Charles Louis Montesquieu, "On the Spirit of the Laws": summary and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Treatise by the French philosopher Charles de Montesquieu "On the Spirit of Laws" is one of the most famous works of the author. He was a supporter of a naturalistic approach to the study of the world and society, reflecting his ideas in this work. He also became famous for developing the doctrine of the separation of powers. In this article, we will dwell on his most famous treatise in detail, and give a brief summary of it.

Preface

Treatise "On the Spirit of Laws" begins with a preface in which the author notes that the described principles derived from nature itself. He insists that particular cases are always subject to general principles, and the history of any nation on the planet becomes their consequence. Montesquieu believes that it is pointless to condemn the order that exists in a particular country. Only those who from birth have the gift of seeing the entire organization of the state, as if frombird's eye view.

At the same time, the main task is education. The philosopher is obliged to cure the people of prejudices. With such ideas, Montesquieu spoke in 1748. "On the Spirit of the Laws" appeared in print for the first time.

Laws

The author of the work "On the Spirit of Laws" notes that everything in this world has laws. Including the material and divine world, superhuman beings, humans and animals. The main absurdity, according to Montesquieu, is to say that blind fate rules the world.

The philosopher in the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws" claims that God treats everything as a protector and creator. Therefore, each creation only seems to be an act of arbitrariness. In fact, it involves a number of unavoidable rules.

At the head of everything are the laws of nature, which follow from the structure of a human being. In the natural state, a person begins to feel his weakness, a feeling of his own needs is connected with him. The second natural law is the desire to get food. The third law gave rise to mutual attraction, familiar to all living things. However, people are also connected by such threads that are unknown to animals. Therefore, the fourth law constitutes the need to live in society.

By uniting with others, a person loses the feeling of weakness. Equality disappears next, and the craving for war appears. Each individual society begins to realize its strength. They begin to define relations between themselves, which are the basis of international law. Laws,regulating behavior between citizens of one country become objects of civil law.

Who governs the nations of the earth?

In the work "On the Spirit of Laws" the philosopher reflects on the fact that in the broadest sense, the law is the human mind. He governs all the peoples on the planet, and the civil and political laws of each individual people are nothing more than special cases of the application of this powerful mind. All these laws are in close interaction with the properties of a particular people. Only in rare cases can they be applied to some other people.

In the book "On the Spirit of Laws" Montesquieu argues that they must comply with the principles of government and nature, the climate and geographical features of the state, even the quality of the soil, as well as the way of life that the people lead. They determine the degree of freedom that the state allows, its propensity for we alth, customs, trade, and customs. The totality of all these concepts he calls the "spirit of laws".

Three types of government

In his treatise, the philosopher identifies three types of government that exist in the world: monarchical, republican and despotic.

Each of them is described in detail in the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws" by S. Montesquieu. Under a republican type of government, power belongs to the whole people or an impressive part of it. Under a monarchy, only one person rules the country, based on a largenumber of specific laws. Despotism is characterized by the fact that all decisions are made at the will of one person, not obeying any rules.

When in a republic all power belongs to the people, it is a democracy, and if everything is controlled by only a part of it, then the aristocracy. At the same time, the people themselves are the sovereign during the voting, expressing their will. So the laws adopted in this way become the basis of this form of government.

Under the aristocratic form of government, power is in the hands of a certain group of persons, which itself issues laws, forces everyone around them to comply. In the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws", the author believes that the worst of the aristocracies is the one when part of the people is actually in civil slavery to the part of the society that rules it.

When power is given to only one person, a monarchy is formed. In this case, the laws take care of the state structure, as a result, the monarch has more opportunities for abuse.

In Montesquieu's treatise "On the Spirit of Laws" the sovereign is the source of civil and political power. At the same time, there are channels through which power moves. If the privileges of the nobility and clergy are destroyed in the monarchy, it will soon move to a popular or despotic form of government.

The book "On the Spirit of Laws" also describes the structure of such a despotic state. It does not have basic laws, as well as institutions that would monitor their observance. In such countries, religion acquires unprecedented power, replacing the protective institution.

That's what Montesquieu's treatise "On the Spirit of the Laws" is about. A summary of this work will help you quickly recall it in your preparation for an exam or seminar.

Principles of Government

Next, the author describes the principles of government of each type of state. In his treatise On the Spirit of Laws, Charles Montesquieu notes that honor is the main thing for a monarchy, virtue for a republic, and fear for despotism.

In each individual family, the laws of education form the basis of the world order. Here, too, virtue is manifested, which should be expressed in love for the republic. In this case, it means love for democracy and equality. In despotism and monarchy, on the contrary, no one strives for equality, since each individual person wants to rise. People from the bottom only dream of rising up to dominate others.

Since honor is the principle of monarchical government, it is necessary to know upheld the laws. In a despotism, many laws are not needed at all. Everything is based on a few ideas.

Decomposition

At the same time, each of the types of government sooner or later begins to decompose. It all starts with the breakdown of principles. In a democracy, everything begins to crumble when the spirit of equality disappears. It is also dangerous when it reaches an extreme, if everyone dreams of being equal to those whom he has chosen to lead.

In such a situation, the people begin to cease to recognize the power of the rulers, whom he himself elected. In this position of room for virtuedoes not remain in the republic.

