The remarkably learned Montesquieu's rich magnum opus advanced the notion that laws "should be adapted in such a manner to the people for whom they are framed," argued that separation of powers is necessary for maintaining political liberty, and set up the democratic republic as the most virtuous form of government, while arguing the subsequently much-disputed position that such a government couldn't exist on a large scale. A rich vein of Enlightenment thought.
Translation by Thomas Nugent (1752), revised by J. V. Prichard
Preface
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1. Of the Relation of Laws to Different Beings
2. Of the Laws of Nature
3. Of Positive Laws
Book II. Of Laws Directly Derived from the Nature of Government
1. Of the Nature of the Three Different Governments
2. Of the Republican Government, and the Laws in Relation to
Democracy
3. Of the Laws in Relation to the Nature of Aristocracy
4. Of the Relation of Laws to the Nature of Monarchical Government
5. Of the Laws in Relation to the Nature of a Despotic Government
Book III. Of the Principles of the Three Kinds of Government
1. Difference Between the Nature and Principle of Government
2. Of the Principle of Different Governments
3. Of the Principle of Democracy
4. Of the Principle of Aristocracy
5. That Virtue Is Not the Principle of a Monarchical Government
6. In What Manner Virtue Is Supplied in a Monarchical Government
7. Of the Principle of Monarchy
8. That Honour Is Not the Principle of Despotic Government
9. Of the Principle of Despotic Government
10. Difference of Obedience in Moderate and Despotic Governments
11. Reflections on the Preceding Chapters
Book IV. That the Laws of Education Ought to Be in Relation to the Principles of Government
1. Of the Laws of Education
2. Of Education in Monarchies
3. Of Education in a Despotic Government
4. Difference between the Effects of Ancient and Modern Education
5. Of Education in a Republican Government
6. Of some Institutions among the Greeks
7. In What Cases These Singular Institutions May Be of Service
8. Explanation of a Paradox of the Ancients in Respect to Manners
Book V. That the Laws Given by the Legislator Ought to Be in Relation to the Principle of Government
1. Idea of This Book
2. What Is Meant by Virtue in a Political State
3. What Is Meant by a Love of the Republic in a Democracy
4. In What Manner the Love of Equality and Frugality Is Inspired
5. In What Manner the Laws Establish Equality in a Democracy
6. In What Manner the Laws Ought to Maintain Frugality in a Democracy
7. Other Methods of Favouring the Principle of Democracy
8. In What Manner the Laws Should Relate to the Principle of
Government in an Aristocracy
9. In What Manner the Laws Are in Relation to Their Principle
in Monarchies
10. Of the Expedition Peculiar to the Executive Power in Monarchies
11. Of the Excellence of a Monarchical Government
12. The Same Subject Continued
13. An Idea of Despotic Power
14. In What Manner the Laws Are in Relation to the Principles of Despotic
Government
15. The Same Subject Continued
16. Of the Communication of Power
17. Of Presents
18. Of Rewards Conferred by the Sovereign
19. New Consequences of the Principles of the Three Governments
1. Of the Simplicity of Civil Laws in Different Governments
2. Of the Simplicity of Criminal Laws in Different Governments
3. In What Governments and in What Cases the Judges Ought to
Determine According to the Express Letter of the Law
4. Of the Manner of Passing Judgment
5. In What Governments the Sovereign May Be Judge
6. That in Monarchies Ministers Ought Not to Sit as Judges
