美国三权分立英文

Separation of powers is a political doctrine under which the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government are kept distinct, to prevent abuse of power. This US form of separation of powers is widely known as "checks and balances."The principle of separation of powers traces its origins at least as far back as Aristotle's time. During the Age of Enlightenment, several philosophers, such as John Locke and James Harrington, advocated the principle in their writings, whereas others such as Thomas Hobbes strongly opposed it. Montesquieu was one of the foremost supporters of separating the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. His writings considerably influenced the opinions of the framers of the United States Constitution. Some charge, however, that the Framers misinterpreted Montesquieu. According to Isaac Rice (a nineteenth century political scientist), Montesquieu opposed concentrating power in a single person, rather than a single source. It was Montesquieu himself who developed the idea of establishing a form of separation of power in government. The United States borrowed some of the philosophies of Montesquieu to create the system of checks and balances that is present in the United States government today. Rice therefore suggested that a parliamentary system—which would not comply with the strict doctrine of separation of powers—would nevertheless be consistent with Montesquieu's philosophy.Strict separation of powers did not operate in Britain, a country whose political structure served in most instances as a model for the government created by the US Constitution. In the UK, the King-in-Parliament (the King acting with the consent of the House of Lords and House of Commons) was the supreme lawmaking authority. The executive branch acted in the name of the King - it was known as "His Majesty's Government" - as did the judiciary. The King's Ministers were in most cases members of one of the two Houses of Parliament, and the Government needed to sustain a majority in the House of Commons. One minister, the Lord Chancellor, was at the same time the sole judge in the Court of Chancery and the presiding officer in the House of Lords. Thus, one may conclude that the three branches of British government often violated the strict principle of separation of powers, even though there were many occasions when the different branches of the government disagreed with each other.Some US states did not observe a strict separation of powers in the 18th century. In New Jersey, the Governor also functioned as a member of the state's highest court and as the presiding officer of one house of the Legislature. The President of Delaware was a member of the Court of Appeals; the presiding officers of the two houses of the state legislature also served in the executive department as Vice Presidents. In both Delaware and Pennsylvania, members of the executive council served at the same time as judges. On the other hand, many southern states explicitly required separation of powers. Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia all kept the branches of government "separate and distinct."

一般来说，separation一说出来，老美就知道是什么意思了，separation of three powers比较简洁明了，中文的三权分立应该就是直译过来的，checks and balance我没看到别人用过…总之是从意思方面解释三权分立的作用吧，比较晦涩

1 The United States of American is a federal constitutional republic country with 5o states and a federal district.(美利坚合众国是一个联邦共和制国家，拥有50个独立州和一个联邦特区）2 The United States has operated under two-party system(美国实行两党制），the major two parties are Democratic party(民主党），and Republic Party(共和党）（两大主要政党分别是民主党和共和党）3 while the latter is considered to be conservative (后者，指共和党，相对路线保守），4 and the former one is liberal to some extent(前者，民主党则相对路线自由）5 The federal government is composed of three branches(美国政府实行三权分立）：6 the congress(议会）has the power of declaring wars（宣战） ,impeachment(弹劾）and approving treaties(通过议案）。（议会享有宣战，弹劾，以及通过议案等权利）7 the president is the commander-in-chief(总司令）of the military(总统享有最高军事权）8 the supreme court(最高法庭）and lower federal court(地方法庭）could overturn laws if they are unconstitutional(如果最高法庭和地方法庭发现法律不合法，它们均有权推翻原法案）。