Forms and types of "law" in the thought of Montesquieu

Abstract

Montesquieu used the concept of “law” to indicate, in a broad sense, the multifarious concatenations of causes that are intertwined in the historical determination of human societies. The French thinker distinguished the “laws” in plurime typologies, that he related to the cultural, political, moral, legal, religious and climatic variables, whose incidence is stratified into the systemic composition of each civilization, through the commixture of reciprocal interdependencies that forge the “general spirit” of nations. Furthermore, Montesquieu combined his peculiar methodological approach with the principles of “jusnaturalism”, in fact took for granted the existence of “natural laws”, among which he included the instinct for “sociability”, that laid as the primary foundation of all community aggregates. In this regard, Montesquieu directed harsh criticisms at Hobbes, whereas revealed evident affinities with Grotius, Pufendorf and Locke, although without adhering to the “social contract theory”.