Montesquieu's 'The Spirit of the Laws' - by W B Allen (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Spirit of the Laws is the canonical text of modern republicanism and the English translation - always deficient heretofore - is critical to an appreciation of those deliberations that led to adoption of the Constitution of the United States. The present update recovers the sense of the original French.

Book Synopsis

The Spirit of the Laws not only systematizes the foundational ideas of "separation of powers" and "balances and checks," it provides the decisive response to the question of whether power in the nation-state can be limited in the aftermath of the Westphalian settlement of 1648. It describes a civilizational change through which power becomes domesticated, with built-in resistance to attempts to absolutize (or make total) political power. As such, it is the Bible of modern politics, now made more accessible to English readers than it ever has been.

There have been in English only two prior translations of this work that first appeared in 1748. The deficiencies of those two efforts have been broadly identified in the scholarship. Although the text is still used with regularity in university instruction (having been recovered after a lull in the 1950s and 60s), it deserves - and now receives - a presentation that enhances its usefulness in the analysis both of politics and the philosophical foundations of human life.

Montesquieu's singularity - the first secular argument against race-based slavery and only the second secular argument against the servitude of women - provides a special heritage for the modern word to preserve and a key to making operational those fundamental insights within the context of sustained political and cultural development. The replacement of blood and tribe with the universal attributes of humanity (while recognizing the highly variable ecologies of communities) constitutes the single-most important moral and political development of the modern world. And The Spirit of the Laws bears a primary responsibility for that accomplishment.

Review Quotes

"A searching commentary on Montesquieu's great work, a book of many puzzles. William Allen identifies them and finds new ones, offering and providing convincing solutions with erudition and careful reasoning. His book gives readers a pleasurable entry to the features of Montesquieu's wisdom." --Harvey C. Mansfield, Research Professor of Government, Harvard University

"In this timely translation of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, Professor Allen not only sheds valuable new light on the original work but also gives one pause to contemplate the present state of democratic government and politics, in the United States and elsewhere." --Agnes M. Herzberg, Professor Emeritus, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada

"William Barclay Allen has been wrestling with Montesquieu's oeuvre now for more than fifty years; and, to his great credit, he has resisted the propensity, nearly universal among scholars, to treat the French philosopher as a partisan of one or another form of government. In this brilliant, provocative book, he challenges the consensus that the author of The Spirit of the Laws was a liberal on the Lockean model by drawing attention to passages on natural law in that work that do not fit this hypothesis. Then he elaborates an account of Montesquie's thinking that places him in between Plato and Aristotle, on the one hand, and Hobbes and Locke, on the other. No one who reads this work with care and ruminates on the implication of Allen's argument can rest satisfied with the reigning orthodoxy. --Paul A. Rahe, Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, Hillsdale College Roger and Martha Mertz Vising Fellow in Classics, The Hoover Institution

"William Barclay Allen has provided not just a major new translation but a major reinterpretation of Montesquieu's magnum opus--a work that is both timeless and startlingly timely in an era when profound issues of what regimes are appropriate in different locales are being renewed around the globe."--Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

A wide-ranging, deeply reflective, and richly thought-provoking contribution to the study of Montesquieu and of his influence on the American constitutional tradition. -- Thomas L. Pangle, Joe R. Long Endowed Chair in Democratic Studies, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin

Allen's effort to develop Montesquieu's political philosophy within the framework of what he identifies as the four cardinal human goods is bold and enlightening. Anyone interested in social contract theory, Montesquieu's influence on the American Founding (to which Allen devotes the final chapter), and the character and aim of the SOL would greatly benefit from this profound interpretive essay. --Perspectives on Political Science

In his new translation and commentary on The Spirit of the Laws, W. B. Allen has unveiled the plan, structure, and political profundity of Monesquieu's magnum opus. He has also captured that oh-so-very elusive idea of "esprit" that restlessly occupies the nucleus of Montesquieu's work. Allen's book is a show of philosophical brilliance revealing philosophical brilliance, set against a backdrop of political moderation and hushed grandeur. -- Colleen Sheehan, Professor of Politics with the School of Civic and Economic Thought at Arizona State University.

Professor William Allen has thus earned our gratitude for his public spirit as much as for his learning by bringing out a new translation of Montesquieu's longest, most important work--The Spirit of the Laws. He has done scholars and students a great service. --Religion & Liberty

Those conducting research on Montesquieu, the French Enlightenment, or political theory generally will find this a very valuable resource. --CHOICE

W. B. Allen's Montesquieu has one foot in the classical world and another in the early modern and seeks a politics superior to either. --Law & Liberty

W.B. Allen has done a great service bringing fresh eyes to an important thinker. -- The Interim.

Religion & Liberty

The Interim

Taylor & Francis Online

Law & Liberty

Speech at Founding Forward

Harford County Public Library book launch event

The Institute of World Politics book launch event

About the Author

W. B. Allen studies and writes broadly in political philosophy and history, with special focus on traditions of self-government and liberalism.