7. Of a Single Magistrate
8. Of Accusation in Different Governments
9. Of the Severity of Punishments in Different Governments
10. Of the Ancient French Laws
11. That When People Are Virtuous, Few Punishments Are Necessary
12. Of the Power of Punishments
13. Insufficiency of the Laws of Japan
14. Of the Spirit of the Roman Senate
15. Of the Roman Laws in Respect to Punishments
16. Of the Just Proportion between Punishments and Crimes
17. Of the Rack
18. Of Pecuniary and Corporal Punishments
19. Of the Law of Retaliation
20. Of the Punishment of Fathers for the Crimes of Their Children
21. Of the Clemency of the Prince
1. Of Luxury
2. Of Sumptuary Laws in a Democracy
3. Of Sumptuary Laws in an Aristocracy
4. Of Sumptuary Laws in a Monarchy
5. In What Cases Sumptuary Laws Are Useful in a Monarchy
6. Of the Luxury of China
7. Fatal Consequences of Luxury in China
8. Of Public Continency
9. Of the Condition or State of Women in Different Governments
10. Of the Domestic Tribunal among the Romans
11. In What Manner the Institutions Changed at Rome, Together with
the Government
12. Of the Guardianship of Women among the Romans
13. Of the Punishments Decreed by the Emperors against the Incontinence
of Women
14. Sumptuary Laws among the Romans
15. Of Dowries and Nuptial Advantages in Different Constitutions
16. An Excellent Custom of the Samnites
17. Of Female Administration
Book VIII. Of the Corruption of the Principles of the Three Governments
1. General Idea of This Book
2. Of the Corruption of the Principles of Democracy
3. Of the Spirit of Extreme Equality
4. Particular Cause of the Corruption of the People
5. Of the Corruption of the Principle of Aristocracy
6. Of the Corruption of the Principle of Monarchy
7. The Same Subject Continued
8. Danger of the Corruption of the Principle of Monarchical Government
9. How Ready the Nobility Are to Defend the Throne
10. Of the Corruption of the Principle of Despotic Government
11. Natural Effects of the Goodness and Corruption of the Principles
of Government
12. The Same Subject Continued
13. The Effect of an Oath among Virtuous People
14. How the Smallest Change of the Constitution Is Attended with the
Ruin of its Principles
15. Sure Methods of Preserving the Three Principles
16. Distinctive Properties of a Republic
17. Distinctive Properties of a Monarchy
18. Particular Case of the Spanish Monarchy
19. Distinctive Properties of a Despotic Government
20. Consequence of the Preceding Chapters
21. Of the Empire of China
Book IX. Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to a Defensive Force
1. In What Manner Republics Provide for Their Safety
2. That a Confederate Government Ought to Be Composed of States
of the Same Nature, Especially of the Republican Kind
3. Other Requisites in a Confederate Republic
4. In What Manner Despotic Governments Provide for their Security
5. In What Manner a Monarchical Government Provides for Its Security
6. Of the Defensive Force of States in General
7. A Reflection
8. A Particular Case in Which the Defensive Force of a State
Is Inferior to the Offensive
9. Of the Relative Force of States
10. Of the Weakness of Neighbouring States
Book X. Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to Offensive Force
1. Of Offensive Force
2. Of War
3. Of the Right of Conquest
4. Some Advantages of a Conquered People
5. Gelon, King of Syracuse
6. Of Conquest Made by a Republic
7. The Same Subject Continued
8. The Same Subject Continued
9. Of Conquests Made by a Monarchy
10. Of One Monarchy That Subdues Another
11. Of the Manners of a Conquered People
12. Of a Law of Cyrus
13. Charles XII
14. Alexander
