Montesquieu: Of Laws Forming the General Spirit, Morals, and Customs of a Nation

The Spirit of Laws (1751)Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu

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Of Laws in Relation to the Principles Which Form the General Spirit, Morals, and Customs of a Nation1. Of the Subject of this Book.2. That it is necessary People's Minds should be prepared for the Reception of the best Laws.3. Of Tyranny.4. Of the general Spirit of Mankind.5. How far we should be attentive lest the general Spirit of a Nation be changed.6. That Everything ought not to be corrected.7. Of the Athenians and Laced monians.8. Effects of a sociable Temper.9. Of the Vanity and Pride of Nations.10. Of the Character of the Spaniards and Chinese.11. A Reflection.12. Of Customs and Manners in a despotic State.13. Of the Behaviour of the Chinese.14. What are the natural Means of changing the Manners and Customs of a Nation.15. The Influence of domestic Government on the political.16. How some Legislators have confounded the Principles which govern Mankind.17. Of the peculiar Quality of the Chinese Government.18. A Consequence drawn from the preceding Chapter.19. How this Union of Religion, Laws, Manners, and Customs among the Chinese was effected.20. Explanation of a Paradox relating to the Chinese.21. How the Laws ought to have a Relation to Manners and Customs.22. The same Subject continued.23. How the Laws are founded on the Manners of a People.24. The same Subject continued.25. The same Subject continued.26. The same Subject continued.27. How the Laws contribute to form the Manners, Customs, and Character of a Nation. FOOTNOTES
   1. They cut out the tongues of the advocates, and cried, "Viper, don't hiss." -- Tacitus.
   2. Agathias, iv.
   3. Justin, xxxviii.
   4. Calumnias litium -- Ibid.
   5. Tacitus.
   6. He has described this interview, which happened in 1596, in the Collection of Voyages that Contributed to the Establishment of the East India Company, iii, part I, p. 33.
   7. Book liv. 17, p. 532.
   8. Fable of the Bees.
   9. The people who follow the khan of Malacamber, those of Carnataca and Coromandel, are proud and indolent; they consume little, because they are miserably poor; while the subjects of the Mogul and the people of Hindostan employ themselves, and enjoy the conveniences of life, like the Europeans. -- Collection of Voyages that Contributed to the Establishment of the East India Company, i, p. 54.
   10. See Dampier, iii.
   11. Edifying Letters, coll. xil, p. 80.
   12. Book xliii. 2.
   13. By the nature of the soil and climate.
   14. Father Du Halde, ii.
   15. Father Du Halde.
   16. Moses made the same code for laws and religion. The old Romans confounded the ancient customs with the laws.
   17. See Father Du Halde.
   18. See the classic books from which Father Du Halde gives us some excellent extracts.
   19. It is this which has established emulation, which has banished laziness, and cultivated a love of learning.
   20. See the reasons given by the Chinese magistrates in their decrees for proscribing the Christian religion. Edifying Letters, coll. xvii.
   21. See iv. 3, xix. 13.
   22. See xxiv. 3.
   23. Lange, Journal in 1721 and 1722; in Voyages to the North, viii, p. 363.
   24. Plutarch, Solon.
   25. Laws, xii.
   26. Ibid., xii.
   27. In simplum.
   28. Livy, xxxviii.
   29. Institutes, ii. tit. 6, ° 2. Ozel's compilation, Leyden, 1658.
   30. Ibid., ii., De Pupil. substit. ° 3.
   31. The form of the vulgar substitution ran thus: "If such a one is unwilling to take the inheritance, I substitute in his stead," &c.; the pupillary substitution: "If such a one dies before he arrives at the age of puberty, I substitute," &c.
   32. Book iii, tit. 5, ° 5.
   33. Leg. 8, Cod., De Repud.
   34. And the law of the Twelve Tables. See Cicero, Philipp., ii. 69.
   35. Si verberibus qua ingenuis aliena sunt, afficientem probaverit.
   36. In Nov. 117, cap. xiv.
   37. Chapter 6.