A classic doctrine of liberal government, usually associated with the French philosopher Montesquieu (1689–1755), although the tripartite division was earlier suggested by Aristotle and Locke. In The Spirit of the Laws (1748), Montesquieu set out that the three branches of government—the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary—should be constitutionally separate from each other, both in function and in persons. The doctrine is enshrined in the US Constitution, which provides a formal separation of Congress, President, and Supreme Court. The separation, however, is not total and some collaboration, especially between President and Congress, is necessary if the system is to work. In the UK, the executive, formed from the majority in Parliament, dominates the legislature. The judiciary, however, is largely independent of legislative and executive processes, a separation that has become more pronounced in recent years: until 2005 the then head of the judiciary, the Lord Chancellor, was a member of the cabinet (executive) as well as the presiding officer of the House of Lords (legislature); and until 2009 the UK’s highest court was in theory the full House of Lords and in practice its Appellate Committee.