15. New Methods of Preserving a Conquest
16. Of Conquests Made by a Despotic Prince
17. The Same Subject Continued
Book XI. Of the Laws Which Establish Political Liberty, with Regard to the Constitution
1. A General Idea
2. Different Significations of the Word Liberty
3. In What Liberty Consists
4. The Same Subject Continued
5. Of the End or View of Different Governments
6. Of the Constitution of England
7. Of the Monarchies We Are Acquainted With
8. Why the Ancients Had Not a Clear Idea of Monarchy
9. Aristotle's Manner of Thinking
10. What Other Politicians Thought
11. Of the Kings of the Heroic Times of Greece
12. Of the Government of the Kings of Rome, and in What Manner the
Three Powers Were There Distributed
13. General Reflections on the State of Rome after the Expulsion of
its Kings
14. In What Manner the Distribution of the Three Powers Began to Change
after the Expulsion of the Kings
15. In What Manner Rome, in the Flourishing State of That Republic,
Suddenly Lost its Liberty
16. Of the Legislative Power in the Roman Republic
17. Of the Executive Power in the Same Republic
18. Of the Judiciary Power in the Roman Government
19. Of the Government of the Roman Provinces
20. The End of This Book
Book XII. Of the Laws That Form Political Liberty, in Relation to the Subject
1. Idea of This Book
2. Of the Liberty of the Subject
3. The Same Subject Continued
4. That Liberty is Favoured by the Nature and Proportion of Punishments
5. Of Certain Accusations That Require Particular Moderation
and Prudence
6. Of the Crime against Nature
7. Of the Crime of High Treason
8. Of the Misapplication of the Terms Sacrilege and High Treason
9. The Same Subject Continued
10. The Same Subject Continued
11. Of Thoughts
12. Of Indiscreet Speeches
13. Of Writings
14. Breach of Modesty in Punishing Crimes
15. Of the Enfranchisement of Slaves in Order to Accuse Their Master
16. Of Calumny with Regard to the Crime of High Treason
17. Of the Revealing of Conspiracies
18. How Dangerous It Is in Republics to Be Too Severe in Punishing
the Crime of High Treason
19. In What Manner the Use of Liberty Is Suspended in a Republic
20. Of Laws Favourable to the Liberty of the Subject in a Republic
21. Of the Cruelty of Laws in Respect to Debtors in a Republic
22. Of Things That Strike at Liberty in Monarchies
23. Of Spies in Monarchies
24. Of Anonymous Letters
25. Of the Manner of Governing in Monarchies
26. That in a Monarchy the Prince Ought to Be of Easy Access
27. Of the Manners of a Monarch
28. Of the Regard Which Monarchs Owe to Their Subjects
29. Of the Civil Laws Proper for Mixing Some Portion of Liberty in
a Despotic Government
30. The Same Subject Continued
1. Of the Public Revenues
2. That It Is Bad Reasoning to Say That the Greatness of Taxes
Is Good in its Own Nature
3. Of Taxes in Countries Where Part of the People Are Villains
or Bondmen
4. Of a Republic in the Like Case
5. Of a Monarchy in the Like Case
6. Of a Despotic Government in the Like Case
7. Of Taxes in Countries where Villainage is Not Established
8. In What Manner the Deception Is Preserved
9. Of a Bad Kind of Impost
10. That the Greatness of Taxes Depends on the Nature of the Government
11. Of Confiscations
12. Relation between the Weight of Taxes and Liberty
13. In What Government Taxes Are Capable of Increase
14. That the Nature of the Taxes Is in Relation to the Government
15. Abuse of Liberty
16. Of the Conquests of the Mahometans
17. Of the Augmentation of Troops
18. Of an Exemption from Taxes
19. Which Is More Suitable to the Prince and to the People, the Farming
the Revenues, or Managing Them by Commission?
