How does a society through its government protect political liberty? For Charles - Louis de Secondat, Baron de montesquieu (1689-1755) the answer lay with dividing its powers to prevent a concentration of authority that would lead to encroachments on freedom. in his treatise. defence de l'Esprit des lois (The Spirit of Laws, 1748), Montesquieu coined the phrase "separation of powers" to describe a political system where in three different government branches- the legislative, the judicial and the executive- each had their own function. The legislative branch creates laws and provides for funding, the executive implements the government's policies and the judicial branch presides over conflicts. Montesquieu believed that each should have the ability to restrain the other.
A french nobleman and lawyer, Montesquieu carefully examined bith historical and contemporary governments, looking at how they operated, what they lacked and what they were able to produce. Today there is no system of democracy that exists without some type of separation of powers. While governments around the world separate powers in different manners and have various systems of checks and balances to restrain each branch, the notion that governmental authority must be split to ensure personal liberty and safety is a foundational one in modern political theory. The separation of powers became a cornerstone principle in the creation of the United States of America and although not all the states use the three-branch system, the idea is almost universally present in modern political structures.
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