The Spirit of Laws (Great Books in Philosophy)

The Online Library of Liberty Collection......Page 1
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Table of Contents......Page 4
Of Commerce.......Page 13
Of the Spirit of Commerce.......Page 14
Of the Poverty of the People.......Page 15
Of Commerce in different Governments.......Page 16
Of Nations that have entered into an œconomical Commerce.......Page 18
Some Effects of an extensive Navigation.......Page 19
The Spirit of England, with respect to Commerce.......Page 20
In what manner the œconomical Commerce has been sometimes restrained.......Page 21
Of the Prohibition of Commerce.......Page 22
An Institution adapted to œconomical Commerce.......Page 23
The same Subject continued.......Page 24
Of the Freedom of Commerce.......Page 25
What it is that destroys this Liberty.......Page 26
The Laws of Commerce concerning the Confiscation of Merchandises.......Page 27
Of seizing the Persons of Merchants.......Page 28
An excellent Law.......Page 29
A Law of Rhodes.......Page 30
Of the Judges of Commerce.......Page 31
That a Prince ought not to engage himself in Commerce.......Page 32
The same Subject continued.......Page 33
Of the Commerce of the Nobility in a Monarchy.......Page 34
A singular Reflection.......Page 35
To what Nations Commerce is prejudicial.......Page 36
Some general Considerations.......Page 38
Of the People of Africa.......Page 39
That the wants of the People in the South are different from those of the North.......Page 40
The principal Difference between the Commerce of the Ancients and the Moderns.......Page 41
Other Differences.......Page 42
Of the Commerce of the Ancients.......Page 43
Of the Commerce of the Greeks.......Page 47
Of Alexander. His Conquest.......Page 49
Of the Commerce of the Grecian Kings after the Death of Alexander.......Page 51
Of the Circuit of Africa.......Page 55
Of Carthage and Marseilles.......Page 57
The Isle of Delos. Mithridates.......Page 60
Of the Genius of the Romans as to Maritime Affairs.......Page 61
Of the Genius of the Romans with Respect to Commerce.......Page 62
Of the Commerce of the Romans with the Barbarians.......Page 63
Of the Commerce of the Romans with Arabia, and the Indies.......Page 64
Of Commerce after the Destruction of the Western Empire.......Page 67
A particular Regulation.......Page 68
Of Commerce after the Decay of the Roman Power in the East.......Page 69
How Commerce broke through the Barbarism of Europe.......Page 70
The Discovery of two new Worlds, and in what Manner Europe is affected by it.......Page 72
Of the Riches which Spain drew from America.......Page 75
A Problem.......Page 78
The Reason of the Use of Money.......Page 79
Of the Nature of Money.......Page 80
Of ideal Money.......Page 82
Of the Quantity of Gold and Silver.......Page 83
The same Subject continued.......Page 84
The Reason why Interest was lowered one half after the Conquest of the Indies.......Page 85
How the Price of Things is fixed in the Variation of the Sign of Riches.......Page 86
The same Subject continued.......Page 87
Of the relative Scarcity of Gold and Silver.......Page 88
Of Exchange.......Page 89
Of the Proceedings of the Romans with respect to Money.......Page 95
The Circumstances in which the Romans changed the Value of their Specie.......Page 96
Proceedings with respect to Money in the Time of the Emperors.......Page 97
How the Exchange is a Constraint on despotic Power.......Page 98
The Practice of some Countries in Italy......Page 99
The Assistance a State may derive from Bankers.......Page 100
Of public Debts.......Page 101
Of the Payment of public Debts.......Page 102
Of lending upon Interest.......Page 103
Of maritime Usury.......Page 104
Of lending by Contract, and the State of Usury amongst the Romans.......Page 105
The same Subject continued.......Page 106
Of Men and Animals, with respect to Multiplication of their Species.......Page 110
Of Marriage.......Page 111
Of the Condition of Children.......Page 112
Of Families.......Page 113
Of the several Orders of lawful Wives.......Page 114
Of Bastards in different Governments.......Page 115
Of the Father’s Consent to Marriage.......Page 116
The same Subject continued.......Page 117
Of young Women.......Page 118
What it is that determines to Marriage.......Page 119
Of the Severity of Government.......Page 120
Of the Number of Males and Females in different Countries.......Page 121
Of Sea-port Towns.......Page 122
Of the Productions of the Earth which require a greater or less Number of Men.......Page 123
