THE SEPARATION OF POWERS - PAST AND PRESENT

Abstract

Abstract: The principle of the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial powers is now recognized as being one of the basic characteristics of a democratic state both in the field of constitutional law and in jurisprudence. Legal commentators who reject it as a condition for determining the existence of a democracy are few and far between in the literature (e.g., W. Sokolewicz). These commentators stress that the separation of powers is mandatory insofar as it is essential to ensure judicial independence, but is not a requisite for justifying equality of position between executive power and legislative from whence it is but a small step to bureaucratic autocracy. Keywords: separation of powers, executive and judicial powers, constitutional law, democracy, bureaucratic autocracy.