University of San Diego Digital USD University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Law Faculty Scholarship Theory Research Paper Series September 2004 Montesquieu's Mistakes and the True Meaning of Separation Laurence Claus University of San Diego School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digital.sandiego.edu/lwps_public Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Legal History Commons, Legislation Commons, and the Public Law and Legal Theory Commons Digital USD Citation Claus, Laurence, "Montesquieu's Mistakes and the True Meaning of Separation" (2004). University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series. 11. http://digital.sandiego.edu/lwps_public/art11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Faculty Scholarship at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Claus: Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series September 2004 Montesquieu's Mistakes and the True Meaning of Separation Laurence Claus Published by Digital USD, 2004 1 University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series, Art. 11 [2004] MONTESQUIEU’S MISTAKES AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SEPARATION 25 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (forthcoming) Laurence Claus1 “The political liberty of the subject,” said Montesquieu, “is a tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man needs not be afraid of another.”2 The liberty of which Montesquieu spoke is directly promoted by apportioning power among political actors in a way that minimizes opportunities for those actors to determine conclusively the reach of their own powers.