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For Americans who grew up with Western democratic values and traditions, the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances may sound common and obvious. But what if you’re from another country? Someone who grew up believing that only the monarch holds “all power” and alone could express “the last word?”

Honorable Mark S. Massa,’89, Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, recalls how one of his international Master of Laws students at IU McKinney expressed profound shock upon learning about the United States’ principle of separation of powers by three co-equal branches of government.

The student was answering a final exam question about separation of powers in Justice Massa’s Introduction to the American Legal System class. The student did this by recalling his first day of law school in his home country.  
“His class was told by its professor that the country’s monarch holds ‘all power’ and ‘the last word’,” Justice Massa said.

The student, according to Justice Massa, wrote: “Imagine how shocked I was to learn the meaning of federalism and separation of powers. The more I read of this principle, the more I admire it."

Justice Massa said he “was so heartened” by the student’s answer to his question on separation of powers.
Since he has been teaching international LL.M. students at IU McKinney for a number of years, Justice Massa has become accustomed to discussing principles and concepts of the American legal system with law graduates, lawyers, and legal professionals from different countries. “The students come from all over,” Justice Massa said. “Some from countries that inherited Western legal traditions to some degree, others from more authoritarian regimes. Wherever they come from, they are eager to learn and share their own experiences in ways that teach me, as well.”

In his class, taught exclusively to international LL.M. students, Justice Massa covers “everything from the basic architecture of the Constitution… to the civil and criminal justice systems, basic civil liberties, trial procedures and evidence rules, to the regulation of the legal profession and the countless ways of practicing law.”  

Justice Massa puts “a heavy emphasis on history, the Revolution, federalism and separation of powers.”
“My students have provided much resonance and frequent reminders of the importance of conveying these principles,” Justice Massa said. “It’s a privilege to teach lawyers from other countries about our system in such a broad survey course. I’m not shy in touting the virtues of a system of government and law where liberty and security are in constant tension and protected by dispersing power, nor do I ignore when it comes up short.”