Law documents usedThis report mainly uses the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2013,promulgated by the 13 term of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of V
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY HCMC CAMPUS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND LAW -o0o - THE SEPARATION OF POWERS IN THE VIETNAMESE LEGAL SYSTEM, CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS AND CHECKS AND BALANCES UNDER THE VIETNAM CONSTITUTION INTRODUCTION TO LAW Final Assignment - Report Academic year: 2022-2023 Grade (in number) Grade (in words) Examiner 1’s signature Examiner 2’s signature Invigilator 1’s signature Invigilator 2’s signature Course code: PLUE111-ML528 Lecturer: LLM Tran Thanh Tam Author: Le Manh Tuan No.: 28 Student ID: 2212585029 Class: K61CLC7 (DC61TTMKC2) Group: 01 HO CHI MINH CITY, FEBUARY 13, 2023 TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION .4 Context of the report Purpose of the report Key highlights .4 Law documents used CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ON SEPARATION OF POWERS .6 Aristotle and the “Politics” 1.1 The background 1.2 Three elements forming the government Montesquieu and the “Spirits of the Laws” .7 2.1 The background and report’s foundation 2.2 Three branches of power 2.3 Criticism related to Montesquieu’s ideology CHAPTER II: THE SEPARATION OF POWERS IN THE VIETNAMESE LEGAL SYSTEM The legislative branch of the Vietnamese legal system .9 The executive branch of the Vietnamese legal system 10 The judicial branch of the Vietnamese legal system 11 The interrelationship between branches 12 4.1 The total power that the People possess 12 4.2 The reality in controlling power .12 CHAPTER III: CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS REGARDING THE VIETNAM CONSTITUTION 13 Primary restraints .13 Restraints in exercising power and maintaining rights 14 2.1 Individual rights 14 2.2 The exercising of the legal state bodies 14 CHAPTER IV: CHECKS AND BALANCES SYSTEM IN THE VIETNAM CONSTITUTION .16 The basis for a “checks and balances” system 16 The importance of a “checks and balances” system in Vietnam 16 The appearance of the “checks and balances” system in Vietnam 17 CONCLUSION 19 Summary 19 Recommendation 19 REFERENCES 20 INTRODUCTION Context of the report Throughout history, humans have attempted to regulate nations using sophisticated legal systems that benefit one or more classes Such legal power was either concentrated in ancient times and the Middle Ages or dispersed after the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries The latter period, in particular, had contributed to the growth of democracy, with the separation of powers first implemented during the French Revolution Since then, many heads of state and governments throughout the world have actively embraced the philosophy of “separation of powers”, or trias politica, to offer appropriate powers to associated authorities while decentralizing authority within one's hands Vietnam, however, not associate with such doctrine but rather centralized legal power onto citizens In fact, its government does consist of separate entities that exercise legislative, executive, and judicial powers and they work together in harmony in an attempt to depict the “citizens” or “people” factor of the Vietnamese regime Purpose of the report This report will discuss how Vietnam has implemented and adapted the division of powers into its legal system, which is primarily coagulated under the people’s hands, and how different bodies of the states collaborate to pursue unity and harmony under the Vietnamese Communist Party’s leadership It will also explore and research the Vietnam Constitution in 2013 (hereby written as Constitution) in order to shed light on its constitutional constraints and “checks and balances” feature within itself As a result, it aims to address the question of whether there is separation of powers in the Vietnamese legal system, and how such theory has been modified and adapted to match the Vietnamese ruling regime, and if there are control measures in place Key highlights Vietnam does not incorporate the doctrine of Montesquieu on “separation of powers” but instead, uses a unified and concentrated system of power with the owner being the citizens or the people However, to ensure the proper enactment of legal activities, the Constitution has delegated the three types of power to related bodies An urgent problem arises regarding the corruption and deterioration of leaders’ mindsets, and thus, there requires a strict guideline from the documents of the Party and the Heads of the state to supervise, examine and exercise trials to ensure that all activities comply with honesty, adequate, and objective 4 Law documents used This report mainly uses the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2013, promulgated by the 13th term of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam However, to support the ideas relating to historical basis of several key points, the Constitution of Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1946 and 1959, which will be cited and written in the References section at the end of the report CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ON SEPARATION OF POWERS Aristotle and the “Politics” One of the first pioneer in the ideology of separating powers within the states is Aristotle His work, “Politics,” had laid the foundation and given preliminary guidance to law makers and country rulers During his times, he had observed the behavior and the flow of work between different bodies of government that ruled