Of the Number of Inhabitants with relation to the Arts.......Page 124
The Concern of the Legislator in the Propagation of the Species.......Page 125
Of Greece, and the Number of its Inhabitants.......Page 126
Of the State and Number of People before the Romans.......Page 128
Of the Depopulation of the Globe.......Page 129
That the Romans were under a Necessity of making Laws, to encourage the Propagation of the Species.......Page 130
Of the Laws of the Romans relating to the Propagation of the Species.......Page 131
Of the Exposing of Children.......Page 137
Of the State of the World after the Destruction of the Romans.......Page 138
The Changes which happened in Europe, with regard to the Number of the Inhabitants.......Page 139
The same Subject continued.......Page 140
Consequences.......Page 141
Of the Law made in France to encourage the Propagation of the Species.......Page 142
By what Means we may remedy a Depopulation.......Page 143
Of Hospitals.......Page 144
Of Religion in general.......Page 146
A Paradox of Mr. Bayle’s.......Page 147
That a moderate Government is most agreeable to the Christian Religion, and a despotic Government to the Mahometan.......Page 148
Consequences from the Character of the Christian Religion, and that of the Mahometan.......Page 150
That the Catholic Religion is most agreeable to a Monarchy, and the Protestant to a Republic.......Page 151
Another of Mr. Bayle’s Paradoxes.......Page 152
Of the Laws of Perfection in Religion.......Page 153
Of the Connection between the moral Laws and those of Religion.......Page 154
Of the Essenes.......Page 155
Of the Sect of Stoics.......Page 156
Of Contemplation.......Page 157
Of Penances.......Page 158
Of inexpiable Crimes.......Page 159
In what manner Religion has an Influence on civil Laws.......Page 160
How false Religious are sometimes corrected by the Civil Laws.......Page 162
How the Laws of Religion correct the Inconveniencies of a political Constitution.......Page 163
The same Subject continued.......Page 164
How the Laws of Religion have the Effect of Civil Laws.......Page 165
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.......Page 166
The same Subject continued.......Page 167
Of the Metempsychosis.......Page 168
That it is dangerous for Religion to inspire an Aversion for Things in themselves indifferent.......Page 169
Of Festivals.......Page 170
Of the local Laws of Religion.......Page 171
The Inconveniency of transplanting a Religion from one Country to another.......Page 172
The same Subject continued.......Page 173
Of religious Sentiments.......Page 174
Of the Motives of Attachment to different Religions.......Page 175
Of Temples.......Page 177
Of the Ministers of Religion.......Page 179
Of the Bounds which the Laws ought to prescribe to the Riches of the Clergy.......Page 180
Of Monasteries.......Page 182
Of the Luxury of Superstition.......Page 183
Of the Pontificate.......Page 184
Of Toleration in point of Religion.......Page 185
The same Subject continued.......Page 186
Of changing a Religion.......Page 187
Of penal Laws.......Page 188
A most humble Remonstrance to the Inquisitors of Spain and Portugal.......Page 189
Why the Christian Religion is so odious in Japan.......Page 191
Of the Propagation of Religion.......Page 192
Idea of this Book.......Page 193
Of Laws divine and human.......Page 194
Of Civil Laws contrary to the Law of Nature.......Page 195
The same Subject continued.......Page 196
Cases in which we may judge by the Principles of the Civil Law, in limiting the Principles of the Law of Nature.......Page 197
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.......Page 198
That we ought not to decide by the Precepts of Religion, what belongs only to the Law of Nature.......Page 200
That we ought not to regulate by the Principles of the Canon Law, Things which should be regulated by those of the Civil Law.......Page 201
That Things which ought to be regulated by the Principles of Civil Law, can seldom be regulated by those of Religion.......Page 202
In what Case we ought to follow the Civil Law which permits, and not the Law of Religion which forbids.......Page 204
That human Courts of Justice should not be regulated by the Maxims of those Tribunals which relate to the other Life.......Page 205
The same Subject continued.......Page 206
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.......Page 207
In what Instances Marriages between Relations should be regulated by the Laws of Nature; and in what Instances by the Civil Laws.......Page 209
