MontesquieuThe Spirit of the Laws

11/3/2011 2:45:00 PM

Foreword In this book when he says virtue he means political virtue; political virtue is not a moral or Christian virtueit is simply the love of homeland and the love of equality. Political virtue drives republics and honor drives monarchies but it is not like they are not in the other one. Also a good man is not a Christian good man, but a man who loves and acts out of that love for the laws of his country Book 1

Laws are the necessary relations deriving from the nature of things. God made all the laws and the laws of the physical world are very cut and dry, no questions asked. The laws of the intelligent world (among intelligent beingsmen) are much more murky because men violate the laws he and god established because he is subject to error and to a thousand passions. Philosophers turn him towards himself by reminding him of the laws of morality and legisaltors return him to his duties by reminding him of civil and political laws. When societies arise the state of war (inter and intra state ) so laws must be applied o RIGHT OF NATIONSbtwn nations most good in peace and least ill in war o POLITICAL RIGHTbtwn the governing and the governedthe best set up is one that is most in conjunction with the disposition of the people The union of individual strengths is political state o CIVIL RIGHTamong all citizensvery specific to that group of people and only that group of people The union of individual wills is civil state

Book 2

There are three types of government: republic, monarch and despotic Both democracies (ppl monarchs) and aristocracies(ppl subjects) are republics. The laws that are fundamental in democracies are: establishing who can votethe greater the number the more democratic; the way of

casting (lot-d vs choice-a); way ballots are cast (secret-a vs publicd); who makes the decisions (the people alone). In an aristocracy, power in the hands of few and the laws are to their execution and the people are nothing but subjects to them. An aristocracy is more perfect the more of a democracy it is and is less perfect the more of a monarchy it is. In monarchial constitutions the princes power must flow through intermediate and subordinate channels, the most important of which is the nobility because of its natural power. It checks the prince and the abolishment of it woud lead to either a popular or despotic state. The must also be a body that can bring the laws that are necessary or have been forgotten back to light for the people, the nobility and the prince. The despot is lazy and ignorant so delegates power to others, but they fight so he appoints one vizir to do all his work for him. This is a fundamental law.

Book 3

Nature of govt is what makes it (particular structure) and principle is what makes it act (human passions). Laws so work with both. The principle of democracy is virtue, it makes it work and is not as necessary in other forms because when virtue is lacking, ambition sets in, and ambition, while counter to democracy, is not counter to monarchy and despotism. Moderation of virtue is the principle of aristocracy; needed because the nobles need to see that their laws apply to themselves, buy not as much because they are repressing the people to some extent. Virtue is not the spring of monarchies, it is not excluded, but it is not the spring. Instead the principle of monarchy is honordemamding preferences and distinctionsbecause there are preeminences and ranks. Thus ambition is good in a monarchy Honor is dangerous in a despot government because self-esteem could lead to revolution so FEAR is the principle of said form because it can beat down everyones courage and the slightest

ambition. And plus you cant honor your self more than others when you are all slaves The limitation to obedience in a despotic state is religion because even the prince is subject to that, and the limitation of obedience in a monarchy is honor because that is what reigns supreme. All these princeiples are not excluded from the other forms, its just that without these principles, the respective forms would be imperfect.

Book 5That laws given by the legislator should be relative to the principle of that government Laws given by a legislator must be in relation to the principle of the government Virtue in a republic is love of the republic and the homeland. In a democracy this means love of equality nd by extension love of frugality bc the only way to achieve equality is through common frugality. In order to have people love these things, create laws that make them live with them; in essence, the laws inspire virtue instead of the virtue inspiring the laws. Other ways of maintaining virtue in a republic are: to have a senate that recalls men to old maxims of virtue; being able to work hard to climb back to the best part of the government; senators appointed for life if goal is to rule the depository mores and temporarily if to plan public business; and use laws to supplement paternal authority. Hard to be virtuous in the democratic sense in an aristocracy because it is so unequal, so the the virtue of an aristocracy is moderation because it moves the nobles back to a relative equality with the governed and amongst themselves. The laws of a monarchy should relate to honor by establishing heredity so that honor is maintained within families. Monarchies have the advantage of being quicker to action than republics, but laws should introduce slowness in order to remedy abuses that can result from swift actions of one person. Monarchies are much more stable than despotic governments because there are the institutions that the monarch depends on;

these institutions keep the monarchs or the people from carrying to the excess. He raises multiple good questions such as, how does the prince reconcile his own safety with the safety of the state by way of a present army? By extension how is individual safety of a citizen reconciled with the common safety? Some downfalls of a despotic government are: that religion adds fear; if the prince claims ownership of everything then it all gets neglected; if there is no set line of succession (as there so often isnt with a despot) then that leads to instability; and commerce is difficult in a despotic government A moderate government combines powers and regulates them. Power is more thoughtfully distributed in a monarchy which is why it is more moderate. The will of the prince is instantaneous and unstable, even if he is wise, the law is according to his will so others can never truly know it. Presents work with despots bc superior owes nothing to inferior, but does not work in republic and monarchy bc virtue and honor. Only go to war in a republic to defend laws and the homeland; in a monarchy go to war for glory, honor, and fortune.

Book 8On the corruption of the principles of the three governments Governments are corruoted when their principles are corrupted Democracies are corrupted when the people become unequal and conversely whent hey become too equal. They think themselves equal to those who govern and then want to govern themselves; this leads to corruption and corruption then leads to despotism o Side notegood quoteIn the state of nature, men are born in equality, but they cannot remain so. Society makes them lose their equality, and they become equal again only through laws. Aristocracies are corrupted when the power of the nobility becomes arbitrary, when the offices become hereditary and

when there are many nobles in the aristocracy that the virtue is lessened. (however this makes the republic less violent) Monarchs corrupted when the prince doesnt rule within the restriction of the laws and removes the intermediaries, because his false vain, his extreme self-esteem, his too-large self-honor. Its really not that bad going from republic to monarchy or viceversa, bc they both are moderate governments; what sucks is going from moderate to despotic Despotic governments cant really be corrupted because they are corrupt by nature. If they are corrupted then that means they move to an uncorrupt state of government. A republic that maintains its virtues can have bad laws become good ones out of that virtue The only way to fix corruption is to purge the source of that corruption. Corruption is impossible when there is virtue; it arises when virtue is absent, it sneaks through the cracks and fills the hole that virtue left. A republic must remain small, for lots of land leads to little moderation of spirits. o Important side thought: The people of a republic must be able to be satisfied. Satisfied with being equal, satisfied with being equal, satisfied with their love of their homeland, satisfied with their amount of land etc. A monarchy needs to be medium sized so that the intermediate powers are do not cease to obey the prince as the distance from him grows. A despotic state is large. A large state needs a despot because it needs swift resolutions and needs fear to stem the tide of neglect by far off governors and magistrates. A way to maintain the principles of these states is to maintain their size the way they need to be.

Book 11-On the laws that form political liberty in its relation with the constitution

People have used liberty as having so many different meanings and use it to justify so many different things, but because liberty is doing what you want within the constraint of laws, liberty is specific to whatever the form of that government. While the goal of all states is to maintain themselves, they have specific goals, and the only state that has its goal a political liberty is England. There are 3 sorts of powers in government: exectuvie, judicial, and legislative. They need to be separeated to protect liberty. The executive executes laws made by the legislative and the judicial judges those who have violated the laws. The judiciary should come out of the people, the executive should be one man as to be swift, and the legislative should be the betters of the state.