself could not be legally removed

Question 41

What type of laws are necessary to ensure liberty?

Answer 41

laws with liberty as their direct objective

Question 42

What are Montesquieu’s 4 kinds of crimes?

Answer 42

those against

• religion
• morals
• tranquility
• security

Question 43

The net result of his analysis was?

Answer 43

• to make it impossible in a free state to prosecute sacrilege by legal means
• make it impossible to punish moral turpitude
• to place limitations on dangerous charge of treason

Question 44

For Montesquieu the best government will?

Answer 44

have a popular foundation - which guarantees its concern for the common good
a strong individualism - with each citizen being left alone to live as he pleases

Question 45

Religion and one’s choice of his way of life are?

Answer 45

private matters

Question 46

For Montesquieu liberty is not only of actions and thoughts but also of…?

Answer 46

passions

Question 47

The English system derives benefits for all from…?

Answer 47

the vices it allows and encourages

Question 48

John Adams’ Thoughts in Government suggest that the separation of powers would guard against a broad spectrum of ills, they are?

Answer 48

• passionate partiality
• absurd judgments
• avaricious and ambitious self-serving behavior by governors
• inefficient performance of functions