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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CHAP. XXI.: That we should not decide by political Laws, Things which belong to the Law of Nations. - Complete Works, vol. 2 The Spirit of Laws

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CHAP. XXI.: That we should not decide by political Laws, Things which belong to the Law of Nations. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 2 The Spirit of Laws [1748]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 2.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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CHAP. XXI.

That we should not decide by political Laws, Things which belong to the Law of Nations.

POLITICAL laws demand, that every man be subject to the natural and civil courts of the country where he resides, and to the censure of the sovereign.

The law of nations requires, that princes shall send ambassadors; and a reason drawn from the nature of things does not permit these ambassadors to depend either on the sovereign to whom they are sent, or on his tribunals. They are the voice of the prince who sends them, and this voice ought to be free; no obstacle should hinder the execution of their office; they may frequently offend, because they speak for a man entirely independent; they might be wrongfully accused, if they were liable to be punished for crimes; if they could be arrested for debts, these might be forged. Thus a prince, who has naturally a bold and enterprizing spirit, would speak by the mouth of a man who had every thing to fear. We must then be guided, with respect to ambassadors, by reasons drawn from the law of nations, and not by those derived from political law. But if they make an ill use of their representative character, a stop may be put to it by sending them back. They may even be accused before their master, who becomes either their judge or their accomplice.