Frontmatter

Titlepage

The COMPLETE WORKS of M. DE MONTESQUIEU.

Volume II.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF M. DE MONTESQUIEU.

TRANSLATED from the FRENCH.

IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOLUME the SECOND.

LONDON, Printed for T. Evans, in the Strand; AND W. Davis, in Piccadilly.

MDCCLXXVII.

CONTENTS.

Book XX. Of laws in relation to commerce, considered in its nature and distinctions.

CHAP. I. Of commerce, 1

Chap. II. Of the spirit of commerce, 2

Chap. III. Of the poverty of the people, 3

Chap. IV. Of commerce in different governments, 4

Chap. V. Of nations that have entered into an economical commerce 6

Chap. VI. Some effects of an extensive navigation ibid.

Chap. VII. The spirit of England with respect to commerce, 8

Chap. VIII. In what manner the economical commerce has been sometimes restrained, ibid.

Chap. IX. Of the prohibition of commerce, 9

Chap. X. An institution adapted to economical commerce, 10

Chap. XI. The same subject continued, 11

Chap. XII. Of the freedom of commerce, ibid.

Chap. XIII. What it is that destroys this liberty, 12

Chap. XIV. The laws of commerce concerning the confiscation of merchandises, 13

Chap. XV. Of seizing the persons of merchants, ibid.

Chap. XVI. An excellent law, 14

Chap. XVII. A law of Rhodes, 15

Chap. XVIII. Of the judges of commerce, ibid.

Chap. XIX. That a prince ought not to engage himself in commerce, 16

Chap. XX. The same subject continued, 17

Chap. XXI. Of commerce in a monarchy, ibid.

Chap. XXII. A singular reflection, 18

Chap. XXIII. To what nations commerce is prejudicial, 19

Book XXI. Of laws relative to commerce, considered in the revolutions it has met with in the world.

Chap. I. Some general considerations, 22

Chap. II. Of the people of Africa, 23

Chap. III. That the wants of the people in the south are different from those of the north, 24

Chap. IV. The principal difference between the commerce of the ancients and the moderns, ibid.

Chap. V. Other differences, 25

Chap. VI. Of the commerce of the ancients, 26

Chap. VII. Of the commerce of the Greeks, 33

Chap. VIII. Alexander. His conquest, 36

Chap. IX. Of the commerce of the Grecian kings, after the death of Alexander, 40

Chap. X. Of the circuit of Asia, 47

Chap. XI. Of Carthage and Marseilles, 50

Chap. XII. The isle of Delos. Mithridates, 56

Chap. XIII. Of the genius of the Romans as to maritime affairs, 58

Chap. XIV. Of the genius of the Romans with respect to commerce, ibid.

Chap. XV. Of the commerce of the Romans with the barbarians, 60

Chap. XVI. Of the commerce of the Romans with Arabia and the Indies, 61

Chap. XVII. Of commerce after the destruction of the western empire, 65

Chap. XVIII. A particular regulation, 60

Chap. XIX. Of commerce after the decay of the Roman power in the East, 67

Chap. XX. How commerce broke thro’ the barbarism of Europe, ibid.

Chap. XXI. The discovery of two new worlds, and in what manner Europe is affected by it, 70

Chap. XXII. Of the riches which Spain drew from America, 75

Chap. XXIII. A problem, 80

Book XXII. Of laws in relation to the use of money.

Chap. I. The reason of the use of money, 81

Chap. II. Of the nature of money, 82

Chap. III. Of ideal money, 84

Chap. IV. Of the quantity of gold and silver, 85

Chap. V. The same subject continued, 86

Chap. VI. The reason why interest was lowered one half after the conquest of the Indies, ib.

