The Spirit of Laws

Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws [l'Esprit des Lois] (1748, 1752 ed.). Translated from French to English by Thomas Nugent. All footnotes are included and have been converted to chapter endnotes. Spelling has been modernized.Translator’s Note to the Reader; Preface; AdvertisementBk 1 - Of Laws in General; Bk 2 - Of Laws Directly Derived from the Nature of Government; Bk 3 - Of the Principles of the Three Kinds of Government; Bk 4 - Education Ought to Relate to the Principles of Government; Bk 5 - The Legislator Ought to Relate to the Principle of Government; Bk 6 - Civil and Criminal Laws, the Form of Judgments, and Punishments; Bk 7 - Sumptuary Laws, Luxury, and the Condition of Women; Bk 8 - Of the Corruption of the Principles of the Three Governments; Bk 9 - Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to a Defensive Force; Bk 10 - Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to Offensive Force; Bk 11 - Political Liberty, with Regard to the Constitution; Bk 12 - Laws That Form Political Liberty, in Relation to the Subject; Bk 13 - Of the Relation Which Taxes and Public Revenues Bear to Liberty; Bk 14 - Of Laws in Relation to the Nature of the Climate; Bk 15 - Of Civil Slavery in Relation to the Nature of the Climate; Bk 16 - How the Laws of Domestic Slavery Relate to the Climate; Bk 17 - How the Laws of Political Servitude Relate to the Climate; Bk 18 - Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to the Nature of the Soil; Bk 19 - Of Laws Forming the General Spirit, Morals, and Customs of a Nation; Bk 20 - Of Laws in Relation to Commerce, in its Nature and Distinctions; Bk 21 - Of Laws in Relation to Commerce, in the Revolutions It Has Met; Bk 22 - Of Laws in Relation to the Use of Money; Bk 23 - Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to the Number of Inhabitants; Bk 24 - Of Laws in Relation to Religion, Considered in Itself, and Its Doctrine; Bk 25 - Of Laws in Relation to Establishments of Religion and External Polity; Bk 26 - Of Laws in Relation to the Order of Things Which They Determine; Bk 27 - Of the Origin and Revolutions of the Roman Laws on Successions; Bk 28 - Of the Origin and Revolutions of the Civil Laws among the French; Bk 29 - Of the Manner of Composing Laws; Bk 30 - Feudal Laws among the Franks in the Establishment of the Monarchy; Bk 31 - Feudal Laws among the Franks in the Revolutions of their Monarchy. Read more