The first group of European essays

The first group of European essays This is characteristic mostly of new constitutions that deliberately try to adopt the generally accepted standards of the Rule of Law and constitutionalism. The German Basic Law can be considered an example of this effort and philosophy, and for the moment is the only Western constitution examined here that explicitly states the principle of separation of powers. Article 20, section 2 of the Basic Law says: All State power emanates from the people. It shall be exercised by the people by means of elections and voting and by specific legislative, executive and judicial organs. The philosophy of the German Basic Law and this is common with other European constitutions is built upon the following postulates: 1. The people is the holder of the whole State power. 2. The State power forms a unity4, and is indivisible. 3. The principle of separation of powers outlines and determines the organization and content of the exercise of State power. 4. The former premises result from the democratic principle under this principle the separation of powers does not divide State power into branches of different origin, it marks only the different functions of the unified power according to the Constitutional Court, it is an organizational and functional principle.5 Constitutions of some former socialist countries expressly state the principle of separation of powers presumably as a reaction to the previous ideology which rejected the idea of separation of powers, and as an expression of commitment to Western standards of constitutionalism. Russia is a good example of this argument. According to Marxist-Leninist doctrine all powers were concentrated in the hands of the soviets. In 1992, after the Soviet Union fell apart, the principle of separation of powers was added to the text of the old Constitution as a foundation of the new constitutional regime. This led to a discrepancy between...