Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Reading Montesquieu

Mont II Montesquieu

History's EHRC, in collaboration with the Warwick Law School and PAIS held four reading groups/master-classes on aspects of the work of Charles-Louis Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), exploring some of the central themes in Montesquieu's political, legal and economic philosophy.

5-7pm, 26 April Room Wolfson Exchange 1 – Library, Professor Celine Spector (Bordeaux).

Chapters XI, 6 ( Fr) and XIX, 27 ( Fr) of L'Esprit des Lois


5-7pm, 3 May Room S0.09, Professor Michael Lobban (LSE).

Books 30-31 of L’Esprit des Lois – http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-2-the-spirit-of-laws plus: James Dalrymple’s Essay towards a General History of Feudal Property in Great Britain (see pp. 3-26) ; and the first chapter of Jeffrey Gilbert’s Treatise of Tenures (see pp. 1-17)


5-7pm, 10 May Room S0.09, Dr James Harris (St Andrews).

Henry Home, Lord Kames, Historical Law-Tracts, 4th edn (1792):Preface; Tract I (‘Criminal Law’); Tract III (‘Property’).
Avalable on ECCO


5-7pm, 16 May Room Wolfson Exchange 1 - Library, Professor Paul Rahe, (Hillsdale).

Texts: Universal Monarchy (1727) and Considerations sur les causes de la Grandeur des Romans et de leur Decadence (1731-2)

The former text is available here in English and in French; the latter is available on-line at http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-3

However, we recommend the David Lowenthal edition of the Grandeur as a better translation and over-all text - published by Hackett.



The series is convened by Mark Philp and John Snape