20. Of the Farmers of the Revenues
Book XIV. Of Laws in Relation to the Nature of the Climate
1. General Idea
2. Of the Difference of Men in Different Climates
3. Contradiction in the Tempers of Some Southern Nations
4. Cause of the Immutability of Religion, Manners, Customs, and
Laws, in the Eastern Countries
5. That Those Are Bad Legislators Who Favour the Vices of the
Climate, and Good Legislators Who Oppose Those Vices
6. Of Agriculture in Warm Climates
7. Of Monkery
8. An Excellent Custom of China
9. Means of Encouraging Industry
10. Of the Laws in Relation to the Sobriety of the People
11. Of the Laws in Relation to the Distempers of the Climate
12. Of the Laws against Suicides
13. Effects Arising from the Climate of England
14. Other Effects of the Climate
15. Of the Different Confidence Which the Laws Have in the People,
According to the Difference of Climates
Book XV. In What Manner the Laws of Civil Slavery Relate to the Nature of the Climate
1. Of Civil Slavery
2. Origin of the Right of Slavery among the Roman Civilians
3. Another Origin of the Right of Slavery
4. Another Origin of the Right of Slavery
5. Of the Slavery of the Negroes
6. The True Origin of the Right of Slavery
7. Another Origin of the Right of Slavery
8. Inutility of Slavery among Us
9. Several Kinds of Slavery
10. Regulations Necessary in Respect to Slavery
11. Abuses of Slavery
12. Danger from the Multitude of Slaves
13. Of Armed Slaves
14. The Same Subject Continued
15. Precautions to Be Used in Moderate Governments
16. Regulations between Masters and Slaves
17. Of Enfranchisements
18. Of Freedmen and Eunuchs
Book XVI. How the Laws of Domestic Slavery Bear a Relation to the Nature of the Climate
1. Of Domestic Servitude
2. That in the Countries of the South There Is a Natural Inequality
between the Two Sexes
3. That a Plurality of Wives Greatly Depends on the Means of
Supporting Them
4. That the Law of Polygamy Is an Affair That Depends on Calculation
5. The Reason of a Law of Malabar
6. Of Polygamy Considered in Itself
7. Of an Equality of Treatment in Case of Many Wives
8. Of the Separation of Women from Men
9. Of the Connection between Domestic and Political Government
10. The Principle on Which the Morals of the East Are Founded
11. Of Domestic Slavery Independently of Polygamy
12. Of Natural Modesty
13. Of Jealousy
14. Of the Eastern Manner of Domestic Government
15. Of Divorce and Repudiation
16. Of Repudiation and Divorce among the Romans
Book XVII. How the Laws of Political Servitude Bear a Relation to the Nature of the Climate
1. Of Political Servitude
2. The Difference between Nations in Point of Courage
3. Of the Climate of Asia
4. The Consequences Resulting from This
5. That When the People in the North of Asia and Those of the
North of Europe Made Conquests, the Effects of the Conquests Were Not the
Same
6. A new Physical Cause of the Slavery of Asia, and of the Liberty
of Europe
7. Of Africa and America
8. Of the Capital of the Empire
Book XVIII. Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to the Nature of the Soil
1. How the Nature of the Soil Has an Influence on the Laws
2. The Same Subject Continued
3. What Countries Are Best Cultivated
4. New Effects of the Fertility and Barrenness of Countries
5. Of the Inhabitants of Islands
6. Of Countries Raised by the Industry of Man
7. Of Human Industry
8. The General Relation of Laws
9. Of the Soil of America
10. Of Population in the Relation It Bears to the Manners of Procuring
Subsistence
11. Of Savage and Barbarous Nations
12. Of the Law of Nations among People Who Do Not Cultivate the Earth
13. Of the Civil Laws of Those Nations Who Do Not Cultivate the Earth
14. Of the Political State of the People Who Do Not Cultivate the Land
15. Of People Who Know the Use of Money
16. Of Civil Laws among People Who Know Not the Use of Money
17. Of Political Laws among Nations Who Have Not the Use of Money
18. Of the Power of Superstition
19. Of the Liberty of the Arabs and the Servitude of the Tartars