Chap. VII. How the price of things is fixed in the variation of the sign of riches, 87

Chap. VIII. The same subject continued, 89

Chap. IX. Of the relative scarcity of gold and silver, 90

Chap. X. Of exchange, 91

Chap. XI. Of the proceedings of the Romans with respect to money, 101

Chap. XII. The circumstances in which the Romans changed the value of their specie, 103

Chap. XIII. Proceedings with respect to money in the time of the Emperors, 105

Chap. XIV. How the exchange is a constraint on despotic power 106

Chap. XV. The practice of some countries in Italy, 107

Chap. XVI. The assistance a state may derive from bankers, ib.

Chap. XVII. Of public debts, 108

Chap. XVIII. Of the payment of public debts, 109

Chap. XIX. Of lending upon interest, 111

Chap. XX. Of maritime usury, 112

Chap. XXI. Of lending by contract, and the state of usury amongst the Romans, 113

Chap. XXII. The same subject continued, 114

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

Chap. I. Of men and animals with respect to the multiplication of their species, 120

Chap. II. Of marriage, 121

Chap. III. Of the condition of children, 122

Chap. IV. Of families, 123

Chap. V. Of the several orders of lawful wives, ib.

Chap. VI. Of bastards in different governments, 124

Chap. VII. Of the father’s consent to marriage, 126

Chap. VIII. The same subject continued, 127

Chap. IX. Of young women, 128

Chap. X. What it is that determines to marriage, ib.

Chap. XI. Of the severity of government, ib.

Chap. XII. Of the number of males & females in different countries 129

Chap. XIII. Of sea port towns, 130

Chap. XIV. Of the productions of the earth which require a greater or a less number of men, 131

Chap. XV. Of the number of inhabitants with relation to the arts 132

Chap. XVI. The concern of the legislator in the propagation of the species, 133

Chap. XVII. Of Greece, and the number of its inhabitants, 134

Chap. XVIII. Of the state and number of people before the Romans, 136

Chap. XIX. Of the depopulation of the globe, ibid.

Chap. XX. That the Romans were under a necessity of making laws to encourage the propagation of the species, 137

Chap. XXI. Of the laws of the Romans relating to the propagation of the species, ibid.

Chap. XXII. Of the exposing of children, 150

Chap. XXIII. Of the state of the world after the destruction of the Romans, 151

Chap. XXIV. The changes which happened in Europe, with regard to the number of the inhabitants, 152

Chap. XXV. The same subject continued, 153

Chap. XXVI. Consequences, ibid.

Chap. XXVII. Of the law made in France to encourage the propagation of the species, 154

Chap. XXVIII. By what means we may remedy a depopulation, ib.

Chap. XXIX. Of hospitals, 155

Book XXIV. Of laws as relative to religion, considered in itself and in its doctrines.

Chap. I. Of religion in general, 158

Chap. II. A paradox of Mr. Bayle’s, 159

Chap. III. That a moderate government is most agreeable to the Christian religion, and a despotic one to the Mahometan 160

Chap. IV. Consequences from the character of the Christian religion and that of the Mahometan, 162

Chap. V. That the Catholic religion is most agreeable to a monarchy, and the Protestant to a republic, 163

Chap. VI. Another of Mr. Bayle’s paradoxes, 164

Chap. VII. Of the laws of perfection in religion, 165

Chap. VIII. Of the connection between the moral laws and those of religion, ibid.

Chap. IX. Of the Essenes, 166

Chap. X. Of the sect of Stoics, ibid.

Chap. XI. Of contemplation, 167

Chap. XII. Of penances, 168

Chap. XIII. Of inexpiable crimes, ibid.

Chap. XIV. In what manner religion has an influence on civil laws 169

Chap. XV. How false religions are sometimes corrected by the civil laws, 172

Chap. XVI. How the laws of religion correct the inconveniencies of a political constitution, ibid.

Chap. XVII. The same subject continued, 173

Chap. XVIII. How the laws of religion have the effect of civil laws, 174

Chap. XIX. 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 which is made of it, 175

Chap. XX. The same subject continued, 177

Chap. XXI. Of the metempsychosis, ibid.

