Compare The Seperation Of Powers In Two Countries

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Introduction On April 19th, 1775, the American colony began a war of independence against the British Empire, and on September 3rd, 1783, the American colonies emerged victorious. By 1787, the United States of America was formed by the writing of a constitution to unite the 13 colonies. This document set about defining the laws of the country and separating the three arms of government; the Legislative, executive, and Judicature. As the founding fathers wished to completely sever ties with Britain, they extensively separated the three arms of government. This system of government has often been dubbed the “Washington” system. The British system of government is substantially different. Their constitution is uncodified. This means that it is mostly unwritten. It has different documents and most laws are unwritten, making it difficult to define their constitution. The Legislative and Executive arms of government are fused in the House of Commons (the lower house). This system is often dubbed the “Westminster” system. When Australia became a federation in 1901, they needed to establish a nationwide system of government. In order to do this, they looked at both the Westminster and Washington systems and from there they took ideas from each system to establish the “Washminster” system. From the Washington system, they used the codified constitution, Senate and the powers of Congress. From the Westminster system they used the idea of responsible government, the House of Commons, and the Fusion of the legislative and executive arms of government. This report sets out to compare and contrast the American and Australian Legislative, Executive and Judicial institutions of government. The Legislative Branch The American Legislative branch of government consists of a bicameral congress which is divided into two houses; the Senate and The House of Representatives.
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