20. Of the Law of Nations as Practised by the Tartars
21. The Civil Law of the Tartars
22. Of a Civil Law of the German Nations
23. Of the Regal Ornaments among the Franks
24. Of the Marriages of the Kings of the Franks
25. Childeric
26. Of the Time When the Kings of the Franks Became of Age
27. The Same Subject Continued
28. Of Adoption among the Germans
29. Of the Sanguinary Temper of the Kings of the Franks
30. Of the National Assemblies of the Franks
31. Of the Authority of the Clergy under the First Race
1. 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 Lacedæmonians
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
Book XX. Of Laws in Relation to Commerce, Considered in its Nature and Distinctions
1. Of Commerce
2. Of the Spirit of Commerce
3. Of the Poverty of the People
4. Of Commerce in Different Governments
5. Of Nations That Have Entered into an Economical Commerce
6. Some Effects of an Extensive Navigation
7. The Spirit of England with Respect to Commerce
8. In What Manner Economical Commerce Has Been Sometimes Restrained
9. Of the Prohibition of Commerce
10. An Institution Adapted to Economical Commerce
11. The Same Subject Continued
12. Of the Freedom of Commerce
13. What It Is That Destroys This Liberty
14. The Laws of Commerce Concerning the Confiscation of Merchandise
15. Of Seizing the Persons of Merchants
16. An Excellent Law
17. A Law of Rhodes
18. Of the Judges of Commerce
19. That a Prince Ought Not to Engage Himself in Commerce
20. The Same Subject Continued
21. Of the Commerce of the Nobility in a Monarchy
22. A Singular Reflection
23. To What Nations Commerce Is Prejudicial
1. Some General Considerations
2. Of the People of Africa
3. That the Wants of the People in the South Are Different from
those of the North
4. The Principal Difference between the Commerce of the Ancients
and the Moderns
5. Other Differences
6. Of the Commerce of the Ancients
7. Of the Commerce of the Greeks
8. Of Alexander: His Conquests
9. Of the Commerce of the Grecian Kings after the Death of Alexander
10. Of the Circuit of Africa
11. Of Carthage and Marseilles
12. The Isle of Delos. Mithridates
13. Of the Genius of the Romans as to Maritime Affairs
14. Of the Genius of the Romans with Respect to Commerce
15. Of the Commerce of the Romans with the Barbarians
16. Of the Commerce of the Romans with Arabia, and the Indies
17. Of Commerce after the Destruction of the Western Empire
18. A Particular Regulation
19. Of Commerce after the Decay of the Roman Power in the East
20. How Commerce Broke Through the Barbarism of Europe
21. The Discovery of Two New Worlds, and in What Manner Europe Is Affected
by It
22. Of the Riches Which Spain Drew from America
23. A Problem
Book XXII. Of Laws in Relation to the Use of Money
1. The Reason of the Use of Money
2. Of the Nature of Money
3. Of Ideal Money
4. Of the Quantity of Gold and Silver
5. The Same Subject Continued
6. Why Interest Was Lowered One Half after the Conquest of the
Indies
7. How the Price of Things Is Fixed in the Variation of the Sign
of Riches
8. The Same Subject Continued
9. Of the Relative Scarcity of Gold and Silver
10. Of Exchange
11. Of the Proceedings of the Romans with Respect to Money
12. The Circumstances in Which the Romans Changed the Value of Their
Specie
13. Proceedings with Respect to Money in the Time of the Emperors
14. How Exchange Is a Constraint on Despotic Power
15. The Practice of Some Countries in Italy
16. The Assistance a State May Derive from Bankers
17. Of Public Debts
18. Of the Payment of Public Debts
19. Of Lending upon Interest
20. Of Maritime Usury
21. Of Lending by Contract, and the State of Usury among the Romans
22. The Same Subject Continued
Book XXIII. Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to the Number of Inhabitants
1. Of Men and Animals with Respect to the Multiplication of Their
Species
2. Of Marriage
3. Of the Condition of Children
4. Of Families
5. Of the Several Orders of Lawful Wives
6. Of Bastards in Different Governments
