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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]

Checks and Balances

Luca Pietro Vanoni

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]
Article last updated:
December 2019

From: Oxford Constitutions (http://oxcon.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 11 December 2024

Subject(s):
Separation of powers — Judicial review — No-confidence vote — Parliamentary systems — Presidential systems — Semi-presidential systems — Checks and balances

General Editors: Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann, Rüdiger Wolfrum
Managing Editor: Martina Mantovani

1 Checks and balances is a principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power (Encyclopedia Britannica). This principle is especially enforced in constitutional systems where the exercise of sovereign power must be strictly divided into the tripartite functions of government (legislative, executive, and judicial). From this perspective, the check and balances principle could be seen as a particular enactment of the separation of powers doctrine designed to a) avoid an excessive...
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