The Relationship Between the Three Branches of Government

'The House of Lords is now more effective than the House of Commons in checking government power'. Discuss

Under the British constitution, parliament is sovereign. This means, amongst other things, that Parliament has a monopoly on making and amending laws. The British constitution, and the three functions of government which operate it often falls short of creating a definitive separation. Separation of powers refers to the idea that the major institutions of government should function independent of each other, in a utopian world there should aim to be a balance between the Crown and Parliament. In practice however, separation between the executive and legislature is near enough non-existent, an example being that government is made up almost entirely of MPs. Contrast this with the USA where no member of Obama’s government is equally a member of congress. However, the USA does have a codified constitution, a constitution written to delegate a clear separation of power. As we are well aware the UK doesn’t have such a constitution, the rules that

Just by listening to the people around me I can tell that the government has a lot of pros and cons. It is easy to become biased and corrupted so I think having different parts of the government keeps everything together. It keeps the power at an even level keeping one person from having too much power. I am sure that having three different powers may cause tension in

Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law are both concepts that are key to shaping the British constitution, however there is ambiguity as to which concept is the heart of the UK’s constitutional arrangement in the recent years.

Separation of Powers is when the power of each branch of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) is separate and distinct. This keeps any one branch from becoming too powerful. Each branch of government has its own responsibilities. The Executive Branch consists of the President, Vice-President, and the Cabinet. Their job is to enforce the law. The Legislative Branch is Congress, which is the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Legislative Branch’s job is to make laws. Last, but not least, is the Judicial Branch. Its job is to make sure that all laws are fair. Document B says, “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 be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” Separation of Powers guards against tyranny because it splits into three and keeps each branch of government

(doc b) This is called the Separation of Powers. The separation of power guards against tyranny. There are 3 separate departments of power, legislative, judicial, and executive. (doc b) Legislative makes the laws, judicial makes sure that laws are constitutional, and the executive which includes the president, enforces the laws. If you separate these powers then you guard against tyranny. (doc

”Liberty required that the three great department of power should be separate and distinct.” The Legislative, Executive,and Judiciary are the three powers of department. By separating the powers provides a safeguard by ensuring all the government powers do not fall into the hands of a group or a single person. Each power has their own rules, running style, and different types of power to rule. Therefore Separating the Powers provides a stable society and country.

The Separation of powers on its own could not prevent tyranny. Although, the branches of power we distinct and unique, they “[Were not to be] so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” The

Key difference between presidents and prime ministers is the relationship between the branches of government (Heffernan, 2005:54) – is there a distinct separate executive branch from the legislature

The separation of powers doctrine states that each arm of the government should be separate from each other and not exercise the powers or functions of the others.2 Though the Australian government does not strictly comply in the separation of powers because the

The Division and Separation of power are essential to keep our societies rulers to have a restriction on their powers. The importance of each on the Australian domestic law especially in relation to the rule of law, and protecting individual rights, and the legal system.

The role that the legislative branch generally plays is producing laws. The first step in the legislative process is introducing a bill to Congress. A bill is an idea for a law that is not passed. Anyone can write a bill, but only Congress can introduce it to legislation. Some of the important bills are commonly introduced at the request of the President. Throughout the process, the original bill can go through dire changes. The bill has to pass through everyone in the Congress and then the President. The President has the final decision of whether passing the law or vetoing it. If a president vetoes a law, he is turning down or dismissing the law. After it has gone through the President, unless the President vetoes the bill, the bill is now an actual law.

“Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute” (Lord Hope). Discuss with reference to at least three challenges to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Parliamentary sovereignty is the concept that Parliament has the power to repeal, amend or create any law it wishes and therefore no body in the UK can challenge its legal validity. There are many people who would argue that this is a key principle to the UK Constitution, on the other hand, there are those who strongly believe that this idea is one of the past, and that the idea of the UK Parliament being sovereign is false. One of these people is Lord Hope, who said “Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute”. During the last 50 years there have been a variety of developments that have proved to be a challenge for the legitimacy of parliamentary sovereignty, and the ones which will be examined in this essay are: the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament; The United Kingdom’s entry into the European Union in 1973; and finally the power of judicial review. Starting with the devolution of powers, these challenges will all be evaluated when discussing whether or not the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty applies to the United Kingdom. Westminster’s sovereignty has been gradually diminishing over time as varying amounts of power have been devolved to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. In this essay, the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament will be

Some judges in their obiter dicta have declared their inclination to disregard the Parliament’s legislative objectives, and therefore limit parliamentary sovereignty if the rule of law is vulnerable or if the circumstances demand “a principle established on a different hypothesis of constitutionalism” . They have also suggested that, while the British Constitution is dominated by parliamentary sovereignty, “The rule of law enforced by the courts is the ultimate controlling factor on which our constitution is based” . This represents a possibility of stretching the dominance of the rule of law in constitutional law so that it becomes more powerful than parliamentary sovereignty in the British Constitution .

When the Constitution was written, the ultimate goal of the Founding Fathers was to prevent tyranny and oppressive government. In order to achieve this remarkable goal, the Founders made the decision to adopt the concept of Separation of Powers. In the Constitution, Separation of Powers is essentially the distribution of power among the three government branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Despite how is has changed and grown, the concept of Separation of Powers continues to be just as important as it was when the Founders wrote the Constitution because of its raised relevance due to current issues.