Checks and Balances History
Checks and Balances: Origins of the Concept
The concept of checks and balances can be traced to ancient political philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. In their view, the best form of government included a mix of different types of power. An ideal government would include elements of monarchy (rule by hereditary right), aristocracy (rule by a few for the good of all), and democracy (rule by the people). In its earliest formulations, the concept of checks and balances thus emphasized dividing power according to segments of society. Such a mixed system, they thought, would be more likely to achieve the best balance between the pitfalls and strengths of each form of government.
Many centuries later, some countries in Western Europe began to institute elements of checks and balances. Parliamentary challenges to English royal authority in the 1640s, for example, led King Charles I to accept a system that combined monarchal power with aristocracy and limited democracy. This power struggle between the Long Parliament and Charles I led to temporary expansion of parliamentary authority in the late 17th century, which became permanent in the 18th century. It was in this period that the English legal scholar William Blackstone described the English system as achieving an ideal balance among democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy.
The 18th-century French political theorist Baron Montesquieu also observed the functioning of checks and balances in English politics. Montesquieu theorized a scheme of checks and balances that advocated the assignment of separate powers to monarchal, aristocratic, and democratic political institutions. In addition, Montesquieu argued in his study The Spirit of the Laws (1748) that the best way to provide a check against the abuse of power by monarchs was through intermediary bodies that the monarch could not abolish, such as the church, guilds, and professional associations. The dispersion of power to these institutions outside of government would make it more difficult for the government to abuse its authority. Montesquieu, along with many theorists before him, assumed that balance could succeed only in a society with a relatively small and homogeneous population.
American statesman James Madison reformulated the theory of checks and balances in the 18th century, decisively challenging the earlier views. Madison argued that the larger the society, and the more diverse the interests of its inhabitants, the more likely each faction was to block and thwart the interests of other factions seeking control. This would prevent the formation of a permanent majority that could oppress minority groups or interests. Madison’s understanding was central to the writing of the Constitution of the United States, which incorporated a separation of powers and many checks and balances.
The concepts of checks and balances and separation of powers have similar intellectual origins. Some scholars regard the ideas as basically identical, but others emphasize the ways in which the concepts differ. In determining whether the concepts differ, it is important to note that there are political systems that have checks and balances but very little separation of powers. This suggests that the two concepts should be regarded as different. The theory of separation of powers, moreover, calls for a division of government authority but says nothing about power elsewhere. In contrast, the theory of checks and balances regards power outside the government as an important limit on government abuses. So although the concepts are similar, the notions of separation of powers and checks and balances can be regarded as distinct. (1)
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