Draft:Branches of government

Branches of government, also known as organs of state, are the separate functional components of public administration. Their definitions define the limit of political influence by specific groups over the independent and equitable administration of public services

In most democracies, either basic law or a national constitution specify a high degree of separation of powers. A number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government. The Westminster system, in contrast, is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers.

Overview

The most common division of branches is into a politically strategic legislature, a politically tactical executive, and an impartial operative judiciary which structure was first formally was proposed by Montesquieu in the 18th century. These structures are specified by the constitution and supervised by the judiciary usually in a constitutional court.

Most modern democracies have an assembly of elected representatives to deal with enduring strategic legislation. They may appoint a government of ministers to deal with short-term tactical matters arising. The head of government in some cases may also be the president or head of state otherwise, where the state president is non-executive that role is held by a prime minister who presents legislation the state the president for ratification (authorizing signature).

Ministries and civil services

The ministries of most democracies are non-political civil service entities albeit under the general direction of a political appointee (the minister but managed by a technically qualified and presumably apolitical secretary of state who is, nevertheless, entitled to be informed of relevant state secrets and is required to be a loyal, impartial servant of the politically appointed minister, but exercising moderation, in conjunction with secretaries of other ministries.

• The three most prominent are the Ministry of finance, the Ministry of foreign affairs and the Ministry of defence all of which are strongly politicized at a state level and are likely to have to deal with international treaty obligations.
• Secondary ministries typically include food supply, natural environment and health services that are likely to impact on neighboring states (federal or union matters)
• Energy, transport, and trade mostly relate to commercial entities both domestic and international operation within the internal judicial control of the state legislature
• The judiciary, police and social services relate directly to the internal safety of citizens and human rights of other residents such as refugees or asylum seekers

The separation of powers requires ethical separation of ministerial powers and operational independence of each state service (also known as the firewalls or ethical independence of the distinct the Organs of State).

Constitutional court

Ensuring that diversions from the public interest by political party concerns or transitory public relations issues do not unduly affect public service is the role of the constitutional court (or sometimes non-executive head of state) whose mandate is to be guardian of the constitution, which basic law, in a reasonable democracy, specifies in general, how much or little political influenced may affect public functions.

By country

North America

Canada

The Constitution Act, 1867 provides that there shall be an executive, a legislature, and the judiciary. At the federal level, the executive power is assigned to the monarch of Canada, acting through their representative, the Governor General of Canada. The legislative function is assigned to the Parliament of Canada, composed of the monarch, the Senate and the House of Commons. The judicial powers are primarily assigned to the provincial superior courts, but provision was made for the creation of federal courts by Parliament. The federal courts now include the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Federal Court of Canada.

The Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly emphasised that the separation of powers is an important structural element of the Constitution of Canada. For example, in giving the majority judgment in Ontario v Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontario, Justice Karakatsanis stated:

All three branches have distinct institutional capacities and play critical and complementary roles in our constitutional democracy. However, each branch will be unable to fulfill its role if it is unduly interfered with by the others. In New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. v. Nova Scotia (Speaker of the House of Assembly), [1993] 1 S.C.R. 319, McLachlin J. affirmed the importance of respecting the separate roles and institutional capacities of Canada's branches of government for our constitutional order, holding that "[i]t is fundamental to the working of government as a whole that all these parts play their proper role. It is equally fundamental that no one of them overstep its bounds, that each show proper deference for the legitimate sphere of activity of the other".

— Justice Karakatsanis

Canada, like other parliamentary countries using the Westminster system, has a fusion between the executive and the legislative branches, with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers being members of Parliament. However, the two branches have distinct roles, and in certain instances can come into conflict with each other. For example, in June 2021, the Speaker of the House of Commons directed a member of the public service to comply with an order of the House of Commons to share certain documents with the Commons, and the public servant refused to do so. The federal government announced that it would challenge the Speaker's ruling in the Federal Court.

The separation of powers is much stricter between the judicial branch, on the one hand, and the elected legislative and executive branches, on the other hand. The Supreme Court has held that judicial independence is a fundamental principle of the Constitution of Canada. The courts are independent from the elected branches in fulfilling their duties and reaching their decisions.

Similar structural principles apply with provincial and territorial governments, including the strong separation between the judiciary and the elected branches.

United States

Main article: Separation of powers under the United States Constitution

George Washington at Constitutional Convention of 1787, signing of U.S. Constitution

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about separation of powers and checks and balances of the U.S. Government.

