Constitution Day Guide

Each branch of American government possesses inherent advantages and disadvantages in structure. In this book, the author relies on a separation-of-powers analysis that emphasizes the advantage of the legislature to draft precise words to fit intended situations, the judiciary's advantage of being able to do justice in an individual case, and the executive's homogeneity and flexibility, which best suits it to decisions of an ad hoc nature.

In Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers, M. J. C. Vile traces the history of the doctrine from its rise during the English Civil War, through its development in the eighteenth century--through subsequent political thought and constitution-making in Britain, France, and the United States.