The Separation of Powers Doctrine: An Overview of its Rationale and Application (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (32 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
June 23, 1999 |
| Report Number |
RL30249 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
T.J. Halstead, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
As delineated in the Constitution, the separation of powers doctrine represents the belief that
government consists of three basic and distinct functions, each of which must be exercised by a
different branch of government, so as to avoid the arbitrary exercise of power by any single ruling
body. This concept was directly espoused in the writings of Montesquieu, who declared that "when
the executive and the legislature are united in a single person or in a single body of magistracy, there
is no liberty, because one can fear that the same monarch or senate that makes tyrannical laws will
execute them tyrannically." (1) The Framers of the Constitution shared this
view, with James Madison
stating that "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands,
whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be
pronounced the very definition of tyranny." (2)
To alleviate the dangers inherent in centralized power, the Constitution establishes three
separate branches of government, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. Through this
structure, the Framers sought to create an efficient governmental system which would limit the
power vested in any one branch. Realizing that mere textual separation would be insufficient to
guard against aggrandizement by the respective branches, however, a system of checks and balances
was developed, by which the three arms of government could resist against encroachment. Through
this system, the various branches of government share certain interdependent characteristics which
enable efficient governance, while other functions are staunchly protected, so as to prevent the
accumulation of excessive power by any single branch.
1. Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, 157 (Anne M. Cohler et al.
eds., 1989).
2. The Federalist Papers, No. 48, at 301 (J. Madison) (C. Rossiter ed.
1961).
