Identify the incorrect statement:

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 4:

The question asks to identify the incorrect statement among the quotes provided. The correct option is 4 because the statement attributed to J. S. Mill regarding the three roots of powers is factually incorrect in its attribution and content when compared to the original source of this theory. The classification of governmental powers into three distinct branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—is most famously and systematically articulated by the French political philosopher **Baron de Montesquieu** in his seminal 1748 work, *The Spirit of the Laws*. Montesquieu argued that for political liberty to exist, these three powers must be separated and entrusted to different organs of the state. The quote provided lists three powers: "the legislative; the executive in respect to law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law." This is an almost exact reference to **John Locke's** classification in his *Second Treatise of Government* (1689), where he identified the Legislative, Executive, and Federative powers (the "Federative" power dealing with foreign relations, or the "law of nations"). Therefore, the statement describing the three powers is based on Locke's theory, but the attribution to J. S. Mill is incorrect, making the entire statement *incorrect* in the context of this question. John Stuart Mill, a prominent 19th-century liberal thinker, primarily focused on liberty, utilitarianism, and representative government, not the fundamental separation of powers in the way described.

The incorrect option is 1:

The statement, "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the governments fear the people, there is liberty," is a well-known quote highly consistent with the political philosophy of Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of the American Revolution. Paine's works, particularly *Common Sense* and *The American Crisis*, championed popular sovereignty, republicanism, and limited government, arguing against unchecked monarchical or governmental power. The quote accurately captures his anti-tyrannical stance, emphasizing that true liberty rests on the government's accountability to and healthy apprehension of the populace's power. Since the quote correctly reflects Paine's ideology and is widely attributed to him, this is a correct statement, and thus, an incorrect answer to the question asking for the *incorrect* statement.

The incorrect option is 2:

The statement attributed to N. A. Palkhivala is a true and accurate reflection of the core argument he presented in the landmark Indian Supreme Court case, *Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala* (1973). Palkhivala, one of India's most respected constitutional lawyers, argued that Parliament, deriving its power to amend the Constitution from the Constitution itself, cannot use that power to destroy the fundamental structure or identity of the document that created it. He famously asserted that the "creature" (Parliament) cannot become the "master" by destroying its "creator" (the Constitution). This principle led to the Supreme Court's establishment of the "Basic Structure Doctrine," which limits Parliament's power to amend the Constitution. Because this quote perfectly encapsulates Palkhivala's actual, decisive legal argument in this historic case, it is a correct statement.

The incorrect option is 3:

This quote, "The donee of a limited power cannot, by the exercise of that very power, convert the limited power into an unlimited one," is also a legal principle that N. A. Palkhivala used to strengthen his argument in the *Kesavananda Bharati* case. A "donee" is someone who receives a gift or, in this context, a grant of power (Parliament), and the limited power refers to Article 368, the amending power. Palkhivala contended that the power granted to Parliament for amendment is limited and cannot be transformed into an absolute power to rewrite the entire Constitution. This quote is often cited as a summary of the underlying constitutional philosophy behind the Basic Structure Doctrine: if a power is limited in scope, using that power cannot logically remove its initial limitations. Since this quote correctly conveys another facet of Palkhivala's actual legal philosophy and argument, it is a correct statement.