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CHAP. XXIII.: How the Laws are founded on the Manners of a People. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 1 The Spirit of Laws [1748]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 1.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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CHAP. XXIII.

How the Laws are founded on the Manners of a People.

AT the time when the manners of the Romans were pure, they had no particular law against the embezzlement of the public money. When this crime began to appear, it was thought so infamous, that, to be condemned to restore what they had taken, was considered as a sufficient disgrace: for a proof of this, see the sentence of L. Scipio.§

[]In simplum.

[§ ]Livy, l. 38.