Separation of powers was first established in the United States Constitution, wherein the founders included features of many new concepts, including hard-learned historical lessons about the checks and balances of power. Similar concepts were also prominent in the state governments of the United States. As colonies of Great Britain, the founders considered that the American states had suffered an abuse of the broad power of parliamentarism and monarchy. As a remedy, the United States Constitution limits the powers of the federal government through various means—in particular, the three branches of the federal government are divided by exercising different functions. The executive and legislative powers are separated in origin by separate elections, and the judiciary is kept independent. Each branch controls the actions of others and balances its powers in some way.

In the Constitution, Article 1 Section I grants Congress only those "legislative powers herein granted" and proceeds to list those permissible actions in Article I Section 8, while Section 9 lists actions that are prohibited for Congress. The vesting clause in Article II places no limits on the Executive branch, simply stating that "The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." The Supreme Court holds "The judicial Power" according to Article III, and judicial review was established in Marbury v. Madison under the Marshall court.

The presidential system adopted by the Constitution of the United States obeys the balance of powers sought, and not found, by the constitutional monarchy. The people appoint their representatives to meet periodically in a legislative body, and, since they do not have a king, the people themselves elect a preeminent citizen to perform, also periodically, the executive functions of the State.

The direct election of the head of state or of the executive power is an inevitable consequence of the political freedom of the people, understood as the capacity to appoint and depose their leaders. Only this separate election of the person who has to fulfill the functions that the Constitution attributes to the president, so different by its nature and by its function from the election of representatives of the electors, allows the executive power to be controlled by the legislative and submitted to the demands of political responsibility.

Judicial independence is maintained by appointments for life, which remove any dependence on the Executive, with voluntary retirement and a high threshold for dismissal by the Legislature, in addition to a salary that cannot be diminished during their service.

The federal government refers to the branches as "branches of government", while some systems use "government" exclusively to describe the executive. The Executive branch has attempted to claim power arguing for separation of powers to include being the Commander-in-Chief of a standing army since the American Civil War, executive orders, emergency powers, security classifications since World War II, national security, signing statements, and the scope of the unitary executive.

In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another. Perhaps such a plan of constructing the several departments would be less difficult in practice than it may in contemplation appear. Some difficulties, however, and some additional expense would attend the execution of it. Some deviations, therefore, from the principle must be admitted. In the constitution of the judiciary department in particular, it might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on the principle: first, because peculiar qualifications being essential in the members, the primary consideration ought to be to select that mode of choice which best secures these qualifications; secondly, because the permanent tenure by which the appointments are held in that department, must soon destroy all sense of dependence on the authority conferring them. It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal.

South America

Brazil

The Constitution of Brazil, in its second article, establishes that there are three "powers of the Union, independent and harmonic, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary".

Europe

Czech Republic

Main article: Constitution of the Czech Republic

The Constitution of the Czech Republic, adopted in 1992 immediately before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, establishes the traditional tripartite division of powers and continues the tradition of its predecessor constitutions. The Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, which replaced the provisional constitution adopted by the newly independent state in 1918, was modelled after the constitutions of established democracies such as those of the United Kingdom, United States and France, and maintained this division, as have subsequent changes to the constitution that followed in 1948 with the Ninth-of-May Constitution, the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as well as the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation of 1968.

France

Main article: Political system of France

According to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the government of France is divided into three branches:

• Executive. This includes the popularly elected president as well as the prime minister and cabinet. The President is elected by the people, and the Prime Minister appointed by the President, but the cabinet is responsible to the lower house of the legislature, the National Assembly.
• Legislature. A bicameral legislature that includes the Senate (upper house) and the National Assembly (lower house). The relationship between the two houses is asymmetric, meaning that in case of dispute, the National Assembly has the final word according to Article 45 of the Constitution.
• Judiciary. This includes the judicial and administrative orders. It also includes a constitutional court.

Italy

Main article: Constitution of Italy

In Italy the powers are separated, even though the Council of Ministers needs a vote of confidence from both chambers of Parliament (which represents a large number of members, around 600).

Like every parliamentary form of government, there is no complete separation between Legislature and Executive, rather a continuum between them due to the confidence link. The balance between these two branches is protected by Constitution and between them and the judiciary, which is really independent.

Norway

Main articles: Constitution of Norway, Government of Norway, and Politics of Norway

• Parliament – legislature
• The King, Prime Minister, Cabinet of Norway, Government Departments and Civil Service – executive
• The Supreme Court, High Courts and lower courts – judiciary

A note on the status of separation of power, checks and balances, and balance of power in Norway today.

