Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws was an important contribution to political theory, particularly in its attempt to adapt political institutions to the needs of each particular culture. Montesquieu was critical of an absolute monarchy in which a single sovereign exercised all power. Instead, he argued for a separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers. This concept became a major influence on later democratic political systems, notably the US Constitution. This system would prevent any single person or institution from exercising too much power and would provide a check on abuses.
In particular, Montesquieu admired the English system. England had a monarch as the head of government, but the monarch's rule was not absolute. Legislative authority was vested in a Partliament, and the judiciary was independent as well. Such a system, Montesquieu believed, was best suited to produce well-ordered liberty as an alternative to either despotism or the unchecked rule of the people.
In Montesquieu’s opinion, the best government is a mixed one, with layers that can counterbalance one another. He relates most of his ideas to the British Parliament and governmental system, of which he is a big fan. The executive and legislative powers are both taken control of by opposing parties, and in this way, they keep one another in check while accomplishing important things.
According to Montesquieu, the executive branch should execute laws and steer the direction of the country. As such, it should be filled with nobility and leaders—typically monarchy, since his viewpoint reflects the British system of rule. The legislative branch, on the other hand, should be a representation of the people at large and should act to legislate their will. Legislators would be elected officials who have the citizens' best interests at heart and can write laws that will help the people, which will be eventually executed by the royalty among the executive branch.
Montesquieu loved the idea of a mixed government that included both monarchy and legislature. He believed that the executive powers should rest with the monarch, but that the legislative branch would be a representative branch that carried the beliefs of the people at large.
In order to balance out the powers of monarchy and nobility against the people at large, the executive branch and the legislative branch would be almost opposing forces in order to keep one another in check. In that way, the representative legislative branch would carry out the will of the people who elected them, and would write laws and create a living constitution. The executive branch would consist of nobility who carry out the laws and steer the country overall.
Montesquieu argued for a mixed, or moderate government in which the excesses of the three types of government--government by the people, by the aristocracy, and by a monarch--might be moderated. Putting it as simply as possible (The Spirit of the Laws is a very complex book, with many contradictions) Montesquieu generally thought that legislative branch ought to reflect the will of the people, and be controlled by their representatives. He deeply admired the English "mixed" constitution, under which Parliament also included nobility in the House of Lords, but the important thing was that the body represented the will of the people, particularly property owners. As for the executive, Montesquieu generally understood executive power as exercised by a monarch. Again, he deeply admired the British constitution, in which the king held powers that were limited in practice by his council and by Parliament. The crucial point for Montesquieu was that a mixed government would restrain the abuses that could occur under different types of "pure" government--democracy, aristocracy, and despotic monarchies.
https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/montesquieu-and-the-separation-of-powers
https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws
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