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Exam of 6 pages for the course Public Law at ULaw (public law exam)
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4llaw004wSection A
1)"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands,
whether of one, a few, or many... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
Madison J, Federalist Paper (No.47), 30 January 1788 (Signet Classics 2013).
James Madison’s statement may be incorrect in many different ways as there is various ways that
the governments and parliaments use in order to limit their powers and to make sure there is no
sense of tyranny and dictatorship used within the UK. The main element of this would be having the
separation of powers , which will be discussed in detailed down below .
Separation of powers is a doctrine and a theory of power distribution between three main branches
of state – Legislature, Executive, Judiciary. Its main purpose and aim is to avoid any sense of
dictatorship and to ensure no one abuses their power .The separation of powers also protect
individual liberty, and allows for an efficient government. The three main branches are :
Executive has the power to govern by creating policy, this is given to the parliament to make all the
decisions within the UK , includes governors/government , prime ministers and the cabinet.
Legislature has the power to enact government policy into statute and to fulfil all the day to day
activities , these would include the police, ministers and etc, who supervise and enforce the law .
Judiciary has the power to apply and enforce statute, as well as supervise the actions of the
executive and ensuring that the rule of law is being abided . 1
There has also been a huge History of the evaluation of the rule of law such as:
Magna Carta 1215 – Limits the powers of the Monarch’s (rule by and under ‘law’) and ensures
everyone is equal .
Petition of Right 1628 – reasserting Monarch’s powers to that provided by and under ‘law’ made by
Parliament and makes sure that if there’s a breach of law then there will be a punishment for it .
Bill of Rights 1689 – final break in separation of powers between Monarch and Parliament,
reassertion of Rule of Law under judicial watch. Established the doctrine of Separation of Powers
and set the stage for its refinement since 2.
These are some of the features that prevent anyone or the parliament abusing their powers and
having some sort of dictatorship or tyranny ,some of the above rules of law could also be applied in
the modern day in the UK. As shown by ‘Jennings’ there’s also the use of checks and balance which
limit the power of the government and ensures that no one disobeys the law and becomes powerful
as a result .This is due to having branches that ‘check’ to see if the ‘balance’ of power is equal
amongst everyone .
There’s also the idea of devolution which separates the power of the executive and the legislative ,
so different divides have a level of power and authority
1
https://www.supremecourt.uk/docs/separation-of-powers-post-visit-worksheets-for-students.pdf
2
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/ak_separation_of_powers_philfounds_book.pdf
, There is also the argument of having a strict separation of powers or a more of a fused and partial
serration of powers among the government . separation of powers can also be divided further into :
– Personnel taken from Legislature
– Institutional separation includes the core of Government and the Cabinet, but Executive and
Legislature overlap
– Functional separation - Executive governs the country and introduces laws and implements
any other legislation.
However on the other hand, the house of commons contains a set amount of peers that are some of
the people who play fundamental roles in decision making and law making , this would be a clear
sense of biasness and would be leaning towards tyranny and the government abusing their powers
in doing so .this may also mean that they are responsible for controlling legislation.
One act that introduced was the Constitutional Reform Act 20053 , this focuses on clearer
separation of Judiciary from other branches of the government , it also adds in a sense of judicial
independence and as a result the Lord Chancellor is no longer involved in all three branches of State,
but remains involved in Executive and Legislature. This once again shows that there is no sense of
oppression from the government. Prior to 2005 when the act was introduced , the head of judiciary
in England was a member of the cabinet , as well as the head speaker at the house of lords being
lord chancellor . A clear overlap is shown here , which may also have had led to biasness and a clear
abuse in power by parliament and a sense of tyranny.
In conclusion , I feel the UK parliament and the government limits its powers to the best to their
ability and by having the check/balance method it reduces any signs of tyranny and dictatorship
from their side .This is one of the most important features of having a fair and just government as
everyone knows their role and level of authority, with the addition of delegation and devolution ,
the idea of tyranny has been even more reduced and a sense of fairness is now present as a result of
this .However this was certainly not the case before the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 , because
prior to this the lord chancellor and other members are no longer involved in all three branches of
the government . This has now come to an end , and the separation of power had led to authority
being spread out and power being distributed equally along the three branches of
state .Moreover ,The Devolution Acts of 1998 gave three of the four nations a variety of devolved
powers – some executive (government) powers, some legislative (parliamentary) powers which the
UK judiciary will apply and enforce. Authority and power in the uk is distributed across three
branches and there is no sense of tyranny .
3
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/4/contents
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