7. Of the Father's Consent to Marriage
8. The Same Subject Continued
9. Of Young Women
10. What It Is That Determines Marriage
11. Of the Severity of Government
12. Of the Number of Males and Females in Different Countries
13. Of Seaport Towns
14. Of the Productions of the Earth Which Require a Greater or Less
Number of Men
15. Of the Number of Inhabitants with Relation to the Arts
16. The Concern of the Legislator in the Propagation of the Species
17. Of Greece, and the Number of its Inhabitants
18. Of the State and Number of People before the Romans
19. Of the Depopulation of the Globe
20. That the Romans Were under the Necessity of Making Laws to Encourage
the Propagation of the Species
21. Of the Laws of the Romans Relating to the Propagation of the Species
22. Of the Exposing of Children
23. Of the State of the World after the Destruction of the Romans
24. The Changes Which Happened in Europe, with Regard to the Number
of the Inhabitants
25. The Same Subject Continued
26. Consequences
27. Of the Law Made in France to Encourage the Propagation of the Species
28. By What Means We May Remedy a Depopulation
29. Of Hospitals
Book XXIV. Of Laws in Relation to Religion, Considered in Itself, and in Its Doctrine
1. Of Religion in General
2. A Paradox of M. Bayle's
3. That a Moderate Government Is Most Agreeable to the Christian
Religion, and a Despotic Government to the Mahometan
4. Consequences from the Character of the Christian Religion
and That of the Mahometan
5. That the Catholic Religion Is Most Agreeable to a Monarchy,
and the Protestant to a Republic
6. Another of M. Bayle's Paradoxes
7. Of the Laws of Perfection in Religion
8. Of the Connection between the Moral Laws and Those of Religion
9. Of the Essenes
10. Of the Sect of Stoics
11. Of Contemplation
12. Of Penances
13. Of Inexpiable Crimes
14. In What Manner Religion Has an Influence on Civil Laws
15. How False Religions Are Sometimes Corrected by the Civil Laws
16. How the Laws of Religion Correct the Inconveniences of a Political
Constitution
17. The Same Subject Continued
18. How the Laws of Religion Have the Effect of Civil Laws
19. That It Is Not So Much the Truth or Falsity of a Doctrine Which
Renders It Useful or Pernicious to Men in Civil Government, as the Use
or Abuse of It
20. The Same Subject Continued
21. Of Metempsychosis
22. That It Is Dangerous for Religion to Inspire an Aversion for Things
in Themselves Indifferent
23. Of Festivals
24. Of the Local Laws of Religion
25. The Inconvenience of Transplanting a Religion from One Country
to Another
26. The Same Subject Continued
Book XXV. Of Laws in Relation to the Establishment of Religion and its External Polity
1. Of Religious Sentiments
2. Of the Motives of Attachment to Different Religions
3. Of Temples
4. Of the Ministers of Religion
5. Of the Bounds Which the Laws Ought to Prescribe to the Riches
of the Clergy
6. Of Monasteries
7. Of the Luxury of Superstition
8. Of the Pontificate
9. Of Toleration in Point of Religion
10. The Same Subject Continued
11. Of Changing a Religion
12. Of Penal Laws
13. A Most Humble Remonstrance to the Inquisitors of Spain and Portugal
14. Why the Christian Religion Is So Odious in Japan
15. Of the Propagation of Religion
Book XXVI. Of Laws in Relation to the Order of Things Which They Determine
1. Idea of This Book
2. Of Laws Divine and Human
3. Of Civil Laws Contrary to the Law of Nature
4. The Same Subject Continued
5. Cases in Which We May Judge by the Principles of the Civil
Law, in Limiting the Principles of the Law of Nature
6. That the Order of Succession or Inheritance Depends on the
Principles of Political or Civil Law, and Not on Those of the Law of Nature
7. That We Ought Not to Decide by the Precepts of Religion What
Belongs Only to the Law of Nature
8. That We Ought Not to Regulate by the Principles of the Canon
Law Things Which Should Be Regulated by Those of the Civil Law
9. That Things Which Ought to Be Regulated by the Principles
of Civil Law Can Seldom Be Regulated by Those of Religion.