In the original constitution of 1814 the Montesquieu concept was enshrined, and the people at the time had the same skepticism about political parties as the American founding fathers and the revolutionaries in France. Nor did people really want to get rid of the king and the Council of State (privy council). King and council was a known concept that people had lived with for a long time and for the most part were comfortable with. The 1814 constitution came about as a reaction to external events, most notable the Treaty of Kiel (see 1814 in Norway). There was no revolution against the current powers, as had been the case in the U.S. and France.

As there was no election of the executive, the king reigned supremely independent in selecting the members of the Council of State, no formal political parties formed until the 1880s. A conflict between the executive and legislature started developing in the 1870s and climaxed with the legislature impeaching the entire Council of State in 1884 (see Statsrådssaken [Norwegian Wikipedia page]). With this came a switch to a parliamentary system of government. While the full process took decades, it has led to a system of parliamentary sovereignty, where the Montesquieu idea of separation of powers is technically dead even though the three branches remain important institutions.

This does not mean that there are no checks and balances. With the introduction of a parliamentary system, political parties started to form quickly, which led to a call for electoral reform that saw the introduction of Party-list proportional representation in 1918. The peculiarities of the Norwegian election system generate 6–8 parties and make it extremely difficult for a single party to gain an absolute majority. It has only occurred for a brief period in the aftermath of World War II where the Labour Party had an absolute majority.

A multi-party system parliament that must either form a minority executive or a coalition executive functions as a perfectly good system of checks and balances even if it was never a stated goal for the introduction of multiparty system. The multiparty system came about in response to a public outcry of having too few parties and a general feeling of a lack of representation. For this reason, very little on the topic of separation of powers or checks and balances can be found in the works of Norwegian political sciences today.

United Kingdom

Main article: Separation of powers in the United Kingdom

See also: History of the constitution of the United Kingdom

• Parliament – legislature
• Prime Minister, Cabinet, Government Departments and Civil Service – executive
• Courts – judiciary

The development of the British constitution, which is not a codified document, is based on fusion in the person of the Monarch, who has a formal role to play in the legislature (Parliament, which is where legal and political sovereignty lies, is the Crown-in-Parliament, and is summoned and dissolved by the Sovereign who must give his or her Royal Assent to all Bills so that they become Acts), the executive (the Sovereign appoints all ministers of His/Her Majesty's Government, who govern in the name of the Crown) and the judiciary (the Sovereign, as the fount of justice, appoints all senior judges, and all public prosecutions are brought in his or her name).

Although the doctrine of separation of power plays a role in the United Kingdom's constitutional life, the constitution is often described as having "a weak separation of powers" (A. V. Dicey) despite it being the one to which Montesquieu originally referred. For example, the executive forms a subset of the legislature, as did—to a lesser extent—the judiciary until the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister, the Chief Executive, sits as a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, either as a peer in the House of Lords or as an elected member of the House of Commons (by convention, and as a result of the supremacy of the Lower House, the Prime Minister now sits in the House of Commons). Furthermore, while the courts in the United Kingdom are amongst the most independent in the world, the Law Lords, who were the final arbiters of most judicial disputes in the U.K. sat simultaneously in the House of Lords, the upper house of the legislature, although this arrangement ceased in 2009 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into existence. Furthermore, because of the existence of Parliamentary sovereignty, while the theory of separation of powers may be studied there, a system such as that of the U.K. is more accurately described as a "fusion of powers".

Until 2005, the Lord Chancellor fused in his person the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, as he was the ex officio Speaker of the House of Lords, a Government Minister who sat in Cabinet and was head of the Lord Chancellor's Department, which administered the courts, the justice system and appointed judges, and was the head of the Judiciary in England and Wales and sat as a judge on the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords, the highest domestic court in the entire United Kingdom, and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the senior tribunal court for parts of the Commonwealth. The Lord Chancellor also had certain other judicial positions, including being a judge in the Court of Appeal and President of the Chancery Division. The Lord Chancellor combines other aspects of the constitution, including having certain ecclesiastical functions of the established state church, making certain church appointments, nominations and sitting as one of the thirty-three Church Commissioners. These functions remain intact and unaffected by the Constitutional Reform Act. In 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act separated the powers with Legislative functions going to an elected Lord Speaker and the Judicial functions going to the Lord Chief Justice. The Lord Chancellor's Department was replaced with a Ministry of Justice and the Lord Chancellor currently serves in the position of Secretary of State for Justice.

The judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation, and can only rule on secondary legislation that it is invalid with regard to the primary legislation if necessary.

Under the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament can enact any primary legislation it chooses. However, the concept immediately becomes problematic when the question is asked, "If parliament can do anything, can it bind its successors?" It is generally held that parliament can do no such thing.

Equally, while statute takes precedence over precedent-derived common law and the judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation, there are certain cases where the supreme judicature has effected an injunction against the application of an act or reliance on its authority by the civil service. The seminal example of this is the Factortame case, where the House of Lords granted such an injunction preventing the operation of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 until litigation in the European Court of Justice had been resolved.

The House of Lords ruling in Factortame (No. 1), approving the European Court of Justice formulation that "a national court which, in a case before it concerning Community law, considers that the sole obstacle which precludes it from granting interim relief is a rule of national law, must disapply that rule", has created an implicit tiering of legislative reviewability; the only way for parliament to prevent the supreme judicature from injunctively striking out a law on the basis of incompatibility with Community law is to pass an act specifically removing that power from the court, or by repealing the European Communities Act 1972.

The British legal systems are based on common law traditions, which require:

• Police or regulators cannot initiate complaints under criminal law but can only investigate (prosecution is mostly reserved for the Crown Prosecution Service), which prevents selective enforcement—e.g., the "fishing expedition", which is often specifically forbidden.
• Prosecutors cannot withhold evidence from counsel for the defendant; to do so results in mistrial or dismissal. Accordingly, their relation to police is no advantage.
• Defendants convicted can appeal, but only fresh and compelling evidence not available at trial can be introduced, restricting the power of the court of appeal to the process of law applied.

Asia

Hong Kong

Main article: Separation of powers in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region established in 1997 pursuant to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an international treaty made between Britain and China in 1984, registered with the United Nations. The Hong Kong Basic Law, a national law of China that serves as the de facto constitution, divides the government into Executive, Legislative, and Judicial bodies.

However, according to the former Secretary for Security, Regina Ip, also a current member of the Executive Council(ExCo) and Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Hong Kong never practices Separation of Powers after the handover of Hong Kong back to China.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong's policy was decided by the Governor in Council before 1997, and it became the Chief Executive in Council afterwards. No matter when, some members of the Executive Council are also members of the Legislative Council. When the same person holds positions in the executive and legislative branches at the same time, the two powers are integrated rather than separated, and so it does not constitute a strict separation of powers, it is because checks and balances has been lost. This institutional practice existed long before 1997 during the British rule and has been followed ever since.

India

Main articles: Lawmaking procedure in India, Constitution of India, and Supreme Court of India

India follows constitutional democracy which offers a clear separation of powers. The judiciary is independent of the other two branches with the power to interpret the constitution. Parliament has the legislative powers. Executive powers are vested in the President who is advised by the Union Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. The constitution of India vested the duty of protecting, preserving and defending the constitution with the President as common head of the executive, parliament, armed forces, etc.—not only for the union government but also the various state governments in a federal structure. All three branches have "checks and balances" over each other to maintain the balance of power and not to exceed the constitutional limits.

• The president can set aside a law passed by the legislative or an advice given by the Union Council of Ministers when it is inconsistent with the constitution of India.
• Even if the president accepts a law passed duly by the legislative, it can be repealed by the Supreme Court after a fair trial if it is against the Basic structure of the constitution. Any citizen of India can approach the Supreme Court directly to repeal the unconstitutional laws made by the legislative or executive.
• The president can be removed from office for unconstitutional decisions after an impeachment trial conducted by the parliament.
• The president can be removed by Supreme Court of India under article 71(1) for electoral malpractice or on the grounds of losing eligibility for the position.
• Parliament can impeach judges of Supreme Court and High Courts of states for their incompetence and mala fides. A higher bench of judges can set aside the incorrect judgements of a smaller bench of judges to uphold the constitution.

Japan

Main articles: Politics of Japan, Government of Japan, and National Diet

Based on popular sovereignty, the Government of Japan is divided into the legislative, executive and judicial branches. All of the branches of government operate under the framework set by the post-WWII Constitution ratified in 1947.

Legislative power is vested in the bicameral parliament of Japan, the National Diet (国会, Kokkai). The Diet consists of the House of Councillors (参議院, Sangiin) as the upper house and the House of Representatives (衆議院, Shugiin) as the lower house. Members of both houses are elected under a parallel voting system.

