Question

What is meant by a system of checks and balances?

Answer 1

Hint: The government's checks and balances system was created to ensure that no one branch of government grew too strong. The U.S. Constitution's authors created a system that divides authority among the three departments of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—and sets various constraints and controls on each branch's powers.

Complete answer:
The horizontal distribution of power ensures that power is shared among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. It allows different government organs to exercise different powers when they are located at the same level. Because of this separation, none of the organs may wield unrestricted authority. Each organ keeps an eye on the others. As a result, there is a power balance among numerous institutions. A system of checks and balances is the term for this setup.

Under parliamentary systems, checks and balances can be used to adjust the division of powers by using a parliament's prerogative to pass a no-confidence vote in a government; the government, or cabinet, can then dissolve the parliament. The British Parliament is paramount, and laws approved by it are not subject to constitutional scrutiny by the courts.

Montesquieu and William Blackstone, among others, influenced the writers of the United States Constitution, who considered checks and balances as necessary for the security of liberty under the Constitution.

Note: The Federal Republic of Germany incorporates elements of both parliamentary and federal systems, similar to those seen in the United States. It gives the Federal Constitutional Court the power to declare a statute unconstitutional (1951).