the states He stated that “all states have three elements [ ] When they are well-ordered, the state is well-ordered” (Aristotle, 1885) This implies that the activities of these three entities have significant impact upon the stability of the state Although separate in terms of scopes of legal authority covered, they should work together to provide sufficient care towards the citizens and the society that they are managing As a consequence, the welfare of the state is properly maintained in numerous aspects For the first element, Aristotle believed that it should “deliberates about public affairs” (Aristotle, 1885) This entity is tightly attached to the authority in declaring decisions upon diplomatic relations, i.e., declaring war, peace or forming alliances of any kind On the other hand, this element also has power upon passing laws and audits the accounts of magistrates We can clearly see that he had laid a primitive guideline and connections of the first body and the magistrates, who would be mentioned in the following element In modern terms, it can be seen that Aristotle had discovered the role and importance of an entity that would passes laws and maintain relationships with neighboring nations, in other words, the legislative entity The number of seats appointed to this varies from different form of governance For the second element, he claimed that it should “concern with the magistrates” (Aristotle, 1885) and execute the laws passed by the first element This entity also takes care of the citizens’ affairs, ranging from infrastructure to military concerns We could modernly call this the executive entity that would mainly interpret the laws For the third element, the judicial entity, Aristotle argued about the sophisticated formation of such entity He was concerned about the types of law courts, the quantity and quality of judges (Aristotle, 1885) Whether the formation of such courts is affected by the Document continues below Discover more from: Introduction to Law PLUE111 Trường Đại học… 31 documents Go to course Introduction TO LAW 10 - Note of the lecture'… Introduction to Law 100% (3) Parliamentary Democracy Introduction to Law 100% (1) Criminal law Civil proceeding Introduction to Law 100% (1) Final report Introduction to Law Introduction to Law 100% (1) Session 13 - plue111 Introduction to Law 100% (1) Indirect taxes form of government is also discussed in his work Additionally, such deliberate divisions of customs excise tax… courts to address different cases was also thought to take proper2coverage over all aspects of Introduction crime Therefore, the complexity of courts was higher during Aristotle’s time, amongtothose who practiced his ideology into maintaining the justice of society Law From analyzing Aristotle’s work, we can see that only the separation of powers is stated and his work lacks the investigation and research upon the interrelationships among those powers Despite being primitive and preliminary in terms of separating powers, Aristotle’s “Politics” remains as the bedrock foundation for later generations to inherit and grow on Montesquieu and the “Spirits of the Laws” Montesquieu was a prominent French philosopher and political theorists who lived during the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century He is best known for his work “The Spirit of the Laws,” which provides a detailed analysis of political systems and the principles that underlie them One of the key ideas put forward in this work is the concept of the separation of powers, which has had a profound impact on political theory and constitutional law The separation of powers theory holds that state authorities should be divided into three different branches: legislative, executive, and judicial (Montesquieu, 1777) Each of these branches has a distinct role to fulfill in a country's government, and the power of each is constrained by the other two This system of “checks and balances” is meant to prevent any one branch from becoming overly dominant while also protecting citizens’ freedoms and rights This paper will use Montesquieu's definition and notion of the three branches of power as the primary basis, reference, and building blocks for the subsequent chapters Montesquieu claimed that the division of powers was important to prevent individuals in positions of authority from abusing their power (Montesquieu, 1777) He believed that power should be distributed evenly and that no single person or organization should exercise outsized influence over others Montesquieu argued that by dividing government powers, a country might prevent tyranny and ensure that the government functioned in the best interests of the people None Montesquieu argues in his work that the legislative arm of state should be in charge of establishing laws This section is in charge of representing the people and safeguarding their interests The legislative branch is made up of elected legislators who answer to their voters To prevent abuse of power, Montesquieu considered that this department of the state should be retained separate from the executive and judicial branches The executive power is in charge of the law enforcement, which is promulgated by the legislative branch that Montesquieu mentioned earlier, in such a manner that maintain the essence of just and fairness This branch often consists of the government, with its head being the President or the Prime Minister Lastly, Montesquieu contended that the judicial branch should be in charge of law interpretation and enforcement This department is made up of judges who oversee resolving conflicts and preserving the