Separation of Powers

• Separation of powers:


  Montesquieu’s theory on how a democracy should be run.
• ·         Legislature -


  These are the law makers. In the UK this is Parliament.  Made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch. All laws put forward by the government have to be passed through both Houses to become law.
• • ·         Executive


  They administer the law and put forward the new laws.  In the UK this is the Government of the day and their agents which include the police and civil servants.
• Judiciary -


  Judges who decide cases and apply the law.
• The High Court decides Judicial Review cases where actions of the executive are often challenged (Miller v PM)
• Why do we have the separation of powers:

  •         To ensure that no one body is in total control and to allow for a democratic society the 3 main sources of power (legislature, executive and judiciary) are kept separate.
  •         The doctrine of the separation of powers states that the judiciary must be independent from the other 2 arms of the state to ensure fair and impartial justice is delivered and that no one person/body of people hold all the power in society.
• Judicial Review


  A procedure that allows anyone who has been affected by a decision or failure to act by a public authority to apply to the courts to rule whether its actions are lawful
• Gina Miller brought 2 cases against the executive in the run up to the Brexit vote
• She was successful in both cases
• Gina Miller: 'The independent courts ‘act as a defence against potential abuses by the executive’'
• She won both cases in the High Court and UKSC
• The doctrine


  Provides for a system of checks and balances
• Judges are required to ignore any pressure from the legislature, the executive, other outside pressure and their own prejudices