Seperation of Powers (pun intended)

CSGnet Archive CSG2011
1

Hi all,

Just sharing some thoughts.

The separation of powers can be found in many modern constitutions; it
is also one of the foundaments of the United States Constitution. As
states are organizations, I suspect one could find some control systems
in its core structure. A single control loop is depicted in the following
with the theory that the seperation of powers can be modelled as a CS.

             Legislative branch
                     >
                     V
            .------->C--------.
            > >
            > V
     Jucidial branch Executive branch
            ^ |
            > V

                 The People

  - The legislative would constitute the reference signal as they enact
    the laws which can be seen as a describtion of the goal state or at
    least the boundaries a goal state is in;
  - the jucidial branch would determine to what degree each sensor signal
    (that can really be anything that is valid in court) contributes to a
    given reference signal. In other words, this branch decides, wether
    a law applies to an individual/organization or not.
  - Finally, the task of the executive branch is to arrange counter-
    measures whenever the error between the observed behaviour and the
    reference values (laws) are above a threshold.

I haven't thought about that too long, so I'd be very pleased to
get some sceptical objections. This way there would need to be an instance
of the control loop for each bill/law/act and each person/organization.

All the best,
Hannes Gr�uler

2

[Martin Lewitt Jan 13, 2011 1344 MST]

The constitution is also part of the reference signal that each branch is supposed to consider (not just the judicial branch). The people serving on the jury must also consider the reference signal since they are a check on government power, hold the government to its burden of proof and also able to judge the law itself.

Martin L

···

On 1/13/2011 12:06 PM, Hannes Gr�uler wrote:

Hi all,

Just sharing some thoughts.

The separation of powers can be found in many modern constitutions; it
is also one of the foundaments of the United States Constitution. As
states are organizations, I suspect one could find some control systems
in its core structure. A single control loop is depicted in the following
with the theory that the seperation of powers can be modelled as a CS.

            Legislative branch
                    >
                    V
           .------->C--------.
           > >
           > V
    Jucidial branch Executive branch
           ^ |
           > V

                The People

- The legislative would constitute the reference signal as they enact
   the laws which can be seen as a describtion of the goal state or at
   least the boundaries a goal state is in;
- the jucidial branch would determine to what degree each sensor signal
   (that can really be anything that is valid in court) contributes to a
   given reference signal. In other words, this branch decides, wether
   a law applies to an individual/organization or not.
- Finally, the task of the executive branch is to arrange counter-
   measures whenever the error between the observed behaviour and the
   reference values (laws) are above a threshold.

I haven't thought about that too long, so I'd be very pleased to
get some sceptical objections. This way there would need to be an instance
of the control loop for each bill/law/act and each person/organization.

All the best,
Hannes Gr�uler