legal system Montesquieu thought that the judicial branch should be separate from the legislative and executive branches in order to avoid political intervention and ensure that justice is accomplished The separation of powers has become a cornerstone of democratic government and is incorporated in many nations' constitutions across the world It has been a key component of the United States Constitution from its establishment (Spurlin, 1984, Chapter 7)and has been adopted by many other countries This system has been recognized with preventing abuses of power, encouraging transparency and accountability, and safeguarding individual rights and liberties However, the separation of powers is not without its critics Some argue that it can lead to inefficiency and gridlock in government, making it difficult for laws to be passed or for action to be taken on critical issues Others argue that the system is too rigid and can prevent the government from responding quickly to changing circumstances Notably, Karl Marx has stated that the separation of powers, “in reality is just a mediocre division of labor in industry, applied to the state apparatus for the purpose of simplifying and controlling.” (Karl & Friedrich, 1993) CHAPTER II: THE SEPARATION OF POWERS IN THE VIETNAMESE LEGAL SYSTEM In this chapter, the problem of whether Vietnam has incorporated any preceding doctrine to its legal system will be discussed The division of legal power had primarily been stated in the very first Constitution of Vietnam in 1946 (The National Assembly of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1946, arts 22, 23, 52, 63) However, it is noted that since the promulgation of the Constitution of Vietnam in 1959, Vietnamese legal system uses a unified power system rather than separating powers in accordance to the aforementioned doctrine of trias politca (The National Assembly of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1959, art 4) Furthermore, the unification of the three legal branches is emphasized in the latest Constitution under Article 2, point 1, and as: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam State is a socialist rule of law State of the people, by the people, and for the people The people are the masters of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam State; all state powers belong to the people whose base is the alliance between the working class, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia The State powers are unified and distributed to state bodies, which shall coordinate with and control one another in the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary powers (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 2) Despite being unified, the state still divides certain part of the legal system to corresponding branches in order to operate harmonically under the supervision of the people as the total coagulation of power will not be effective in terms of operation efficiency The legislative branch of the Vietnamese legal system The legislative branch of the Vietnamese legal system consists of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (hereby written as the National Assembly), which is regulated in Article 69 of the Constitution: The National Assembly is the highest representative organ of the people and the highest organ of State power of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam The National Assembly exercises constitutional and legislative powers, decides significant national affairs, and exercise supreme control over all activities of the State (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 69) Furthermore, the rights and duties of the National Assembly is defined clearly in the consequent article 70, point 1: The National Assembly has the following duties and powers: To make and amend the Constitution; to make and amend laws (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 70.1) This means that, the National Assembly has power over drafting and promulgating legal documents such as the Constitution, Codes, or laws Such power fits the ideology of how a legislative branch should operate according to Montesquieu However, it should be denoted that the total legislative right of making and amending the Constitution belongs to the people of public, with the National Assembly being the supreme representative of the people’s council The executive branch of the Vietnamese legal system The executive branch of the Vietnamese legal system is responsible for implementing the laws and policies established by the legislative branch The executive branch is responsible for overseeing a wide range of government functions, including national defense and security, foreign affairs, economic development, and social welfare programs It is also responsible for appointing officials to various government agencies and departments, and for enforcing the laws and regulations established by the legislative branch The head of the executive branch is the government with the Prime Minister, Ministers and head of ministerial agencies as in: Article 94 The Government is the executive organ of the National Assembly, exercise the executive power, and is the highest organ of State administration of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam The Government is accountable to the National Assembly and shall make its reports to the National Assembly, its Standing Committee, and the State President Article 95 10 The Government shall be composed of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, the Ministers, and heads of organs of ministerial rank The structure and numbers of