Montesquieu's Theory of the Separation of Powers

Imagine your Principal could also expel you, and then sit as the judge if you appealed that expulsion. You would call that unfair before you could even say why. Montesquieu built an entire theory of government out of exactly that instinct, and it is still the reason constitutions the world over keep their courts separate from their governments.

In two minutes

Montesquieu argued in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) that liberty is destroyed the moment the same person or body holds legislative, executive and judicial power together, because each function then checks nothing and everything is open to abuse.

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