Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Science and Technology University

Gopalganj-8100

Assignment on
Injunction and Separation of Power

Course Title : Administrative Law and Ethics

Course No : PAD362
Submitted By Submitted To

Name : Ashfakul Alam Md. Hashem Reza

Student ID: 17PAD046 Assistant Professor,

3rd Year 2nd Semester Department of Public

Administration
Department of Public
Administration BSMRSTU

Session: 2017-2018

BSMRSTU

Date of Submission: 05-07-2021

 Separation of Power

Introduction
The separation of power is one of the key features of democracy. It is widely accepted that for a
political system to be stable, the holders of power need to be balanced off each other. To protect
the rights of citizens and to develop a country and the lifestyle of the citizens and ensure citizens
freedom, absolute monarchy is not the answer. In the monarchy system, people with power can
abuse their power without accountability. The better alternative suggestion for this is separation
of power. The main purpose of Separation of Power system is therefore to prevent the abuse of
power and ensure democracy.

Meaning:
The concept of separation of powers refers to a system of government in which the powers are
divided among multiple branches of the government, each branch controlling different facet of
government. The branches are-
1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judiciary
According to Montesquieu the doctrine of separation of power means one person should not
exercise the power of all the three branches. The principle of separation of powers deals with the
mutual relations among the three organs of the government, namely-
1. Legislature: The legislature is also known as parliament. This is where laws are debated
and pass.
2. Executive: The Executives formulates policies, administers and implements the laws of
the legislature and enforces the decisions of the judiciary.
3. Judiciary: The judiciary interprets and apples the law and contrast to the other two
branches which are made up of political party representatives. The judiciary has to be
impartial and non-political.

Principle of Separation of Power:

According to the theory of Separation of Powers, the main principals of Separation of Powers are
given below-
1. Same person should not form part of more than one of the three organs of the
government. For example: The Minister should not sit in the Parliament.
 2. One organ of the government should not interfere with any other organ of the
government. For example: Judiciary should be independent of the Executive.
3. One organ should not exercise the functions of another organ. For example: The Minister
should not have legislative powers.

Origin:
Separation of Power Monarchy came to the fore as a better alternative. There are three main
exponents of Separation of Power-
1. Aristotle: This doctrine was first originated by Aristotle in 17 century.
2. John Locke: He developed and defined the principles of Separation of Powers.
3. Montesquieu: He propounded this theory. He told how this doctrine should be exist and
what the main functions will be.

Montesquieu’s Doctrine:
It was Montesquieu who for the first time formulated this doctrine systematically, scientifically
and clearly in his book ‘Esprit des Lois (the Spirit of the Laws)’, published in 1748. According
to him, “ When the legislature and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the
same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty, because apprehension may arise, lest the same
monarch of senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Again,
there is no liberty if the judicial power be not separated from the legislative and the executive.
Where it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to
arbitrary control, for the judge would be then the legislator. Where it joined to the executive
power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression. There would be an end of
everything, were the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to
exercise those powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public resolutions and of
trying the causes of individuals”

Criticism
Though, theoretically, the doctrine of Separation of Powers was very sound, there are also some
defects found when it is being applied in real life situations. Such as-
1. The theory is criticized on the ground that the government is an organic unity and
absolute demarcation of powers is impossible.
2. The government would suffer from deadlocks and delays, from jerks and jolts.
3. The government based on theory of separation of powers would lack unity, harmony and
efficiency.
4. The fundamental object behind Montesquieu’s doctrine was liberty and freedom of an
individual, but that cannot be achieved by mechanical division of functions and powers.
 5. The modern state is a welfare State and it has to solve many complex socio-economic
problems and in this state of affairs also, it is not possible to stick to this doctrine.
6. It is impossible to take certain actions if this doctrine is accepted in it’s entirely. This, if
the legislature can only legislate, then it cannot punish anyone committing a breach of its
privilege nor can it delegate any legislative function even though it does not know the
details of the subject-matter of the legislation and executive authority has adopted by
them for the disposal of cases.

Conclusion:
Though there are some criticism, still it is a very good answer for democracy. The division of
power between the legislature, executive and judiciary provides a vital system of checks and
balances. This is to prevent the abuse of power by government officials. The separation of
powers ensure the three branches of government control one another and accountable to each
other. This system further limits the power of each individual branch so that state power is
secured and democracy is preserved.