Montesquieu - the Spirit of Laws

On 10th February 1755, the Baron de Montesquieu passed away. Montesquieu is one of the philosophers responsible for the Enlightenment movement. In 1748, he published “The Spirit of Laws” which will have a political impact on France and many other countries.

Montesquieu defined three main types of powers: democratic republics; monarchies; and despotisms and even claimed religions were each fitted to either one of them. He associated Protestantism to republics, Christianity to monarchies and despotism to Islam.

In his treaty, the major contribution of Montesquieu was to develop the doctrine of separation of powers whereby government should be divided into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial so they would balance each other out.

The first three articles of the United States Constitution precisely describe respectively Congress, The President, and the Court system.