ABSTRACT
Under any constitution there will be three major institutions: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In order to prevent a concentration of power in one institution – which could give rise to an abuse of power – under most Western liberal constitutions there will be a defined ‘separation of power’ between the three institutions. The idea of separation of powers goes back to ancient Greece, but the idea was later given prominence by the French political philosopher Montesquieu (1689-1755) in his comparative analysis of forms of government L’Esprit des lois (1748).
