The Political Theory of Montesquieu

This volume comprises selections from Persian Letters (1721), Considerations on the Causes of the Romans’ Greatness and Decline (1734), and The Spirit of the Laws (1748), along with a detailed introduction by the editor; it makes available in a new English translation the most significant part of Montesquieu’s political, social and legal theory.

About two-thirds of the volume has been translated from The Spirit of the Laws, not redone in English since the 18th century. That version was notoriously inadequate: Montesquieu’s key terms were not rendered consistently; often his meaning was distorted by giving the nearest English 18th-century legal or institutional equivalent. Finally, English usage has changed so much that the 18th-century translation makes Montesquieu seem both quaint and obscure. This is not the impression one derives from reading Montesquieu in French today.

This volume also includes substantial selections from the Persian Letters and the Considerations on the Causes of the Romans’ Greatness and Decline. Although adequate translations of these works exist, it seemed advisable to maintain intellectual and stylistic consistency by providing English versions on the same principles as The Spirit of the Laws. No other single volume of Montesquieu has all these.

Also included are a long introduction by the editor & translator, an explanatory list of key terms rendered in French, and a glossary of the authors referred to in the text. It should enable those who do not read French to appreciate Montesquieu’s intellectual contributions to the social sciences and law. It persuasively shows too that Montesquieu is amusing as well as instructive.