Monarchy begins to crumble with the gradual abolition of privileges for cities and estates. The principle of this type of government is corrupted when dignitaries deprive their people of respect, turning them into a miserable instrument of arbitrariness.

The despotic state falls apart already because it is evil by its very nature.

Territories

Montesquieu argues in the book "On the Spirit of Laws" and about how large the state should be, depending on the form of government. The Republic requires a small territory, otherwise it will be simply impossible to keep it.

Monarchies are medium-sized countries. If the state becomes too small, it turns into a republic, and if it grows, then the leaders of the state, being far from the ruler, cease to obey him.

Wide areas are a prerequisite for despotism. In this case, it is required that the remoteness of the places where orders are sent is compensated by the speed of their implementation.

As the French philosopher noted, small republics die from an external doctor, and large ones are corroded by an internal ulcer. Republics seek to unite in order to protect each other, while despot states, on the contrary, separate for the same purpose. The monarchy, as the author believed, never destroys itself, but a medium-sized country can be subjected to external invasion, so it needs fortresses and armies to protect its borders. Wars are fought only between monarchies, despotic states commit against each otherinvasion.

Three kinds of power

Talking about the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws", a brief summary of this work, it should be mentioned that in every state there are three types of power: executive, legislative and judicial. If the executive and legislative powers are united in one person, freedom is not worth waiting for, there will be a danger of the adoption of tyrannical laws. There will be no freedom unless the judiciary is separated from the other two branches.

Montesquieu introduces the concept of political slavery, which depends on climate and nature. Cold gives the body and mind a certain strength, and heat undermines the vigor and strength of people. It is interesting that the philosopher observes this difference not only among different peoples, but even within one country, if its territory is too significant. Montesquieu notes that the cowardice that the representatives of the peoples of a hot climate suffer from almost always leads them to slavery. But the courage of the northern peoples kept them free.

Trade and religion

It is noteworthy that the islanders are more prone to freedom than the inhabitants of the continents. Trade also has a significant impact on laws. Where there is trade, there are always meek customs. In countries where people were inspired by the spirit of trade, their deeds and moral virtues always became the object of bargaining. At the same time, this gave rise to a sense of strict justice in people, opposite to the desire for robberies, as well as those moral virtues that call for pursuing only their own benefits.

That tradecorrupts people, said Plato. At the same time, as Montesquieu wrote, she softens the mores of the barbarians, since her complete absence leads to robberies. Some peoples are willing to sacrifice trade advantages for political ones.

Religion has a significant influence on the laws of the country. It is possible to find those who strive for the public good even between false religions. Although they do not lead a person to bliss in the afterlife, they contribute to his happiness on earth.

Comparing the characters of the Mohammedan and Christian religions, the philosopher rejected the first, accepting the second. It was obvious to him that religion should soften the morals of people. Montesquieu wrote that Mohammedan sovereigns sow death around themselves, themselves dying a violent death. Woe comes to mankind when religion is given over to conquerors. The Mohammedan religion inspires people with the spirit of extermination that created it.

At the same time, despotism is alien to the Christian religion. Thanks to the meekness attributed to her by the Gospel, she resists the indomitable anger that prompts the ruler to cruelty and arbitrariness. Montesquieu argues that only the Christian religion prevented the establishment of despotism in Ethiopia, despite the bad climate and the vastness of the empire. As a result, the laws and customs of Europe were established right inside Africa.

The ill-fated division that befell Christianity about two centuries ago led the northern nations to adopt Protestantism, while the southern nations remained Catholic. The reason for this is that the northern peoples have always had a spirit of freedom and independence,therefore, for them, a religion without a visible head is more in line with their ideas of the spirit of independence than one that has a conscious leader in the person of the Pope.

Freedom of man

This is, in general terms, the content of the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws". Briefly described, it gives a complete picture of the ideas of the French philosopher, who argues that a person's freedom mainly consists in not being forced to perform actions that the law does not prescribe to him.

State law requires a person to obey the civil and criminal law of the country in which he himself is. When this rule is violated, it leads to fatal consequences. For example, these principles were violated by the Spaniards when they arrived in Peru. For example, it was permissible to judge the Inca Atahualpa only on the basis of international law, they judged him on the basis of civil and state law. The Frenchman claimed that the height of recklessness in this was that they began to judge him on the basis of the civil and state laws of his country, so that it was an obvious violation.

The country definitely needs judicial formalities, the number of which can be as large as possible. However, in doing so, citizens risk losing their security and their freedom; the accuser will not be able to prove the accusation, and the accused will not be able to justify himself.

Separately, Montesquieu describes the rules for drafting laws. They should be written in a concise and simple style so as not to allow for different interpretations. Should not be consumedindefinite expressions. The anxiety that is caused to a person depends entirely on the degree of his impressionability. It's bad if the laws start to go into subtleties. They do not need restrictions, exceptions, modifications. These details can only trigger new details. Laws must not be given a form that is contrary to the nature of things. As an example, the French philosopher cited the postulates of Philip II, Prince of Orange, who promised a title of nobility and a monetary reward to those who commit murder. Such a king trampled on the concept of morality, honor and religion.

Finally, laws must have a certain purity. If they are meant to punish human malice, then they themselves must have the utmost integrity.

In the reviews, readers highly appreciated this work several centuries ago, when it was just written. This treatise remains popular to this day, since time has only confirmed how right Montesquieu was. This has always delighted his readers and admirers.