members of the Government are decided by the National Assembly The Government shall operate as a collegium and take its decisions by a vote of the majority Prime Minister is the head of the Government, is accountable before the National Assembly on the activities of the Government and assigned duties, and shall report to the National Assembly, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee, and the State President on the activities of the Government and the Prime Minister The Deputy Prime Ministers shall assist the Prime Minister in the performance of his duties, as required by him, and are accountable to the Prime Minister In the absence of the Prime Minister, one of his Deputies shall be delegated by him to direct the work of the Government The Ministers and Heads of organs of ministerial ranks shall be personally accountable to the Prime Minister, the Government, and the National Assembly on their respective fields and branches, and shall be, together with other members of the Government, collectively accountable for the activities of the Government (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, arts 94, 95) Overall, the executive branch in Vietnam plays a significant role in the country's legal system, and its close relationship with the Communist Party can help its ability to carry out its functions effectively The judicial branch of the Vietnamese legal system The judicial branch of the Vietnamese legal system is in fact, different from other related branches in other countries Aside from having courts ranging from Provincial to the Supreme Court to execute the judicial power, Vietnam also has a system of institutes to control and ensure proper judicial activities called the people’s procuracies as stated: Article 102 The people’s courts are the judicial organ of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, exercising the judicial power 11 Article 107 The people's procuracies shall exercise the power to prosecution and control judicial activities (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 102.1, 107.1) Primarily, the People’s courts will exercise judicial power and the People’s procuracies will ensure that the former bodies make the proper decisions towards the right people, thereby maintaining justice for the entire trial The interrelationship between branches Looking back at the point 3, article of the Constitution It is clear that the legal powers are unified and concentrated under the people of Socialist Republic of Vietnam Therefore, there is no such doctrine as the trias politica (or the separation of powers according to Montesquieu) appears in the Vietnamese ruling regime However, due to the fact that the Vietnamese people can practice democracy through direct and indirect method (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 6), the three types of power are distributed to bodies of representative, namely the National Assembly, the Courts and the Government These three state bodies shall act in coordination with each other and control the activities of one another in such a manner that ensure the stability of the country and the happiness of the citizens The flow of law promulgation should first begin from the drafting and promulgation in the National Assembly, which is then clarified and exercised nationally and regionally with the power of the Government and is ensure proper execution by the courts and the procuracies In order to mitigate and enforce the tight relationships between the branches, Heads of the States and the Party have defined methods which are written in the Documents of The 12 th National Party Congress as such: “[…] must control the power in every level, in every department” (“Đại hội Đại biểu toàn quốc lần thứ XII Đảng,” 2016; Nguyen, 2018) As stated, the problem of controlling power, especially legal power, is one of the main barriers that our Party and the State must overcome and derive sophisticated measures in order to ensure a streamlined flow of administrative procedures 12 CHAPTER III: CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS REGARDING THE VIETNAM CONSTITUTION Primary restraints In the Vietnamese Constitution, the basis of constitutional restraints appears in Article and 8, primarily stating the Constitution and the laws are ultimate embodiment of the citizen’s will, and thus, the activities of mentioned entities should comply with the Constitution and the laws These restraints are designed to ensure that the government operates in a manner consistent with the rule of law and the protection of individual rights and freedoms Article The Communist Party of Vietnam, the vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, simultaneously the vanguard of the toiling people and of the Vietnamese nation, the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the toiling people, and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and Ho Chi Minh’s thought is the leading force of the State and society The Communist Party of Vietnam maintains intimate contact with the people, serves the people, submits to people’s supervision, and is accountable to the people in its decisions All Party organizations and members of the Communist Party of Vietnam operate within the framework of the Constitution and the laws Article The State is organized and operates in concordance with the Constitution and the laws, governs the society by the Constitution and the laws, and practices the principle of democratic centralism All State agencies, cadres, officials and employees must show respect for the people, devotedly serve the people, maintain close contact with the