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Charles Louis de Secondat, lord of la Brède and baron of Montesquieu, was a French philosopher and jurist whose work developed in the context of the Enlightenment.
He was born in 1689 at Chateau de la Brède, near Bordeaux. From a noble family of Magistrates. His godfather was a beggar named Charles. "So that he would remember all his life that the poor are our brothers," was the family's wish.
He received a solid family religious education. At the age of 11 he went to the Juilly school, near Paris, to receive intellectual and moral training. He returned to Bordeaux to study Law.
His notable work was “The Spirit of the Laws” in 1748. "There must be a balance between the executive, legislative and judicial power," he established. A University in Bordeaux is named after him.
"To do great things you don't have to be a genius, you don't have to be above men, you have to be with them" (Montesquieu). His thinking is framed in the critical spirit characteristic of the Enlightenment:
He was a restless and free-thinking spirit who expanded his knowledge with studies in anatomy, botany and physics. He approached humanism through literature and philosophy. He was a Councilor in the Parliament of Bordeaux (1716-1726).
His book L’esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws) establishes the main foundations between economic and social sciences. He inspired the French Constitution of 1791 and is the origin of the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
A street in Bordeaux is named L’esprit des lois (spirit of the laws) in memory of the philosopher.
He loved the countryside intensely. He was recognized as a philosopher-farmer.
In his writings he remembers Montaigne who was mayor of Bordeaux.
He was named Academician of Sciences, Arts and Fine Letters.
His proposal for separation of powers has been introduced in some Constitutions, such as that of the United States.
"No power without laws can be legitimate. Legitimacy comes from the force with which it is exercised, it comes from the fact of marking the limits and behaviors of others."
The State is born from the need to find a stop to the state of war caused by man, which at first peaceful and calm, in the state of nature, later becomes, after having acquired self-awareness, aggressive and bellicose.
With the concept of the State, Positive Law was also born, which is divided into the Law of Nations, Political Law and Civil Law.
The first regulates the relations between all societies and has as its objective the protection and safeguarding of peace, the second regulates the relations between citizens and the State; and finally the third regulates the rights between citizens as individuals.
Its fundamental contribution is the separation of powers: legislative, executive and judicial. To the well-known "divide and rule" he proposes the healthy separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers that saw its first application in the North American Revolution.