That we should not regulate by the Principles of political Law, those Things which depend on the Principles of civil Law.......Page 212
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.......Page 214
The same Subject continued.......Page 216
That it is necessary to enquire, whether the Laws which seem contradictory, are of the same Class.......Page 217
That we should not decide those Things by the civil Law, which ought to be decided by domestic Laws.......Page 218
That we ought not to decide by the Principles of the civil Law, those Things which belong to the Law of Nations.......Page 219
That we should not decide by political Laws, Things which belong to the Law of Nations.......Page 220
The unhappy State of the Ynca Athualpa.......Page 221
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.......Page 222
That the Regulations of the Police are of a different Class from other civil Laws.......Page 223
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.......Page 224
CHAP. I.......Page 225
OF THE ORIGIN AND REVOLUTIONS OF THE CIVIL LAWS AMONG THE FRENCH.......Page 232
Different Character of the Laws of the several People of Germany.......Page 233
That the laws of the Barbarians were all personal.......Page 235
Capital Difference between the Salic Laws and those of the Visigoths and Burgundians.......Page 236
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.......Page 237
The same Subject continued.......Page 239
How the Roman Law kept its Ground in the Demesne of the Lombards.......Page 240
How the Roman Law came to be lost in Spain.......Page 241
A false Capitulary.......Page 242
In what Manner the Codes of Barbarian Laws, and the Capitularies came to be lost.......Page 243
The same Subject continued.......Page 244
Other Causes of the Disuse of the Codes of Barbarian Laws, as well as of the Roman Law, and of the Capitularies.......Page 245
Of local Customs. Revolution of the Laws of barbarous Nations, as well as of the Roman Law.......Page 246
Difference between the Salic Law, or that of the Salian Franks, and that of the Ripuarian Franks, and other barbarous Nations.......Page 248
Another Difference.......Page 249
A Reflection.......Page 250
Of the Ordeal, or Trial by boiling Water, established by the Salic Law.......Page 251
Particular Notions of our Ancestors.......Page 252
In what Manner the Custom of judicial Combats gained Ground.......Page 254
A new Reason of the Disuse of the Salic and Roman Laws, as also of the Capitularies.......Page 257
Origin of the Point of Honour.......Page 258
A new Reflection upon the Point of Honour among the Germans.......Page 260
Of the Manners relative to judicial Combats.......Page 261
Of the Code of Laws on judicial Combats.......Page 263
Rules established in the judicial Combat.......Page 264
Of the Bounds prescribed to the Custom of judicial Combats.......Page 266
Of the judiciary Combat between one of the Parties, and one of the Witnesses.......Page 268
Of the judicial Combat between one of the Parties, and one of the Lord’s Peers. Appeal of false Judgment.......Page 269
Of the Appeal of Default of Justice.......Page 273
Epoch of the Reign of St. Lewis.......Page 276
Observations on Appeals.......Page 278
The same Subject continued.......Page 279
The same Subject continued.......Page 280
The same Subject continued.......Page 281
In what Manner the Proceedings at Law became secret.......Page 282
Of the Costs.......Page 283
Of the public Prosecutor.......Page 284
In what Manner the Institutions of St. Lewis fell into Oblivion.......Page 286
The same Subject continued.......Page 288
The same Subject continued.......Page 290
In what Manner the Judiciary Forms were borrowed from the Decretals.......Page 291
Fiux and Reflux of the ecclesiastic and temporal Jurisdiction.......Page 292
The Revival of the Roman Law, and the Result thereof. Change in the Tribunals.......Page 293
The same subject continued.......Page 295
Of the Proof by Witnesses.......Page 296
Of the Customs of France.......Page 297
Of the Spirit of a Legislator.......Page 299
The same Subject continued.......Page 300
That the Laws which seem to deviate from the Views of the Legislator, are frequently agreeable to them.......Page 301
Of the Laws contrary to the Views of the Legislator.......Page 302
The same Subject continued.......Page 303
That Laws which appear the same, have not always the same Effect.......Page 304
