Foreword

Remarks on the present translation

A note on the text

• Common abbreviations
• Brief list of Montesquieu’s principal references

Glossary

On the Spirit of Law

Preface

Part I

Book I. On law in general

Book II. On laws which derive directly from the nature of the government

Book III. On the principles of the three governments

Book IV. That laws on education must relate to the principles of the government

Book V. That the laws made by the legislator must be relative to the principle of the government

Book VI. Consequences of the principles of the various governments with respect to the simplicity of the civil and criminal laws, the form of judgments, and the establishment of punishments

Book VII. Consequences of the different principles of the three governments with respect to sumptuary laws, to luxury, and to the condition of women

Book VIII. On the corruption of the principles of the three governments

Part II

Book IX. On the laws in their relations to the defensive force

Book X. On the laws in their relation to offensive strength

Book XI. On the laws that constitute political freedom in their relation to the constitution

Book XII. On laws that constitute political liberty in its relation to the citizen

Book XIII. On the relations which the levying of tributes and the magnitude of public revenues have with liberty

Part III

Book XIV. On the laws in their relation to the nature of the climate

Book XV. How the laws of civil slavery relate to the nature of the climate

Book XVI. How the laws of domestic slavery relate to the nature of the climate

Book XVII. How the laws of political servitude are related to the nature of the climate

Book XVIII. On laws in their relationship to the nature of the terrain

Book XIX. On the laws in the relation they have to the principles that constitute the general spirit, the ways, and the manners of a nation

Part IV

Book XX. On laws in their relationship with commerce, considered in its nature and its distinctions

Book XXI. On laws in the relation they have to commerce, considered in the transformations it has seen in the world

Book XXII. On the laws in their relation to the use of money

Book XXIII. Of laws in their relation to the number of inhabitants

Part V

Book XXIV. On laws in their relation with religion, considered in its doctrines and in itself

Book XXV. On laws in their relation with the establishment of religion and its external policy

Book XXVI. On laws in the relation they must have with the order of things on which they bear

Part VI

Book XXVII. On the origin and transformations of the Roman laws on successions

Book XXVIII. On the origin and transformations of the civil laws among the French

Book XXIX. On the manner of composing laws

Book XXX. Theory of feudal laws among the Franks, in the relation they have to the establishment of the monarchy

Book XXXI. Theory of feudal laws among the Franks, in their relation to the transformations in their monarchy

Annexes to the edition of 1758