The executive power of the state is vested in the Cabinet of Japan (内閣, Naikaku). The Prime Minister (内閣総理大臣, Naikaku Sōri-Daijin) serves as the head of the Cabinet and is designated from among the members of the Diet.日本国憲法 日本国憲法 [Constitution of Japan] (Constitution, 67) (in Japanese). National Diet. 3 November 1946. As a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers are responsible to parliament and can be dismissed by a motion of no confidence.

Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court (最高裁判所, Saikō-Saibansho). It is the ultimate judicial authority on matters of constitutional and national law interpretation. It also has the power of judicial review, allowing it to review the constitutionality of laws.

Australia

Main article: Separation of powers in Australia

Australia does not maintain a strict separation between the legislative and executive branches of government—indeed, government ministers are required to be members of parliament—but the federal judiciary strictly guards its independence from the other two branches. However, under influence from the U.S. constitution, the Australian constitution does define the three branches of government separately, which has been interpreted by the judiciary to induce an implicit separation of powers. State governments have a similar level of separation of power but this is generally on the basis of convention, rather than constitution.

New Zealand

New Zealand's constitution is based on the principle of separation of powers through a series of constitutional safeguards, many of which are tacit. The Executive's ability to carry out decisions often depends on the Legislature, which is elected under the single member representative or mixed member proportional systems. This means that government may be of a single party or a coalition of parties. The Judiciary is also free of government interference. If a series of judicial decisions result in an interpretation of the law which the Executive considers does not reflect the intention of the policy, the Executive can initiate changes to the legislation in question through the Legislature. The Executive cannot direct or request a judicial officer to revise or reconsider a decision; decisions are final. Should there be a dispute between the Executive and Judiciary, the Executive has no authority to direct the Judiciary, or its individual members and vice versa.

Non-traditional systems

Republic of China

Main article: Government of the Republic of China

According to Sun Yat-sen's idea of "separation of the five powers", the government of the Republic of China has five branches:

• Executive Yuan – led by the premier but in actuality it is the president who sets policy – executive
• Legislative Yuan – unicameral – legislature
• Judicial Yuan – its Constitutional Court (highest) and Supreme Court have different jurisdictions – judiciary
• Control Yuan – audit branch
• Examination Yuan – civil service personnel management and human resources

The president and vice president as well as the defunct National Assembly are constitutionally not part of the above five branches. Before being abolished in 2005, the National Assembly was a standing constituent assembly and electoral college for the president and vice president. Its constitutional amending powers were passed to the legislative yuan and its electoral powers were passed to the electorate.

The relationship between the executive and legislative branches are poorly defined. An example of the problems this causes is the near complete political paralysis that results when the president, who has neither the power to veto nor the ability to dissolve the legislature and call new elections, cannot negotiate with the legislature when his party is in the minority. The examination and control yuans are marginal branches; their leaders as well as the leaders of the executive and judicial yuans are appointed by the president and confirmed by the legislative yuan. The legislature is the only branch that chooses its own leadership. The vice president has practically no responsibilities.

Costa Rica

In the aftermath of the 43-day civil war in 1948 (after former President and incumbent candidate Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia tried to take power through fraud, by not recognising the results of the presidential election that he had lost), the question of which transformational model the Costa Rican State would follow was the main issue that confronted the victors. A Constituent Assembly was elected by popular vote to draw up a new constitution, enacted in 1949, and remains in force. This document was an edit of the constitution of 1871, as the constituent assembly rejected more radical corporatist ideas proposed by the ruling Junta Fundadora de la Segunda República (which, although having come to power by military force, abolished the armed forces). Nonetheless, the new constitution increased centralization of power at the expense of municipalities and eliminated provincial government altogether, and at the time it increased the powers of congress and the judiciary.

It established the three supreme powers as the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, but also created two other autonomous state organs that have equivalent power, but not equivalent rank. The first is the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica (electoral branch), which controls elections and makes unique, unappealable decisions on their outcomes.

The second is the office of the Comptroller General (audit branch), an autonomous and independent organ nominally subordinate to the unicameral legislative assembly. All budgets of ministries and municipalities must pass through this agency, including the execution of budget items such as contracting for routine operations. The Comptroller also provides financial vigilance over government offices and office holders, and routinely brings actions to remove mayors for malfeasance, firmly establishing this organization as the fifth branch of the Republic.