The same Subject continued. Necessity of composing Laws in a proper Manner.......Page 305
That Laws which appear the same, were not always made through the same Motive.......Page 306
That the Greek and Roman Laws punished Suicide, but not through the same Motive.......Page 307
That Laws which seem contrary, proceed sometimes from the same Spirit.......Page 308
How we are to judge of the Difference of Laws.......Page 309
That Laws which appear the same, are sometimes really different.......Page 310
That we must not separate Laws from the End for which they were made. Of the Roman Laws on Theft.......Page 311
That we must not separate the Laws from the Circumstances in which they were made.......Page 313
That sometimes it is proper the Law should amend itself.......Page 314
Things to be observed in the composing of Laws.......Page 315
A bad Method of giving Laws.......Page 318
Of the Ideas of Uniformity.......Page 319
Of Legislators.......Page 320
Of feudal Laws.......Page 321
Of the Source of feudal Laws.......Page 322
The Origin of Vassalage.......Page 323
The same Subject continued.......Page 324
Of the Conquests of the Franks.......Page 325
Of the Goths, Burgundians, and Franks.......Page 326
Different Ways of dividing the Land.......Page 327
The same Subject continued.......Page 328
A just application of the Law of the Burgundians and of that of the Visigoths in relation to the division of Lands.......Page 329
Of Servitudes.......Page 330
The same Subject continued.......Page 331
That the lands belonging to the division of the Barbarians paid no taxes.......Page 334
Of Taxes paid by the Romans and Gauls, in the monarchy of the Franks.......Page 336
Of what they called Census.......Page 338
That what they called census was raised only on the bondmen, and not on the freemen.......Page 339
Of the feudal Lords or Vassals.......Page 341
Of the Military Service of Freemen.......Page 342
Of the double Service.......Page 344
Of Compositions among the barbarous Nations.......Page 346
Of what was afterwards called the Jurisdiction of the Lords.......Page 349
Of the territorial Jurisdiction of the Churches.......Page 352
That the Jurisdictions were established before the End of the second Race.......Page 354
General Idea of the Abbé Du Bos’s Book on the Establishment of the French Monarchy in Gaul.......Page 356
The same Subject continued. Reflection on the main Part of the System.......Page 357
Of the French Nobility.......Page 360
Changes in the offices and in the fiefs. Of the mayors of the palace.......Page 364
How the civil Government was reformed.......Page 367
Authority of the Mayors of the Palace.......Page 369
Of the Genius of the Nation in regard to the Mayors.......Page 371
In what Manner the Mayors obtained the Command of the Armies.......Page 372
Second Epocha of the Humiliation of our Kings of the first Race.......Page 373
Of the great Offices and Fiefs under the Mayors of the Palace.......Page 374
In what Manner the allodial Estates were changed into Fiefs.......Page 375
How the Church-lands were converted into Fiefs.......Page 377
Riches of the Clergy.......Page 378
State of Europe at the Time of Charles Martel.......Page 379
Establishment of the Tithes.......Page 381
Of the Election of Bishops and Abbots.......Page 383
Of the Fiefs of Charles Martel.......Page 384
The same Subject continued.......Page 385
Confusion of the Royalty and Mayoralty. The second Race.......Page 386
A particular Circumstance in the Election of the Kings of the second Race.......Page 388
Charlemaign.......Page 389
The same Subject continued.......Page 390
Lewis the Debonnaire.......Page 391
The same Subject continued.......Page 393
The same Subject continued.......Page 394
The same Subject continued.......Page 395
That the Freemen were rendered capable of holding Fiefs.......Page 397
THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF THE HUMILIATION OF THE SECOND RACE. Changes in the Allodia.......Page 398
Changes in the Fiefs.......Page 400
Another Change which happened in the Fiefs.......Page 401
Changes which happened in the great Offices, and in the Fiefs.......Page 402
Of the Nature of the Fiefs after the Reign of Charles the Bald.......Page 404
The same Subject continued.......Page 405
In what Manner the Empire was transferred from the Family of Charlemaign.......Page 407
In what Manner the Crown of France was transferred to the House of Hugh Capet.......Page 408
Some Consequences of the perpetuity of Fiefs.......Page 409
The same subject continued.......Page 412