Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Montesquieu, Charles de. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780521369749.

The Spirit of the Laws is without question one of the central texts in the history of eighteenth-century thought, yet there has been no complete scholarly English language edition since 1750. This lucid translation renders Montesquieus problematic text newly accessible to a fresh generation of students, helping them to understand why Montesquieu was such an important figure in the early enlightenment and why The Spirit of the Laws was such an influence on those who framed the American Constitution. Fully annotated, this edition focuses on Montesquieus use of sources and his text as a whole, rather than on those opening passages toward which critical energies have traditionally been devoted.