Locke's Two Treatises of Government › Separation of Powers

Locke also sketches a theory of the separation of powers, though less systematically than Montesquieu would later. He distinguishes three powers: legislative, executive, and federative. The legislative power is supreme. It makes the laws that govern society, but it need not be continuously in session. Once laws are made, they remain in force until changed. The executive power enforces the laws and handles day-to-day governance. Unlike the legislature, it must be continuously active. Locke recognizes that the executive needs some discretion (what he calls _prerogative_) to act when the law is silent or when strict application would cause harm. The federative power handles relations with other states: war, peace, treaties, alliances. Locke treats this as conceptually distinct from executive power, though he acknowledges that in practice they are usually held by the same hands. The key insight is that concentrating all power in the same hands is dangerous. Those who make laws should not also enforce them, or they will be tempted to exempt themselves from their own rules. Separating powers provides a check on abuse.