people, listen to their opinions and submit to their supervision; resolutely struggle against corruption, wastefulness and all manifestations of bureaucracy, arrogance, authoritarianism (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, arts 4, 8) 13 Restraints in exercising power and maintaining rights Another important constitutional restraint is the protection of individual rights and freedoms in Article 14 Article 14 In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, political, civic, economic, cultural, and social human rights and citizen’s rights are recognized, respected, protected, and guaranteed in concordance with the Constitution and the law Human rights and citizen’s rights shall only be restricted in imperative circumstances for the reasons of national defense, national security, social order and security, social morality, and the health of the community (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 14) This principle is further elaborated on in other articles of the Constitution, which guarantee freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and a host of other individual rights The Constitution imposes additional restrictions on the use of power by mandating that legislation be passed in line with accepted legal practices Article 70 of the Constitution, for example, provides that “The National Assembly has the power to make and amend the Constitution and laws; to decide on national policies, strategies and plans; and to exercise supreme supervision over all activities of the State” (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 70) This implies that the National Assembly must approve legislation, and the legislative process must be open, transparent, and available to public inspection The Vietnamese Constitution also places constraints on the exercise of government power by requiring that the government operate in a manner consistent with the principles of socialism and the public interest as stated in Article 2, point and Article The Socialist Republic of Vietnam State is a socialist rule of law State of the people, by the people, and for the people 14 The people are the masters of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam State; all state powers belong to the people whose base is the alliance between the working class, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 2.1, 2.2) This means that the state agencies are supposed to act in the interests of the people, rather than any particular interest group 15 CHAPTER IV: CHECKS AND BALANCES SYSTEM IN THE VIETNAM CONSTITUTION The basis for a “checks and balances” system In Vietnam, the “checks and balances” system are the system of law itself that puts strict regulations upon the power of the three branches This system has been incorporated into the Constitution since the first Constitution in 1946 (The National Assembly of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1946) through numerous articles that put restrictions and veto powers upon entities The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong has stated that: “[…] have to lock power to the cages of law and legal mechanisms.” (Vu Duy, 2016) Those cages of law and mechanisms are metaphorically embodiment of the rules and articles provided by the Constitution and the Party’s Resolution Because when an entity possesses significant amount of power, ultimately being absolute, upon its hands, it will certainly lead to absolute deterioration of the behavior, namely corruption (N Le, 2022); thus, the Constitution has provided several methods for individual body to invigilate and lay constraints on each other It is noted however that this system of “checks and balances” does not comply entirely with the ideology of Montesquieu of “trias politca” but rather reinforced mechanisms of the laws to supervise and examine the activities of the three branches The importance of a “checks and balances” system in Vietnam For our country Vietnam, the “checks and balances” system is put under supervision of the Party, the State, and the people The documents of the 6th National Party Congress have stated that the mechanism for “checks and balances” in Vietnam should follow the ideology of that “The Party leads, the State overseers and manages, and the People are in control of everything” (Documents of the 6th National Party Congress, 1986) This means that although the state authorities can exercise legal powers such as the legislative, executive, or judicial, the voices of the people will remain the most powerful Therefore, all bodies of power should comply to the guidance stated by the aforementioned Documents as the role of “checks and balances” of the States in the construction of the Etat de droit (or the law-governed state) of Socialist Republic of Vietnam is “crucial and significant in portraying the conformity of the essence of power in the State” (T L Le, 2017) Should there not be any form of reinforcement of the system of “checks and balances” stated in the law, heads of state authorities might be corrupted and overuse their legal power to an extent that can lead to “group benefits” (Thai, 2018) Thus, the State should frequently enforce the restraints from the Constitution and establish examining committee to ensure that there should be no form of 16 corruption or mindset’s deterioration that could lead to detrimental effects on the people and the society The appearance of the “checks and balances” system in Vietnam In the latest Constitution, it has stated clearly that the National Assembly has related rights and duties upon the enactment of other state bodies Article 