How far has the United Kingdom Implemented a system of separation of powers.

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“ How far has the United Kingdom Implemented a system of separation of powers”

When examining a concept such as the separation of powers it is first important to examine form were the concept developed and what was the reasoning for the development of such a concept. When this has been completed it will then be important to see how the concept has evolved to see how successful it has been in implementation, this will involve comparing it with a similar model in a different society. Once this has been completed the success of the separation of powers within the United Kingdom  will be clear.

Separation of powers is a principle set out by Montesquieu in the 17th century. He believed that the best safeguard against abuse of power in society was the separation of the executive, legislature and judiciary. The Legislature has the ability to enact laws. The Executive has the ability to see those laws enforced. The Judiciary has the ability to decide the guilt of a party, allowing punishment.

If a single group shared all three powers, they would have unlimited power. They could specify any law, arresting the criminal, and then decide that they are guilty. Through the Separation of Powers, though, no group can have more than one of these powers. Only through the combined use of all three can the government use force. By requiring the consent of all three branches, it increases the likelihood that the government will not abuse its power. The premise behind the Separation of Powers is that when a single person or group has a large amount of power, they can become dangerous to citizens. The Separation of Powers removes the amount of power in any group's hands, making it more difficult to abuse.

The UK does not have a written constitution, its constitution is largely unwritten in that there is no specific document which contains the constitution. Its sources of constitution range from the Magna Carta in the 11th century to the Bill of Rights. But in the United Kingdom, every person is assumed to have these rights unless specifically denied by law. The reason for the existence of a government is for the sole purpose of giving effect to these rights. And if the functioning of government is such that it becomes destructive to these rights, the people have the right to remove the government. The government is the representative of the people and are given the task of upholding their rights. If this separation of powers is not present, there will be abuses of power and the peoples' rights will be violated. Separation of powers is essential in a democracy and the importance of an impartial and independent Judiciary cannot be emphasised enough. This separation of powers concept is now a widely accepted blueprint of modern democracies.

The modern idea of the separation of power is what John Locke wrote in 'Two Treatises of Government’ (1683). That sovereign power, that is, the Government is limited and that the government held its power on trust. The government had a legitimate right to rule and to use the law for the good of the people but that right is conditional and limited by the ultimate power of the people to remove a government that violated its trust. The relationship of the individual and the government in a democracy is one called a social contract. This means that the individual concedes power to the government to rule and the government in turn holds this power as a trustee of the individual's rights and freedoms. Government itself does not have any intrinsic power. Its power is derived solely from the people. It must always be kept in mind that power always remains with the people. The people concede power to the government to rule the country and if the government violates its social contract with the people, the right of the government to exist ceases, power devolves from the government and returns back to the people. The people with this power can thus remove a government and put another in its place.

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Locke proposed that the legislative and executive powers should not be under the control of the same governing body hence the separation of powers. By separating the two powers it means that if the legislative make laws which are not seen to be in the best interests of society by the executive then the executive shall have the power to choose not to enforce it and the law will be prevented.

There are however several flaws in Locke’s ‘Separation of Powers’, which arise out of Locke’s assumption that members of government will respect the wishes of their electorate. The first ...

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