10. In What Case We Ought to Follow the Civil Law Which Permits, and
Not the Law of Religion Which Forbids
11. That Human Courts of Justice Should Not Be Regulated by the Maxims
of Those Tribunals Which Relate to the Other Life
12. The Same Subject Continued
13. In What Cases, with Regard to Marriage, We Ought to Follow the
Laws of Religion; and in What Cases We Should follow the Civil Laws
14. In What Instances Marriages between Relatives Should Be Regulated
by the Laws of Nature; and in What Instances by the Civil Laws
15. That We Should Not Regulate by the Principles of Political Law
Those Things Which Depend on the Principles of Civil Law
16. That We Ought Not to Decide by the Rules of the Civil Law, When
It Is Proper to Decide by Those of the Political Law
17. The Same Subject Continued
18. That It Is Necessary to Inquire Whether the Laws Which Seem Contradictory
Are of the Same Class
19. That We Should Not Decide Those Things by the Civil Law Which Ought
to Be Decided by Domestic Laws
20. That We Ought Not to Decide by the Principles of the Civil Laws
Those Things Which Belong to the Law of Nations
21. That We Should Not Decide by Political Laws Things Which Belong
to the Law of Nations
22. The Unhappy State of the Inca Athualpa
23. That When, by Some Circumstance, the Political Law Becomes Destructive
to the State, We Ought to Decide by Such a Political Law, as Will Preserve
It, Which Sometimes Becomes a Law of Nations
24. That the Regulations of the Police Are of a Different Class from
Other Civil Laws
25. That We Should Not Follow the General Disposition of the Civil
Law in Things Which Ought to Be Subject to Particular Rules Drawn from
Their Own Nature
Book XXVII. Of the Origin and Revolutions of the Roman Laws on Successions
Book XXVIII. Of the Origin and Revolutions of the Civil Laws among the French
1. Different Character of the Laws of the Several People of Germany
2. That the Laws of the Barbarians Were All Personal
3. Capital Difference between the Salic Laws, and Those of the
Visigoths and Burgundians
4. In What Manner the Roman Law Came to Be Lost in the Country
Subject to the Franks, and Preserved in That Subject to the Goths and Burgundians
5. The Same Subject Continued
6. How the Roman Law Kept its Ground in the Demesne of the Lombards
7. How the Roman Law Came to Be Lost in Spain
8. A False Capitulary
9. In What Manner the Codes of Barbarian Laws, and the Capitularies
Came to Be Lost
10. The Same Subject Continued
11. Other Causes of the Disuse of the Codes of Barbarian Laws, as well
as of the Roman Law, and of the Capitularies
12. Of Local Customs. Revolution of the Laws of Barbarous Nations,
as well as of the Roman Law
13. Difference between the Salic Law, or That of the Salian Franks,
and That of the Ripuarian Franks, and other Barbarous Nations
14. Another Difference
15. A Reflection
16. Of the Ordeal or Trial by Boiling Water, Established by the Salic
Law
17. Particular Notions of Our Ancestors
18. In What Manner the Custom of Judicial Combats Gained Ground
19. A New Reason of the Disuse of the Salic and Roman Laws, as Also
of the Capitularies
20. Origin of the Point of Honour
21. A new Reflection on the Point of Honour among the Germans
22. Of the Manners in Relation to Judicial Combats
23. Of the Code of Laws on Judicial Combats
24. Rules Established in the Judicial Combat
25. Of the Bounds Prescribed to the Custom of Judicial Combats
26. On the Judiciary Combat between One of the Parties and One of the
Witnesses
27. Of the Judicial Combat between One of the Parties and One of the
Lords' Peers. Appeal of False Judgment
28. Of the Appeal of Default of Justice
29. Epoch of the Reign of St. Louis
30. Observation on Appeals
31. The Same Subject Continued
32. The Same Subject Continued
33. The Same Subject Continued
34. In What Manner the Proceedings at Law Became Secret
35. Of the Costs
36. Of the Public Prosecutor
37 In What Manner the Institutions of St. Louis Fell into Oblivion
38. The Same Subject Continued
39. The Same Subject Continued
40. In What Manner the Judiciary Forms Were Borrowed from the Decretals
41. Flux and Reflux of the Ecclesiastic and Temporal Jurisdiction
