Commentary

• Book I of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws

  - Lowenthal, David. “Book I of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws.” The American Political Science Review 53, no. 2 (June 1, 1959): 485–498.
  The Spirit of the Laws has a design or system, and only in its light are the parts fully intelligible. To uncover this design, we must begin by studying that apparently incoherent and alternately simplistic and obscure masterpiece of profound and benevolent… More

• Montesquieu and the History of French Laws by Iris Cox

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  Cox, Iris. Montesquieu and the History of French Laws. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, 1983.

• Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power

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  Mansfield, Harvey Claflin. Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power. New York: Free Press, 1989.
  This survey of Western political thought ranges from Aristotle to “The Federalist Papers”, showing how the doctrine of executive power arose and how it has developed to the present day. Although there were various “proto-executives”,… More

• Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, Pragmatism, Existentialism

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  Bloom, Allan David, and Steven J Kautz. Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, Pragmatism, Existentialism. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1990.
  The 17 essays in this volume examine first the precepts of the Founding Fathers and their mentors. Then the most significant preconstitutional ideas are outlined, together with analyses of how they harmonize with the Constitution and how they undermine it.

• Montesquieu and the Parlement of Bordeaux

  - Kingston, Rebecca. Montesquieu and the Parlement of Bordeaux. Geneva: Droz, 1996.
  Kingston interprets Montesquieu’s thought in the light of legal theory and practice in 18th century Bordeaux.

• The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu

  - Krause, Sharon. “The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu.” The Review of Politics 62, no. 2 (April 1, 2000): 231–265.
  Montesquieu’s theory of separate powers is elaborated in a discussion of the constitution of England in Book XI, chapter 6 of The Spirit of the Laws, which is by far the most discussed section of that work. Many commentators have interpreted the English… More

• Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Classical Liberalism: On Montesquieu’s Critique of Hobbes

  - Zuckert, Michael. "Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Classical Liberalism: On Montesquieu's Critique of Hobbes." In Natural Law and Modern Moral Philosophy, edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  Zuckert gives an account of Montesquieu’s conception of natural law and relation to Hobbes.

• Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on The Spirit of the Laws

  - Carrithers, David W., Michael A. Mosher, and Paul A. Rahe, eds. Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on The Spirit of Laws. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.
  From the publisher: Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws is one of a handful of classic works of political philosophy deserving a fresh reading every generation. The product of immense erudition, Montesquieu’s treatise has captured since its first… More

• The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism

  - Carrese, Paul, The Cloaking of Power Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  From the publisher: How did the US judiciary become so powerful—powerful enough that state and federal judges once vied to decide a presidential election? What does this prominence mean for the law, constitutionalism, and liberal democracy? In The Cloaking… More

• Laws, Passion, and the Attractions of Right Action by Sharon Krause

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  Krause, Sharon R. “Laws, Passion, and the Attractions of Right Action in Montesquieu.” Philosophy & Social Criticism 32, no. 2 (March 1, 2006): 211–230.
  This article examines Montesquieu’s concept of natural law and treatment of legal customs in conjunction with his theory of moral psychology. It explores his effort to entwine the rational procedural quality of laws with the substantive principles that… More

• Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas

  - Berlin, Isaiah. Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas. Edited by Henry Hardy. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2013.
  From the publisher: In this outstanding collection of essays, Isaiah Berlin, one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, discusses the importance of dissenters in the history of ideas—among them Machiavelli, Vico, Montesquieu, Herzen, and Sorel.… More

Multimedia

• Iván Szelényi: Montesquieu

  - Iván Szelényi, "Foundations of Modern Social Theory," Yale Open Courses, Fall 2009.
  Professor Iván Szelényi’s lectures on Montesquieu from Yale’s “Foundations of Modern Social Theory,” available through Yale Open Courses. Fall 2009.