Trias Politica Montesquieu, Immanuel Kant and Prof Van Vollenhoven
Biography of Montesquieu
Montesquieu was the first of the great thinkers of the state and law of France.
Montesquieu's full name is Charles Secondat, baron de Labrede et de Montesquieu.
Montesquieu was a law scholar, lived in 1688-1755.
Montesquieu is an autodidact, that is, a person who with his own mind and energy has made progress, especially in the field of science.
His main position was as a judge at the Court in Bordeaux.
To explore the experience Montesquieu has visited Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and England.
Montesquieu's book "Lettres Persanes"
Montesquieu's teachings written in his books: "Lettres Persanes", contain a sharp criticism of the religious, political and social conditions in France.
Another Montesquieu book is "Grandeur et decadence des Romains".
And then Montesquieu's book, which is very famous around the world, on state and law thinking, "Esprit des Lois".
In his last book, the nature of his teachings is empirical-realistic based on the experiences he has gained from his earlier journey and from reading books.
Like other scholars of his time, Montesquieu argued that the principles of law lie in nature, but that does not mean that they can be discovered by abstract reasoning.
These principles lie in events in history, and in addition they can be found by studying these events.
After Montesquieu gained a lot of experience in several countries Montesquieu did not want to give revolutionary teachings, but wanted to make changes to the existing state administration system, especially in France, which at the time of France implemented a system of government of absolutism, where all state power was centered on one hands, namely to the king.
Because he saw another situation, namely in England. England in Montesquieu's opinion, state power is divided or strictly separated into three, and each of which is exercised by an independent body.
- Legislative, legislative powers.
- The power to carry out the government, executive, and
- Judicial powers, the judiciary.
Montesquieu's opinion mentioned above, later became known as the teaching of trias-politics, which gave this name is Immanuel Kant.
With his teaching, Montesquieu argues that, if the power of the state is strictly separated into three, namely: statutory power, the power to carry out government, and the power of justice, and each of these powers is held by an independent body, this will eliminate the possibility of arbitrary action by a person in power, or strictly speaking, it does not give the possibility of implementing a government system of absolutism.
Another example is in France, according to Montesquieu's opinion, which thing (system of absolutism) causes France to suffer. Because there, in France, the three powers were concentrated in the hands of the king, so the king could do anything that covered the three powers.
For example, the king could suddenly order the admission of a person into the famous Bastille prison, indefinitely, without giving reasons, court proceedings, but based solely on a stamped letter called a lettre de cachet.
Regarding the firmness of the Triassic-political teachings, namely the teaching of the separation of powers into three, and each of these powers must be held and exercised by a single body that each stands alone, it will only later get the firmness of Blackstone.
Implementation Triassic-political of the Montesquieu teaching, especially in modern countries
This question will be answered later when we discuss modern democracy. What is clear is that the Triassic teaching cannot be implemented consistently as desired by its creator, Montesquieu. Even in America, for the reasons Rousseau had put forward for this teaching. That is, if the separation of powers into three is carried out strictly, it will cause or result in no unity.
If then many countries are implementing this Triassic-political teaching, the purpose and objective is to implement and guarantee political independence, it seems in the Netherlands.
But in addition to this Trias-politic teaching, new teachings on the separation of powers emerged, as stated by Prof. Van Vollenhoven, and who was later followed by Prof. Van Apeldoorn, who distinguished the function of the ruler into four.
4 functions of the ruler by Prof. Van Vollenhoven
- Statutory function or power,
- The function or power of the judiciary or judiciary,
- The function or power of the police,
- Government functions or powers.
The teaching of state power sharing from John Locke in the XVII century is only a description of a main principle in the teachings of Montesquieu in the XVIII century, in its other form, namely becoming the teaching of separation of state power, with political independence as its goal.
When the American colonies would break away from the shackles of British colonialism, they accepted this doctrine or principle.