Chap. XXII. That it is dangerous for religion to inspire an aversion for things in themselves indifferent, 178

Chap. XXIII. Of festivals, ibid.

Chap. XXIV. Of the local laws of religion, 180

Chap. XXV. The inconveniency of transplanting a religion from one country to another, 181

Chap. XXVI. The same subject continued. 182

Book XXV. Of laws as relative to the establishment of religion, and its external polity.

Chap. I. Of religious sentiments, 183

Chap. II. Of the motives of attachment to different religions, ib.

Chap. III. Of temples, 185

Chap. IV. Of the ministers of religion, 188

Chap. V. Of the bounds which the laws ought to prescribe to the riches of the clergy, 189

Chap. VI. Of monasteries, 191

Chap. VII. Of the luxury of superstition, ibid.

Chap. VIII. Of the pontificate, 193

Chap. IX. Of toleration in point of religion, ibid.

Chap. X. The same subject continued, 194

Chap. XI. Of changing a religion, 195

Chap. XII. Of penal laws, ibid.

Chap. XIII. A most humble remonstrance to the inquisitors of Spain and Portugal, 197

Chap. XIV. Why the Christian religion is so odious in Japan 200

Chap. XV. Of the propagation of religion, 201

Book XXVI. Of laws as relative to the order of things on which they determine.

Chap. I. Idea of this book, 202

Chap. II. Of laws divine and human, 203

Chap. III. Of civil laws contrary to the law of nature, 204

Chap. IV. The same subject continued, 206

Chap. V. Cases in which we may judge by the principles of the civil law, in limiting the principles of the law of nature 207

Chap. VI. 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, 208

Chap. VII. That we ought not to decide by the precepts of religion what belongs only to the law of nature, 210

Chap. VIII. That we ought not to regulate by the principles of the canon law, things which should be regulated by those of the civil law, 211

Chap. IX. That things which ought to be regulated by the principles of civil law, can seldom be regulated by those of religion, 212

Chap. X. In what case we ought to follow the civil law which permits, and not the law of religion which forbids, 214

Chap. XI. That human courts of justice should not be regulated by the maxims of those tribunals which relate to the other life 215

Chap. XII. The same subject continued, ibid.

Chap. XIII. In what cases, with regard to marriages, we ought to follow the laws of religion, and in what cases we should follow the civil laws, 216

Chap. XIV. In what instances marriages between relations should be regulated by the laws of nature, and in what instances by the civil laws, 218

Chap. XV. That we should not regulate, by the principles of political law, those things which depend on the principles of civil law, 223

Chap. XVI. 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, 225

Chap. XVII. The same subject continued, 226

Chap. XVIII. That it is necessary to enquire, whether the laws which seem contradictory are of the same class, 227

Chap. XIX. That we should not decide those things by the civil law, which ought to be decided by domestic laws, 228

Chap. XX. That we ought not to decide by the principles of the civil laws, those things which belong to the law of nations, 229

Chap. XXI. That we should not decide by political laws, things which belong to the law of nations, ibid.

Chap. XXII. The unhappy state of the Ynca Athualpa, 230

Chap. XXIII. 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, 231

Chap. XXIV. That the regulations of the police are of a different class from other civil laws, 232

Chap. XXV. That we should not follow the general dispositions of the civil law, in things which ought to be subject to particular rules drawn from their own nature, 233

Book XXVII. Of the origin and revolutions of the Roman laws on successions.

Chap. I. Of the Roman laws on successions, 234

Book XXVIII. Of the origin and revolutions of the civil laws among the French.

Chap. I. Different character of the laws of the several people of Germany, 249

Chap. II. That the laws of the Barbarians were all personal 252

Chap. III. Capital difference between the Salic laws and those of the Visigoths and Burgundians, 254

Chap. IV. 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, 256

Chap. V. The same subject continued, 259

Chap. VI. How the Roman law kept its ground in the demesne of the Lombards, 260

Chap. VII. How the Roman law came to be lost in Spain, 261

Chap. VIII. A false capitulary, 263

Chap. IX. In what manner the codes of the barbarian laws, and the capitularies came to be lost, ibid.

