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6 

PEREZ v. MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSN. 

THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment 

and  Authority  to  make  new  Lawes,  are  kept  in  severall 
hands, the  known Law is preserved, but united, it is van-
ished, instantly thereupon, and Arbytrary and Tyrannicall 
power  is  introduced.”    The  Royalist’s  Defence  80  (1648) 
(italics in original). 

John  Locke  and  Baron  de  Montesquieu  endorsed  and 
expanded  on  this  concept.  See  Vile  63–64.  They  agreed
with  the  general  theory  set  forth  in  The  Royalist’s  De-
fence, emphasizing the need for a separation of powers to
protect  individual  liberty.    J.  Locke,  Second  Treatise  of 
Civil  Government  §§143–144,  p.  72  (J.  Gough  ed.  1947);
Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws bk. XI, ch. 6, pp. 151–152 
(O. Piest ed., T. Nugent transl. 1949).  But they also advo-
cated  a  system  of  checks  and  balances  to  reinforce  that 
separation.  Vile  72–73,  102.    For  instance,  they  agreed
that the executive should have the power to assemble and 
dismiss the legislature and to consent to laws passed by it. 
See  Locke,  supra,  §§151,  156,  at  75,  77–78;  Montesquieu, 
Spirit of the Laws, at 157, 159.  Montesquieu warned that
“power  should  be  a  check  to  power”  lest  the  legislature
“arrogate to itself what authority it pleased . . . [and] soon
destroy all the other powers.”  Id., at 150, 157. 

The experience of the States during the period between
the  War  of  Independence  and  the  ratification  of  the  Con-
stitution  confirmed  the  wisdom  of  combining  these  theo-
ries.  Although  many  State  Constitutions  of  the  time 
included language unequivocally endorsing the separation 
of powers, they did not secure that separation with checks
and  balances,  Vile  147,  and  actively  placed  traditional 
executive  and 
legislature,
G. Wood,  The  Creation  of  the  American  Republic  1776–
1787,  pp.  155–156  (1969).  Under  these  arrangements,
state  legislatures  arrogated  power  to  themselves  and 
began to confiscate property, approve the printing of paper
money,  and  suspend  the  ordinary  means  for  the  recovery 

functions 

judicial 

in  the