Spirit of the Laws 1

Question 1

Definition of law in general

Answer 1

Relation of beings to the laws and the relations of various beings to each other

Question 2

Dictates of justice prior to positive law (4)

Answer 2

1. there is an established society, it is just to follow their laws (obedience)
2. If someone is kind to another person, the other person should be grateful (reciprocity of gratitude)
3. Dependence on creator (can’t offend church, can’t be atheist)
4. If someone harms another person, they deserve the same harm in return (reciprocity of harm)

Question 3

Difference between physical and intelligent world as regards law

Answer 3

Intelligent world is not governed as well as the physical world
The intelligent world has laws that do not vary; physical world laws do vary
Beings of the intelligent world do not follow their laws consistently; physical world beings do
Intelligent beings are limited by their nature and are subject to error
It is in their nature to act by themselves
Intelligent world beings do not consistently follow their initial laws or even the laws they gave to themselves

Question 4

Natural laws (4)

Answer 4

1. Peace
2. Seek nourishment
3. Feeling pleasure when approached by own kind;
   charm the two sexes inspire in each other; the natural request they always make of one another
4. Uniting, and the desire to live in society

Question 5

Dictate of right of nations

Answer 5

Laws governing relations between peoples (nations)

Question 6

Subject of political and civil rights respectively

Answer 6

Political rights: laws within a society governing the relations between those who govern and the governed
Civil rights: laws governing the relations between citizens

Question 7

Government most in conformity to nature

Answer 7

One whose particular arrangement best relates to the disposition of the people for whom it is established

Question 8

Republican government

Answer 8

the people as a body, or only part of the people, have sovereign power

Question 9

Monarchical government

Answer 9

one alone governs by fixed and established laws

Question 10

Despotic government

Answer 10

one alone governs without law and without rule; they draw everything along by personal will and caprices

Question 11

Aspects of voting to be regulated (4)

Answer 11

1. How
2. By whom
3. For whom
4. On what issues votes should be cast

Question 12

Evidence of people’s good judgment as regards

ministers

Answer 12

General: they very well know that a man has often been to war and had such and such successes
Praetor: they know that a judge is (careful and perseverant) and many leave court satisfied with their decision and that he is not corrupt
Aedile: their knowledge of his magnificence or wealth as a citizen
An aedile is “ magistrates responsible for public buildings and originally also for the public games and the supply of grain to the city”

Question 13

Two kinds of voting

Answer 13

By lot (democracy)
By choice (aristocracy)

Question 14

Reasoning about public and secret ballots

Answer 14

Votes should be public (fundamental law of democracy)
Lesser people should be enlightened by principal people and subdued by the gravity of certain eminent men
Votes cannot be too secret in an aristocracy or in a democracy when the senate votes
Must guard against intrigues (“the secret planning of something illicit or detrimental”)

Question 15

Best and worst kinds of aristocracy

Answer 15

Best: one in which the part of the people having no share in the power is so small and so poor that that the dominant part has no interest in oppressing it
Aristocratic families should be of the people as far as possible
Aristocracy more like democracy = more perfect (opposite monarchy)
Worst: the part of the people that obeys is in civil slavery to the part that commands

Question 16

Two things natural to monarchy

Answer 16

1. Intermediate powers (nobility) (sword - warriors)

2. Depository for the laws (can’t be nobility - parlements) (robe - lawyers/judges)

Question 17

Natural result of despotic power

Answer 17

The one man who exercises (power) has it likewise exercised by another

Question 18

Principle of each kind of government

Answer 18

Republic: virtue
Democracy: virtue
Aristocracy: moderation based on virtue
Monarchical: honor
Despotic: fear

Question 19

When democracy loses its principle, what takes its place

Answer 19

ambition

Question 20

Nature of principle of monarchy

Answer 20

To demand preferences and distinctions (honor is compatible with ambition)
Makes all the parts of the body politic move (honor holds the regime together)

Question 21

What constrains will of prince in a despotism

Answer 21

Religion
The laws of religion are part of a higher precept because they apply to the prince as well; but for natural laws, the prince is not assumed to be a man

Question 22

Education in a monarchy: qualities in each of three spheres

Answer 22

1. Nobility must be put in the virtues
2. Frankness in the mores (customs)
3. Politeness in the manners

Question 23

In what the courtly air consists

Answer 23

Putting away one’s own greatness for a borrowed greatness

Question 24

Prescription of honor as regards obedience to the king

Answer 24

All laws, religion, and honor compel one to obey the prince
In turn, the prince should never prescribe an action that dishonors subjects because it would make us incapable of serving him

Question 25

Supreme rules of honor (3)

Answer 25

1. We are allowed to give importance to our fortune, but forbidden to give any importance to our life 2. When you are placed in a rank, do not show you consider yourself inferior to the rank 3. What honor forbids is more forbidden if the laws do allow it, what honor requires is more strongly required when the laws do not enforce it

Question 26

Sum of education in a despotic state (2)

Answer 26

1. Put fear in the heart | 2. Teach the spirit a few very simple religious principles

Question 27

Why education is more necessary in a republic than in either monarchy or despotism

Answer 27

Everything depends on establishing a love for the laws and the homeland Education should attend to inspiring it Sure way - fathers teach their children because they can give their passion as well as their knowledge

Question 28

How a republic is like a monastery

Answer 28

putting aside our individual wants/passions and focusing on the needs of the general order will make us love our homeland more and make us happier because we live in such a great place. Not focusing on ourselves leads to a happier life because everyone is happy. Monks are deprived of everything that most people have to focus on, so by not having anything at all, they are happier

Question 29

Meaning of virtue in a democracy & consequences of this (3)

Answer 29

Meaning: love of republic = love of democracy = love of equality = love of frugality 1. Service to the state 2. Public expenditures must be magnificent/superfluous 3. Private expenditures only as necessary

Question 30

Role of law in a commercial republic

Answer 30

The law giving all children an equal portion in the inheritance of fathers is very good Seeks to instill a love for work

Question 31

Means to maintain good mores

Answer 31

1. Intimidate the women and those who kept watch over them 2. Extreme subordination of the young to the elderly Young are contained by the respect they have for the elderly- The elderly are contained by the respect they have for themselves 3. Extreme subordination of citizens to the magistrates (for laws, not mores) 4. Paternal authority The forces in a republic are the least repressive; the laws must be supplemented with paternal authority

Question 32

Two sources of disorder in aristocracies

Answer 32

1. Extreme inequality between those who govern and those who are governed 2. A similar inequality between the different members of the governing body

Question 33

Law dictated by an advantage of monarchy

Answer 33

Execution is more prompt, so laws introduce a certain slowness: they should not only favor the nature of each constitution, but also remedy the abuses that can result from this nature

Question 34

Richelieu’s error as to the excellence of a monarchy

Answer 34

Thought he had degraded the orders of the state too much, and requires so many things of the prince and his ministers Required too much from his ministers; king is so wonderful

Question 35

Meaning of what Montesquieu calls the idea of despotism

Answer 35

“When the savages of Louisiana want fruit, they cut down the tree and gather the fruit. There you have despotic government.” Despotism takes what it wants and leaves nothing for the future

Question 36

Why so many people are under despotic rule

Answer 36

In order to form a moderate government, one must combine powers, regulate them, temper them, make them act; one must give on epower a ballast, so to speak, to put it in a potion to resist another; this is a masterpiece of legislation that chance rarely produces and prudence is rarely allowed to produce By contrast, a despotic government leaps to view, so to speak; it is uniform throughout; as only passions are needed to establish it, everyone is good enough for that.