Chap. X. The same subject continued, 265

Chap. XI. Other causes of the disuse of the codes of barbarian laws, as well as of the Roman law, and of the capitularies, 266

Chap. XII. Of local customs. Revolution of the laws of barbarous nations, as well as of the Roman law, 267

Chap. XIII. Difference between the Salic law, or that of the Salian Franks, and that of the Ripuarian Franks, and other barbarous nations, 270

Chap. XIV. Another difference, 271

Chap. XV. A reflection, 272

Chap. XVI. Of the ordeal or trial by boiling water, established by the Salic law, 273

Chap. XVII. Particular notions of our ancestors, 274

Chap. XVIII. In what manner the custom of judicial combats gained ground, 277

Chap. XIX. A new reason of the disuse of the Salic and Roman laws, as also of the capitularies, 283

Chap. XX. Origin of the point of honour, 285

Chap. XXI. A new reflection upon the point of honour among the Germans, 287

Chap. XXII. Of the manners relative to judicial combats, ibid.

Chap. XXIII. Of the code of laws on judicial combats, 289

Chap. XXIV. Rules established in the judicial combats, 290

Chap. XXV. Of the bounds prescribed to the custom of judicial combats, 292

Chap. XXVI. Of the judiciary combat between one of the parties and one of the witnesses, 294

Chap. XXVII. Of the judicial combat between one of the parties, and one of the lord’s Peers. Appeal of false judgment, 296

Chap. XXVIII. Of the appeal of default of justice, 302

Chap. XXIX. Epoch of the reign of St. Lewis, 308

Chap. XXX. Observations on appeals, 311

Chap. XXXI. The same subject continued, 312

Chap. XXXII. The same subject continued, 313

Chap. XXXIII. The same subject continued, 314

Chap. XXXIV. In what manner the proceedings at law became secret, 315

Chap. XXXV. Of the costs, 316

Chap. XXXVI. Of the public prosecutor, 318

Chap. XXXVII. In what manner the institutions of St. Lewis fell into oblivion, 321

Chap. XXXVIII. The same subject continued, 323

Chap. XXXIX. The same subject continued, 326

Chap. XL. In what manner the judiciary forms were borrowed from the decretals, 327

Chap. XLI. Flux and reflux of the ecclesiastic and temporal jurisdiction, 328

Chap. XLII. The revival of the Roman law, and the result thereof. Change in the tribunals, 330

Chap. XLIII. The same subject continued, 333

Chap. XLIV. Of the proof by witnesses, 334

Chap. XLV. Of the customs of France, 335

Book XXIX. Of the manner of composing laws.

Chap. I. Of the spirit of the legislator, 338

Chap. II. The same subject continued, 339

Chap. III. That the laws which seem to deviate from the views of the legislator, are frequently agreeable to them, ibid.

Chap. IV. Of the laws that are contrary to the views of the legislator, 340

Chap. V. The same subject continued, ibid.

Chap. VI. The laws which appear the same, have not always the same effect, 341

Chap. VII. The same subject continued. The necessity of composing laws in a proper manner, 342

Chap. VIII. That laws which appear the same were not always made through the same motive, 343

Chap. IX. That the Greek and Roman laws punished suicide, but not through the same motive, 344

Chap. X. That laws which seem contrary proceed sometimes from the same spirit, 345

Chap. XI. How we are to judge of the difference of laws, 346

Chap. XII. That laws which appear the same are sometimes really different, 347

Chap. XIII. That we must not separate the laws from the end for which they were made: Of the Roman laws on theft, 348

Chap. XIV. That we must not separate the laws from the circumstances in which they were made, 350

Chap. XV. That sometimes it is proper the law should amend itself, ibid.