European Union

The European Union is a supranational polity, and is neither a country nor a federation; but as the EU wields political power it complies with the principle of separation of powers. There are seven institutions of the European Union. In intergovernmental matters, most power is concentrated in the Council of the European Union—giving it the characteristics of a normal international organization. Here, all power at the EU level is in one branch. In the latter there are four main actors. The European Commission acts as an independent executive which is appointed by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament; but the commission also has a legislative role as the sole initiator of EU legislation. An early maxim was: "The Commission proposes and the Council disposes"; and although the EU's lawmaking procedure is now much more complicated, this simple maxim still holds some truth. As well as both executive and legislative functions, the Commission arguably exercises a third, quasi-judicial, function under Articles 101 & 102 TFEU (competition law ); although the ECJ remains the final arbiter. The European Parliament is one half of the legislative branch and is directly elected. The Council itself acts both as the second half of the legislative branch and also holds some executive functions (some of which are exercised by the related European Council in practice). The European Court of Justice acts as the independent judicial branch, interpreting EU law and treaties. The remaining institution, the European Court of Auditors, is an independent audit authority (due to the sensitive nature of fraud in the EU).

• Council of the European Union – executive and legislative
• European Commission – executive, legislative and quasi-judicial
• European Council – executive
• European Court of Auditors – audit
• Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court – judicial
• European Parliament – legislative

Hungary

The four independent branches of power in Hungary (the parliament, the government, the court system, and the office of the public accuser) are divided into six bodies:

• Parliament (Magyar Országgyűlés): elected every 4 years by the people in a highly complex, one-round voting system
• Government (Magyar Kormány): installed and removed by simple majority vote of the parliament, four-year terms
• Supreme Court (Legfelsőbb Bíróság): Chief justice elected by qualified (2/3) majority of the parliament, no government oversight
• Constitutional court (Alkotmánybíróság): members elected by qualified majority of the parliament for eight years, this body nullifies laws and has no government oversight
• Chief public accuser (Legfőbb ügyész): elected by qualified majority of the parliament, six-year terms, office budget fixed, no government oversight
• The President of the Republic (Köztársasági Elnök) is elected by qualified majority of the Hungarian parliament for five-year terms (cannot be reelected more than once). The President's task is to oversee the functioning of the democracy. Most powers are ceremonial: like signing laws into power and commanding the military in time of peace. The president can also return accepted bills once with advices to the Parliament for reconsideration or can also request nullification in advance from the Constitutional Court. The president can negotiate with civil/professional unions regarding the bills. Without the President's permission, the country can neither declare war nor deploy the armed forces.

The independent pillar status of the Hungarian public accuser's office is a unique construction, loosely modelled on Portugal's system (Portugal has four branches of government; the President, who is the non-executive head of state, the Prime Minister and the Government, the legislative Parliament, and the Constitutional Court), introduced after the 1974 victory of the Carnation Revolution. The public accuser (attorney general) body has become the fourth column of Hungarian democracy only in recent times: after communism fell in 1989, the office was made independent by a new clause (XI) of the Constitution. The change was meant to prevent abuse of state power, especially with regards to the use of false accusations against opposition politicians, who may be excluded from elections if locked in protracted or excessively severe court cases.

To prevent the Hungarian accuser's office from neglecting its duties, natural human private persons can submit investigation requests, called "pótmagánvád", directly to the courts if the accusers' office refuses to. Courts will decide if the allegations have merit and order police to act in lieu of the accuser's office if warranted. In its decision No. 42/2005, the Hungarian constitutional court declared that the government does not enjoy such privilege and the state is powerless to further pursue cases if the public accuser refuses to do so.

Venezuela

Besides the three traditional branches: executive, legislative and judicial, Venezuela also has a citizens branch made up of the Republican Moral Council, which includes the Attorney General, ombudsman and the comptroller general, as well as an electoral branch, the National Electoral Council.

A 2010 report by the Organization of American States highlighted the erosion of separation of powers in the country.

Historical

Empire of Brazil

The Empire of Brazil (1822–1889) had, in addition to the three traditional powers, the moderating power, which was exercised solely by the Emperor, and whose function was resolving conflicts between the other powers.

Vermont Republic and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The Vermont Republic and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania both had a collective executive (Supreme Executive Council), a unicameral legislature (Assembly), an elected judiciary (Supreme Court), and the Council of Censors this group was responsible for ensuring constitutionality of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of government and auditing taxes and could also either censure or impeach any member of government who they had found to have violated the constitution they also had the sole power to both call constitution conventions and amend the constitution.

Imperial China

Main article: Political systems of Imperial China

Political systems in imperial China included those of the Three Lords and Nine Ministers (ancient system), the Three Departments and Six Ministries (medieval system), and the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties.