Separation of Powers in the American Public Law
美国公法中的三权分立
It has already been intimated that Montesquieu’s theory（指孟德斯鸠的三权分立理论）of the separation of powers was made the basis of the system of government adopted in the United States at the end of the eighteenth century.A perusal of the writings of those men who influenced most profoundly the political thought of the time will reveal a practically unanimous 1acceptance of the theory.
我们都知道，孟德斯鸠的三权分立学说是美国在18世纪末组建政府体系的理论基础，一些熟读相关政治理论作品且在政治领域有很大影响力的学者认为，时间会证明，总有一天绝大多数的人都会接受这一理论。
The theory was accepted not ,however ,as a scientific theory but as a legal rule. Many of the state constitutions, which either were adopted soon after the American revolution or have been put into force since , contain clauses known as “distributing clauses,” of which that contained in the constitution of Massachusetts（马萨诸塞州）may be taken as a most forcible example. Article 30 of the first constitution of Massachusetts provides that “in the government of this common-wealth the legislative department shall never exercise the executive or judiciary powers or either of them；the executive shall never exercise the legislative or judicial powers or either of them；the judiciary shall never exercise the legislative or executive powers or either of them,to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.” Other constitutions, of which the constitution of the United States is one , provide that the legislative power shall be vested in a legislature, that the executive power shall be vested in a President or governor , and that the judicial power shall be vested in certain courts.Such provisions,however ,are held to have practically the same legal effect as the distributing clause in the Massachusetts constitution, on the theory th at “affirmative（肯定的）words are often , in their operation , negative of other objects than those affirmed.”
这个理论并没有被全面接受，更多的时候它只是一个科学的理论而不是法律规章。许多州的宪法，都是在美国革命后被调整或者才被实行的，所包含的条例被称为“分配条例”，而它包含在马萨诸塞州的宪法是最具有说服力的例子。马萨诸塞州的第一部宪法的第三十条指出：‘作为公共机构的政府立法部门不能行使行政权力和司法权力中的任何一个’，行政部
门不能行使立法权力和司法权力，司法部门也不能行驶立法权力和行政权力。到最后，它所针对的是政府法律而不单单是一个人。在其他宪法，比如美国宪法，认为应该给立法部门赋予立法权力，行政权力应该归属总统或者州长，而司法权应该归属特定的法院。因而，这样的规定实际上与马萨诸塞州宪法中的“分权条例”具有同等的法律效力。理论层面上，我们一般只会看到积极的那一方面，但是具体操作起来，所遇到的困难会比预期的多！
As a result of these constitutional provisions, it is said by the United States Supreme Court, Justice Miller giving the opinion ：
“that all the powers entrusted to government, whether state or national, are divided into the three grand departments, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.That the functions appropriate to each of these branches of government shall be vested in a separate（单独的）body of public servants , and that the perfection of the system requires that the lines which separate and divide these departments shall be broadly and clearly defined.It is also essential to the successful working
of this system that the persons intrusted with power in any one of these branches shall not be permitted to encroach upon the powers confided to the others, but that each shall by tile law of its creation be limited to the exercise of the powers appropriate to its own department and no other.”
鉴于这些法律条文的影响，美国最高法院，米勒法官给予的意见：
“国家、政府或者国家的全部权力，分配到其中的三大部门，分别是行政部门、立法部门和司法部门。在一个固定的公务员体系中，公共职能应该适当的分配到政府的每一个分支机构，同时，一个完善的系统需要广泛和明确地界定各部门分离的界线。这个系统的另一个成功之处就是在系统的分支机构中也不允许把权力授予个人而去侵犯其他人的权利。每一个普通法的建立都应该明确限制每个部门的使用权力且不能越权。
It is, however , to be noticed that the provisions of the United States constitution to which reference has been made do not in any way affect the states in this respect, — do not, for example, forbid a state legislature from exercising judicial power.
然而，值得注意的是，美国宪法明确规定，不能通过任何方式去干扰三权分立这一理论原则，——例如，严禁立法机构行使司法权力。
The Meaning of the Rule in American Law
While it is a rule of American public law that the powers of government which are
