What is The Spirit of the Laws?
{{Infobox book | name = The Spirit of the Laws | image = Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 1, title page).jpg | caption = The title page of volume 1, 1748 | author = [[Montesquieu]] | title_orig = | translator = | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = France | language = French | series = | subject = law | genre = non-fiction | publisher = | pub_date = 1748 | english_pub_date = 1750 | media_type = paper | pages = | isbn = | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''The Spirit of the Laws''''' (French: ''De l'esprit des lois'', originally spelled ''De l'esprit des loix''; also sometimes translated '''''The Spirit of Laws'''''<ref name=Carrithers>{{Cite book|author=Montesquieu|title=The Spirit of Laws: A Compendium of the First English Edition|location=Berkeley|publisher=U California P|editor=David Wallace Carrithers|date=1977}}</ref>) is a book published in 1748 by [[Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=De l'Esprit des loix ou du Rapport que les loix doivent avoir avec la constitution de chaque gouvernement, les moeurs, le climat, la religion, le commerce, &c . à quoi l'auteur a ajouté des recherches nouvelles sur les loix romaines touchant les successions, sur les loix françoises, & sur les loix féodales |place= A Genève, chez Barrillot & fils |edition= 1 |volume= I |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8618461c/f9.image.r=Montesquieu%20De%20l'Esprit%20des%20Lois |access-date=September 7, 2016|via=Gallica}}</ref> It is a book about law, comparing different ideas. The Books published by Montesquieu were subject to [[censorship]]. For this reason, the book was published anonymously, at first. The work was rapidly translated to other languages. In 1750 Thomas Nugent published the first English translation.<ref>Now best kn