Constitutional history -- United States -- Sources; Constitutional law -- United States
If we look into the constitutions of the several States, we find that,
notwithstanding the emphatical and, in some instances, the unqualified
terms in which this axiom has been laid down, there is not a single
instance in which the several departments of power have been kept
absolutely separate and distinct. New Hampshire, whose constitution was
the last formed, seems to have been fully aware of the impossibility
and inexpediency of avoiding any mixture whatever of these departments,
and has qualified the doctrine by declaring “that the legislative,
executive, and judiciary powers ought to be kept as separate from, and
independent of, each other AS THE NATURE OF A FREE GOVERNMENT WILL
ADMIT; OR AS IS CONSISTENT WITH THAT CHAIN OF CONNECTION THAT BINDS THE
WHOLE FABRIC OF THE CONSTITUTION IN ONE INDISSOLUBLE BOND OF UNITY AND
AMITY. “ Her constitution accordingly mixes these departments in
several respects. The Senate, which is a branch of the legislative
department, is also a judicial tribunal for the trial of impeachments.
The President, who is the head of the executive department, is the
presiding member also of the Senate; and, besides an equal vote in all
cases, has a casting vote in case of a tie. The executive head is
himself eventually elective every year by the legislative department,
and his council is every year chosen by and from the members of the
same department. Several of the officers of state are also appointed by
the legislature. And the members of the judiciary department are
appointed by the executive department. The constitution of
Massachusetts has observed a sufficient though less pointed caution, in
expressing this fundamental article of liberty. It declares “that the
legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial
powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the
legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall
never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them.
“ This declaration corresponds precisely with the doctrine of
Montesquieu, as it has been explained, and is not in a single point
violated by the plan of the convention. It goes no farther than to
prohibit any one of the entire departments from exercising the powers
of another department. In the very Constitution to which it is
prefixed, a partial mixture of powers has been admitted. The executive
magistrate has a qualified negative on the legislative body, and the
Senate, which is a part of the legislature, is a court of impeachment
for members both of the executive and judiciary departments. The
members of the judiciary department, again, are appointable by the
executive department, and removable by the same authority on the
address of the two legislative branches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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