Editing Benjamin Constant (section)

===Constitutional monarchy===
Constant developed a new theory of constitutional monarchy, in which royal power was intended to be a neutral power, protecting, balancing and restraining the excesses of the other active powers (the executive, legislature, and [[judiciary]]). This was an advance on the prevailing theory in the English-speaking world, which, following the opinion of [[William Blackstone]], the 18th-century English [[jurist]], had regarded the King as head of the executive branch.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

In Constant's scheme, the executive power would be entrusted to a Council of Ministers (or Cabinet) who, although appointed by the King, were ultimately accountable to Parliament. In making this clear theoretical distinction between the powers of the King (as [[head of state]]) and the ministers (as Executive), Constant was responding to the political reality which had become apparent in Britain for more than a century: that is, the ministers, and not the King, are responsible actors, and the King "reigns but does not rule". This was important for the development of parliamentary government in France and elsewhere. The King was not to be a powerless cipher in Constant's scheme. He would have many powers, including the power to make judicial appointments, to dissolve the Chamber and call new elections, to appoint the [[peerage|peers]], and to dismiss ministers – but he would not be able to govern, make policy, or direct the administration, since that would be the task of the responsible ministers. This theory was literally applied in Brazil (1824) and Portugal (1826), where the King/Emperor was explicitly given "[[Moderating power (Empire of Brazil)|Moderating Powers]]" in addition to the executive power. Elsewhere (for example, the 1848 "Statuto albertino" of the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]], which later became the basis of the [[History of Italy|Italian]] constitution from 1861) the executive power was notionally vested in the King, but was exercised only by the responsible ministers. He advocated the [[separation of powers]] as a basis for a liberal State, but unlike [[Montesquieu]] and most of the liberal thinkers, he advocated four powers instead of three. They were:

# the Neutral Power of the Monarch,
# the Executive,
# the Legislative,
# the [[Judicial power|Judiciary]].
Thus the Moderating Power was a monarch, a type of judge, who was not part of government, but served as a neutral power to the government, the Executive Power was vested in the ministers that the monarch appointed and they were, collectively, the [[head of government]], the Representative Powers were a separation of the Monstesquieu's [[Legislative power]], with the Representative Power of Opinion being an elected body to represent the opinion of the citizenry and the Representative Power of Tradition was a hereditary House of Peers and the judiciary was similar to the Montesquieu's Judicial Power.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Culver|first1=John W.|last2=de Oliveira Torres|first2=Joao Camillo|date=May 1968|title=A democracia coroada. Teoria politica de Imperio do Brasil.|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=48|issue=2|pages=338|doi=10.2307/2510809|issn=0018-2168|jstor=2510809}}</ref> Constant's other concerns included a "new type of [[federalism]]": a serious attempt to decentralize French government through the devolution of powers to elected municipal councils. This proposal reached fruition in 1831, when elected municipal councils (albeit on a narrow [[suffrage|franchise]]) were created.