Montesquieu’s De l’Esprit des Lois is a monumental work of political theory which was one of the most influential texts of the French Enlightenment, and its impact spread well beyond France. It stands as Montesquieu’s magnum opus, and was more than twenty years in the making. The author’s immense breadth of reading and erudition matches the mammoth scope of its intention: to analyse the different types of political structures of all human societies throughout history and investigate the relationship between the types of regimes and all aspects of their societies. The book aimed to uncover the rationale of all laws of different human societies, considered from a socio-political perspective. Laws are understood as …
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Citation: Treuherz, Nick. "Esprit des lois". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 January 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5333, accessed 26 November 2024.]