Chap. XVI. Things to be observed in the composing of laws, 351

Chap. XVII. A bad method of giving laws, 357

Chap. XVIII. Of the ideas of uniformity, 358

Chap. XIX. Of legislators, ibid.

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

Chap. I. Of feudal laws, 359

Chap. II. Of the source of feudal laws, 360

Chap. III. The origin of vassalage, 361

Chap. IV. The same subject continued, 362

Chap. V. Of the conquests of the Franks, 363

Chap. VI. Of the Goths, Burgundians, and Franks, 364

Chap. VII. Different ways of dividing the lands, 365

Chap. VIII. The same subject continued, 366

Chap. IX. A just application of the law of the Burgundians, and of that of the Visigoths, in relation to the division of lands, 367

Chap. X. Of servitudes, 368

Chap. XI. The same subject continued, 369

Chap. XII. That the lands belonging to the division of the barbarians paid no taxes, 373

Chap. XIII. Of taxes paid by the Romans and Gauls, in the monarchy of the Franks, 377

Chap. XIV. Of what they called census, 380

Chap. XV. That what they called census was raised only on the bondmen, and not on the freemen, 382

Chap. XVI. Of the feudal lords or vassals, 385

Chap. XVII. Of the military service of freemen, 387

Chap. XVIII. Of the double service, 391

Chap. XIX. Of compositions among the barbarous nations, 394

Chap. XX. Of what was after call’d the jurisdiction of the lords, 399

Chap. XXI. Of the territorial jurisdiction of the churches, 404

Chap. XXII. That the jurisdictions were established before the end of the second race, 406

Chap. XXIII. General idea of the Abbé du Bos’s book on the establishment of the French monarchy in Gaul, 410

Chap. XXIV. The same subject continued. Reflections on the main part of the system, 411

Chap. XXV. Of the French nobility, 415

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

Chap. I. Changes in the offices and in the fiefs. Of the mayors of the palace, 423

Chap. II. How the civil government was reformed, 427

Chap. III. Authority of the mayors of the palace, 431

Chap. IV. Of the genius of the nation in regard to the mayors 434

Chap. V. In what manner the mayors obtained the command of the armies, 435

Chap. VI. Second epocha of the humiliation of our kings of the first race, 437

Chap. VII. Of the great offices and fiefs under the mayors of the palace, 438

Chap. VIII. In what manner the allodial estates were changed into fiefs. 440

Chap. IX. How the church lands were converted into fiefs, 443

Chap. X. Riches of the clergy, 445

Chap. XI. State of Europe at the time of Charles Martel, 446

Chap. XII. Establishment of the tithes, 450

Chap. XIII. Of the elections of bishops and abbots, 453

Chap. XIV. Of the fiefs of Charles Martel, 454

Chap. XV. The same subject continued, 455

Chap. XVI. Confusion of the royalty and mayoralty. The second race, ibid.

Chap. XVII. A particular thing in the election of the kings of the second race, 457

Chap. XVIII. Charlemagne, 459

Chap. XIX. The same subject continued, 461

Chap. XX. Lewis the Debonnaire, 462

Chap. XXI. The successors of Charlemagne, 465

Chap. XXII. The same subject continued, 466

Chap. XXIII. The same subject continued, 467

Chap. XXIV. That the freemen were rendered capable of holding fiefs, 470

Chap. XXV. The principal cause of the humiliation of the second race. Changes in the allodia, 472

Chap. XXVI. Changes in the fiefs, 475

Chap. XXVII. Another change which happened in the fiefs 476

Chap. XXVIII. Changes which happened in the great offices, and in the fiefs, 477

Chap. XXIX. Of the nature of the fiefs after the reign of Charles the Bald, 479

Chap. XXX. The same subject continued, 480

Chap. XXXI. In what manner the empire was transferred from the family of Charlemagne, 482

Chap. XXXII. In what manner the crown of France was transferred to the house of Hugh Capet, 483

Chap. XXXIII. Some consequences of the perpetuity of fiefs 485

Chap. XXXIV. The same subject continued, 490