70 To exercise supreme control over conformity to the Constitution, the law and the resolutions of the National Assembly, to examine the reports of the State President, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Government, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, the National Commission of Election, the State Audit, and other organs created by the National Assembly; To regulate the organization and activity of the National Assembly, the State President, the Government, the People's Courts, the People's Procuracy, the National Council of Election., the State Audit, local governments, and other organs created by the National Assembly (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 70.3, 70.6) As the National Assembly has the power to “make and amend laws”, it also has the power to ensure that the leaders of the Judicial branch (The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy) exercise and use the laws properly, thus putting restrictions on the related branch Additionally, the National Assembly also controls the conformity of the Government’s executive documents relating to the laws promulgated Furthermore, as the National Assembly is the supreme representative of the people, voted by the people, in urgent circumstances or any needed cases, it can assemble a committee to supervise and examine the enactment of any other entities Article 78 In case of need, the National Assembly creates provisional committees to examine and check a proposal or investigate a certain problem (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 78) This may serve as an impactful and critical role in the examination and prevention of corruption and bureaucratic manipulation often seen in leaders or heads of the government 17 both locally and nationally In the National Conference of the Construction of the Party in 2017 (Ba Thang, 2017), General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong mentioned the weakness of administering government workforce is due to the lack of “checks and balances” directly opposing this problem (Cong Minh et al., 2018) Ergo, having a decent and adequate system of “checks and balances”, supported and examined by the National Assembly, will ensure that the mentioned problem will be mitigated From the above, the supervision in multiple aspects and bodies of the National Assembly is considered one of the most interesting features of the Constitution However, the judicial branch also possesses independence in exercising its judicial powers as mentioned in Point 2, of the Article 103 Article 103 The trials of the judges and assessors are independent and shall only obey the law; the interference into the trials of the judges and assessors by bodies, organizations, and individuals is strictly prohibited (The National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013, art 103.2) On the other hand, the supervision and powers of the judicial branch towards the executive branch are absent from the Constitution and the laws Thus, the system of “checks and balances” belongs to the people and not a single individual or entity, with the National Assembly being the supreme and ultimate representative of the citizens 18 CONCLUSION Summary After having explored the Vietnamese Constitution in 2013, it is clear and certain that Vietnam does not comply to the doctrine of “separation of powers” pioneered by Montesquieu in his work “The Spirits of the Laws” Instead, the total power and ownership of such legal capabilities belong to the people and the public, only the exercising of such power are distributed among state authority entities In particular, the highest representative of the people, The National Assembly, takes part in making and amending the law and the Constitution, or legislative activities It also supervises and invigilates the activities of the executive branch, the Government, and the judicial branch, the people’s courts and people’s procuracy All the branches work together in harmony and coherence to ensure the best outcome for a better growing society of the law-governed Socialist Republic of Vietnam Furthermore, there are a number of constitutional restraints mentioned in the Constitution Specifically, restraints related to the power, scope of surveillance and the extent of the constitution itself are stated quite clearly It is noticeable that all power, including legal power, belongs to the people and the people only; no single group of interest can affect such rights and freedoms Thus, the system of “checks and balances” also fits the Vietnamese ruling regime in the way that the people have the rights to observe, oversee, and examine the activities of all three branches of power while retaining the independence essence of the judicial branch to ensure objective justice is served Recommendation Despite the strict system of surveillance stated in the Constitution and other regulations, there still exists the corruption and overuse of power to one’s own benefits in the Vietnamese state apparatus Thus, to ensure that the state operates in accordance with the orientation ruled out by the Documents of the 6th and 12th National Congress Party, more detailed legislative guidelines and methods of accusation and sanctions should be amended among with the selfconsciousness of politicians and law makers It should also be noted that having a centralized legal system does not necessarily contradict to the idea of separation of powers in terms of execution and effectiveness Ergo, an approach to better law enforcement can be inherited from studying the doctrine that Montesquieu has defined before 19