ABSTRACT
It may be too great a temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons who have the power of making laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them.
The doctrine of the Separation of Powers is a political and philosophical model, not a statement of reality, but it has exercised great influence on constitutional thinking and judicial attitudes. In particular, the US constitution is a practical embodiment of the Separation of Powers, with its clear distinction of both function and personnel between executive, legislature and judiciary and system of checks and balances between them. In the UK, it is used extensively by the judiciary in upholding its traditional independence from the government, and, along with the rule of law, forms the philosophical basis for judicial review of executive action.