42. The Revival of the Roman Law, and the Result Thereof. Change of
Tribunals
43. The Same Subject Continued
44 Of the Proof by Witnesses
45. Of the Customs of France
Book XXIX. Of the Manner of Composing Laws
1. Of the Spirit of a Legislator
2. The Same Subject Continued
3. That the Laws Which Seem to Deviate from the Views of the
Legislator Are Frequently Agreeable to Them
4. Of the Laws Contrary to the Views of the Legislator
5. The Same Subject Continued
6. The Laws Which Appear the Same Have Not Always the Same Effect
7. The Same Subject Continued. Necessity of Composing Laws in
a Proper Manner
8. That Laws Which Appear the Same Were Not Always Made through
the Same Motive
9. That the Greek and Roman Laws Punished Suicide, but Not through
the Same Motive
10. That Laws Which Seem Contrary Proceed Sometimes from the Same Spirit
11. How to Compare Two Different Systems of Laws
12. That Laws Which Appear the Same Are Sometimes Really Different
13. That We Must Not Separate Laws from the End for Which They Were
Made: of the Roman Laws on Theft
14. That We Must Not Separate the Laws from the Circumstances in Which
They Were Made
15. That Sometimes It Is Proper the Law Should Amend Itself
16. Things to Be Observed in the Composing of Laws
17. A bad Method of Giving Laws
18. Of the Ideas of Uniformity
19. Of Legislators
1. Of Feudal Laws
2. Of the Source of Feudal Laws
3. The Origin of Vassalage
4. The Same Subject Continued
5. Of the Conquests of the Franks
6. Of the Goths, Burgundians, and Franks
7. Different Ways of Dividing the Land
8. The Same Subject Continued
9. A Just Application of the Law of the Burgundians, and of That
of the Visigoths, in Relation to the Division of Lands
10. Of Servitudes
11. The Same Subject Continued
12. That the Lands Belonging to the Division of the Barbarians Paid
No Taxes
13. Of Taxes Paid by the Romans and Gauls, in the Monarchy of the Franks
14. Of What They Called Census
15. That What They Called Census Was Raised Only on the Bondmen and
Not on the Freemen
16. Of the Feudal Lords or Vassals
17. Of the Military Service of Freemen
18. Of the Double Service
19. Of Compositions among the Barbarous Nations
20. Of What Was Afterwards Called the Jurisdiction of the Lords
21. Of the Territorial Jurisdiction of the Churches
22. That the Jurisdictions Were Established before the End of the Second
Race
23. General Idea of the Abbé Du Bos' Book on the Establishment
of the French Monarchy in Gaul
24. The Same Subject Continued. Reflection on the Main Part of the
System
25. Of the French Nobility
1. Changes in the Offices and in the Fiefs. Of the Mayors of the
Palace
2. How the Civil Government Was Reformed
3. Authority of the Mayors of the Palace
4. Of the Genius of the Nation in Regard to the Mayors
5. In What Manner the Mayors Obtained the Command of the Armies
6. Second Epoch of the Humiliation of Our Kings of the First
Race
7. Of the Great Offices and Fiefs under the Mayors of the Palace
8. In What Manner the Allodial Estates Were Changed into Fiefs
9. How the Church Lands Were Converted into Fiefs
10. Riches of the Clergy
11. State of Europe at the Time of Charles Martel
12. Establishment of the Tithes
13. Of the Election of Bishops and Abbots
14. Of the Fiefs of Charles Martel
15. The Same Subject Continued
16. Confusion of the Royalty and Mayoralty. The Second Race
17. A Particular Circumstance in the Election of the Kings of the Second
Race
18. Charlemagne
19. The Same Subject Continued
20. Louis the Debonnaire
21. The Same Subject Continued
22. The Same Subject Continued
23. The Same Subject Continued
24. That the Freemen Were Rendered Capable of Holding Fiefs
25. The Principal Cause of the Humiliation of the Second Race. Changes
in the Allodia
26. Changes in the Fiefs
27. Another change Which Happened in the Fiefs
28. Changes Which Happened in the Great Offices and in the Fiefs
29. Of the Nature of the Fiefs after the Reign of Charles the Bald
30. The Same Subject Continued
31. In What Manner the Empire Was Transferred from the Family of Charlemagne
32. In What Manner the Crown of France Was Transferred to the House
of Hugh Capet
33. Some Consequences of the Perpetuity of Fiefs
34. The Same Subject Continued