Charles Montesquieu is a French writer, thinker and lawyer whose name is deeply rooted in the history of the formation of state legal teachings. He gained fame thanks to the theory of separation of powers, which owes its existence to the French philosopher. However, the story of his life goes far beyond that concept alone.
Childhood
Whatever Charles Louis de Seconda, better known as Charles Montesquieu, did on his journey. His biography begins in the family castle of Labred, near Bordeaux, in 1689. His father Jacques was quite severe, and little Charles was brought up in patriarchal conditions. Little is known about the mother, in addition to the fact that her dowry included the aforementioned La Brad Castle, and she herself was distinguished by her special religiosity and a tendency to mysticism. She died when the boy was 7 years old, and after 3 years his father sent him to college at the monastery of Jules, founded by oratorians. Despite the fact that it was a religious school, he received a secular education. It was there that he studied ancient literature and became interested in philosophy, with which his whole subsequent life was connected.
Law study
Montesquieu was lucky to be born in the Enlightenment, when the dominance of thought and reason was established everywhere. In 1705, he returned from college to his native home, where he began to devote all his free time to mastering jurisprudence. It was more a necessary necessity than true passion, and law in those days was considered extremely difficult to understand. The need to study the laws was dictated by the fact that Charles Montesquieu in the future was to take a parliamentary post, which will be inherited. In 1713, Charles's father dies, and he remains in the care of his uncle.
Legacy of Baron de Second
During his lifetime, his uncle made great efforts to marry his nephew. His venerable chosen one was Jeanne Lartig. This choice was based not on love or even on the girl’s external data, but solely on the size of her dowry. Marriage promised several difficulties related to religious issues, but they were able to get around thanks to Charles's legal education. In 1715 the wedding took place. A year later, his uncle dies, and after his death, the young man inherits the title of baron. From now on, he is Montesquieu Charles Louis de Seconda. In addition, a large fortune and the post of chairman of the Bordeaux Parliament are transferred to his ownership. For the most part, he served as a judge there, in which he already had experience, as he previously worked as an adviser and was vice president in the city court.
Career
Charles Montesquieu never really got involved in law, but for ten years he responsibly approached the performance of his duties in parliament. In 1726, he sells his post, as in those days it was widespread, and moved to Paris. Despite the fact that this work was not Montesquieu's vocation in life, he received invaluable experience that would be useful to him in writing future works. Thus, after the move begins his active writing. He publishes many works and essays on various topics. In addition, he becomes a member of the political club Antresol, where world news, daily events and the work of the participants were actively discussed. Around the same time, he visited the French Academy, and at the same time continued to write.
Main works
Even while living in his native Bordeaux, Charles Montesque wrote many essays and essays on the topic of natural sciences. Among them can be distinguished such as "On the causes of echo", "On the appointment of the renal glands", "On the sea tides." Membership in the Bordeaux Academy, where he conducted many experiments, helped him in this. Natural science is another area that aroused the interest of the writer, but his main works nevertheless concerned the state, law, and politics. In 1721, his novel called Persian Letters was published, which immediately provoked a storm of discussion. Unfortunately, he was banned, but this only had a beneficial effect on his success, because the author very successfully brought out the images of society of that time.
But the key work in his bibliography, which everyone probably heard about, was the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws". Work on it took many years, during which Charles traveled to almost all of Europe, studying the political structure, customs, customs and law of Germany, England, Italy and Holland. In each of the countries he collected a lot of useful information, which was useful to him in writing the main book of life. In 1731 his journeys ended, and Montesquieu returned to his homeland, where he spent all subsequent years in painstaking work and reflection on two volumes of “On the Spirit of Laws”, which were published in 1748.
Philosophy and Key Ideas
The ideas set forth in the book “On the Spirit of Laws” have become extremely significant in the development of statehood not only in France, but throughout the world. He talks about the separation of power into 3 branches: executive, legislative and judicial. He also notes that their merger can lead to lawlessness, and such a model should exist in all states, regardless of their form of government. The term "theory of the separation of powers" was first mentioned and interpreted in his work by Charles Montesquieu. The philosopher and thinker John Locke is also involved in the development of the main provisions of this theory, but it was the French writer who finalized and improved it.
One of the most important topics in his work is the correlation of laws and the life of each individual society. He talks a lot about the relationship of customs, mores and religion with the law, which is characteristic of individual forms of government. In this he was greatly helped by the knowledge that he acquired over the years of travel. Subsequently, many of the ideas embodied in the work "On the Spirit of Laws" became fundamental to the US Constitution and other significant legal acts.
Personal life and death
It is difficult to answer the question of what kind of person Charles Montesquieu was. A brief biography, rather, reveals his contribution to the history of political and legal thought, but is silent about his character traits. It is known that he was not a faithful spouse, but he respected his wife. She became the mother of two beautiful girls and a boy, whom Charles certainly loved. He devoted almost his entire life to science, reading, and reflection. He worked mostly in the library, where his great works were born.
They say that he was an introverted person, spent most of his free time alone, and opened up exclusively to close friends. He rarely went out into the light, most often in salons, where he did not communicate with anyone, but only watched the society gathered there. In 1754, Montesquieu traveled to Paris to provide legal assistance to his friend, Professor La Bomel. There he contracted pneumonia and died on February 10, 1755. However, his works are still considered cult and have gained eternal life.