Montesquieu
French jurist whose Spirit of the Laws (1748) gave the founders the separation of powers.
Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.
Who he was
Montesquieu was a French jurist and the author of The Spirit of the Laws (1748).
Book XI of that work holds that "when the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty," that there is no liberty if the judicial power is not separated from both, and that power should be a check to power.
He also wrote the Persian Letters, a work of fiction told in letters by its characters.
Why he is at the Seat
Montesquieu is one of the fifteen writers on the Lutz-based roster. He is the Seat's source on the separation of powers as the founders' generation knew it.
What we hold
- Editions
- The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (4 vols., London: T. Evans, 1777), with The Spirit of Laws in Nugent's translation
- Size
- About 500,000 words. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
- Translation
- English translation. The Spirit of Laws: Thomas Nugent (1750). Every answer names the translator.
Known limits
- The Persian Letters are fiction: they are indexed as the words of their characters (Usbek, Rica), not as his own views.
- French originals are not included, and his notebooks (Mes Pensees) are under copyright. His own source footnotes are tagged as editorial.
Questions he answers well
The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.
- Why must the legislative, executive and judicial powers be kept separate?
Published answers
- What did Montesquieu say about slavery?
- What makes a federal republic strong?
- Can a republic be large?
- How does climate shape laws, according to Montesquieu?
- What principle sustains each kind of government: republic, monarchy, despotism?
- What is political liberty?
- Why must the legislative, executive and judicial powers be kept separate?
More in Prior Questions.