Montesquieu

Montesquieu, born Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689–1755), was a French judge and one of the most influential Enlightenment writers on politics. He inherited the Montesquieu title from his uncle and was educated in law. Serving as a magistrate in the Parliament of Bordeaux, he gained wide exposure to legal and political ideas that would shape his later works.

His early fame came with Lettres persanes (The Persian Letters, 1721), a satirical dialogue that critiqued absolute monarchy and social norms. In De l'esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws, 1748) he argued that political liberty depends on the distribution of political power, not on tradition, and he introduced the separation of powers as a guard against tyranny.

Montesquieu proposed that the best government depends on the structure of powers within a state. He distinguished republics, monarchies, and despotisms, and argued that laws should be adapted to a state's size, climate, and institutions. His doctrine of checks and balances influenced later liberal constitutions, including the United States Constitution.

He died in Paris in 1755. His writings helped shape modern political science and liberal thought by framing law and government as conditions for liberty rather than expressions of power.