Branches of Government, Essay Example

There are three arms of government namely legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative consists of congress; house of the representatives and senate. It is also known legally as the legislature within a conceptual framework of the deliberate assembly. This body has the power to amend; pass and repeal laws. These laws are usually known as legislations or statutory laws. According to parliamentary system of governance the legislature is supreme (United Nations Development Program, 2013).

It also has power to appoint members from its house as the prime ministers/presidents. These persons function within an executive capacity in government. Most importantly, according to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature independent coexisting within equal powers as judiciary and the executive arms of government (United Nations Development Program, 2013)

Presidents and vice presidents mainly make up the executive arm of government. Its role is to exercise authority over the state and is responsible for legal administration of the country. Positions often used to execute laws are those of the head of state/head of government; defense; interior; foreign and fiancé minsters (United Nations Development Program, 2013).

The Supreme Court forms the judicial arm of government. This is a legal institution within government with the responsibility of interpreting laws design by ther legislature and applying them to every situation occurring within the society. Even though they do not make laws during the application process they are entrusted with powers to change them through a judicial review for them to be relevant within the judicatory context. Examples of laws which could be changed by the judiciary relate to the tort of negligence, which does not emerge from statute law in most common law jurisdictions (American Bar Association, 2004).

References

United Nations Development Program (2013). Democratic Governance. Retrieved on May10th,2013 from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/democraticgovernance/overview.html

American Bar Association (2004). How the Legal System Works: The Structure of the Court System, State and Federal Courts. Retrieved on May 10^th, 2013 from http://litigation.findlaw.com/legal-system/what-sorts-of-cases-do-state-courts-decide.html