Quiz: The Spirit of the Laws

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. On what, according to Montesquieu, does the price of things fundamentally depend?

   The ratio of the total of things to the total of money The labour needed to produce them The cost of carrying them to market The prince’s decrees fixing their value in the coin of the realm
2. 2. Why, according to Montesquieu, can English law afford not to punish false witness with death?

   Without torture it relies on witnesses, and hears them on both sides English judges could pardon any perjurer at their own discretion, without appeal English juries were forbidden to rely on witnesses at all Perjury was unknown in England because of the solemn oath on the Gospels
3. 3. Which kind of tax does Montesquieu call “more natural to liberty”?

   A tax on land registers A forced loan from the nobility A duty on merchandise A capitation or poll tax
4. 4. According to Book XVIII, countries are cultivated in proportion to what?

   Their fertility Their liberty The quantity of their money Their population
5. 5. What does Book VIII say is the natural size of a republic?

   A large empire A small territory A middling territory Any size, if it is well represented
6. 6. What is Montesquieu’s “fundamental principle” on admitting a new religion?

   Admit new religions only in trading cities, for the sake of commerce Admit no religion except the one which the prince himself professes If free to reject it, reject it; once received, tolerate it Admit freely every religion whose teaching supports good morals
7. 7. Why, according to Montesquieu, did the early Germans have vassals but no fiefs?

   Roman law forbade the Germans beyond the Rhine to grant land in fee Their princes had no lands to give, only horses, arms and feasts The companions thought land an unworthy reward The priests owned all the land of Germany
8. 8. To whom does Montesquieu compare Spain and its American treasure?

   The king who wished all he touched would turn to gold A merchant ruined when his richly laden ship was wrecked A prodigal son who wasted his inheritance in foreign lands A miser who buried his treasure in the ground and starved beside it
9. 9. In Book XXVI, what kind of law does Montesquieu say regulates the succession to a monarchy?

   The canon law of the Church The law of nature, giving the crown to the eldest The civil law of inheritance among private persons A political law, aimed at the welfare of the kingdom
10. 10. Whose words does Montesquieu borrow at the end of the Preface: “And I also am a painter”?

    Raphael Plato Michelangelo Correggio
11. 11. According to Book VII, how do republics and monarchies respectively come to an end?

    Republics with poverty, monarchies with luxury Both alike end with luxury and the corruption of manners Republics with conquest, monarchies with revolution Republics by luxury, monarchies by poverty
12. 12. Which confederacy does Montesquieu name as his model of an excellent confederate republic?

    Lycia The Germanic empire Holland The Swiss cantons
13. 13. How does Montesquieu explain the origin of trial by combat?

    As an invention of the clergy to enrich the Church with its fees As a remedy for laws letting a defendant clear himself by oath As a custom the Franks learned from the Romans As a penalty created by Charlemagne for treason
14. 14. In the ironic chapter “Of the Slavery of the Negroes”, which economic argument does Montesquieu put in the mouth of the slavery’s defenders?

    Sugar would be too dear without slave labour Slaves were needed to work the silver mines of Peru Africa’s rulers demanded the trade Cotton could not be grown in Carolina without slaves
15. 15. How does Montesquieu define the fredum of the barbarian codes?

    A fine imposed on judges who delayed justice A tax paid by freemen in place of service in the king’s host The price a bondman paid for his freedom A payment for protection against the right of vengeance
16. 16. Which use of land does Montesquieu say employs the most people?

    Tillage Forests Vineyards Pasture
17. 17. Under the Salic law, if the killing of a Frank cost 200 sols in composition, what did the killing of a Roman proprietor cost?

    200 sols, the same 100 sols 600 sols 15 sols
18. 18. What does Montesquieu say every nation trading to the Indies has always done?

    Paid for Indian goods with bills of exchange Carried bullion there and brought merchandise back Traded only by barter of goods for goods Carried manufactures there and brought silver back
19. 19. How does Montesquieu explain the Indian religious law protecting cattle?

    It is a survival of Egyptian animal worship It was imposed by the Mughal emperors In that climate cattle are scarce and vital for tillage It follows from a belief that cattle are sacred to the sun
20. 20. What did the capitulary of the synod of Frankfort claim had happened in the last famine?

    Locusts had been sent to punish Charles Martel’s seizure of church lands Infernal spirits had devoured the grain, rebuking unpaid tithes The counts had emptied the royal granaries The Normans had burned the barns of every church
21. 21. What did the fragment of the Voconian law preserved by Cicero forbid?

    Soldiers making wills in the field during a campaign Women marrying outside their own class or order Making a woman one’s heir, married or not Fathers selling their children
22. 22. What does Montesquieu call “the natural effect of trade”?

    Luxury Inequality between nations Peace The corruption of manners
23. 23. What image does Montesquieu give as “an emblem of despotic government”?

    The ocean held back by pebbles and sand upon the shore A horse broken to two or three motions A boot sent by the king to preside over a senate Louisiana savages cutting down a tree to get its fruit
24. 24. Which is one of the inconveniences of public debt that Montesquieu lists?

    It shifts revenue from the industrious to the idle It lowers the price of land It raises the rate of exchange too high It forces the state to debase its coin
25. 25. Why, in Montesquieu’s view, were five citizens present when a Roman made his will before witnesses?

    They stood for the five chief priests of Rome They represented the five property classes of the people They were the five nearest male relatives The Twelve Tables required one witness per child
26. 26. Why does Montesquieu call Peter I’s laws on beards and long cloaks instances of tyranny?

    They were enforced by foreign soldiers Custom should be changed by custom and example, not by law The laws were made without consulting the Senate They offended the Russian Church
27. 27. How does Montesquieu characterise the rival systems of Boulainvilliers and the Abbé du Bos?

    One seems a plot against the commons, the other against the nobility Both are conspiracies against the crown One attacks the clergy, the other the kings Both are faithful to the ancient records and differ only in their style
28. 28. Which modern legislator does Montesquieu call “a real Lycurgus”?

    Peter the Great John Law Cardinal Richelieu William Penn
29. 29. How was Brunehault publicly humiliated before her execution?

    She was shaved and shut up in a convent She was paraded through the army on a camel She was shown in a cage in the streets of Paris She was made to do public penance before the bishops
30. 30. What kind of constitution does Montesquieu say combines the internal advantages of a republic with the external force of a monarchy?

    A mixed monarchy with a hereditary senate A confederate republic An elective aristocracy A military dictatorship chosen for a term
31. 31. Why, according to Montesquieu, did the Turkish mines of the Banat yield less than the poorer Hungarian mines?

    Their ore was carried off by Venetian merchants as tribute They depended entirely on the strength of slaves The Turks forbade the use of gunpowder for blasting the rock They were worked only in winter
32. 32. What does Montesquieu call “the grand reason of the weakness of Asia, and of the strength of Europe”?

    Asia’s great wealth has softened its peoples, while Europe’s poverty keeps them hardy Asia has no temperate zone, so strong nations border weak; in Europe strong border strong Asia’s religions teach submission, while those of Europe encourage a spirit of civil liberty Asian empires lack a hereditary nobility to check the prince, while Europe’s nobles restrain him
33. 33. What did Montesquieu freeze and examine with a microscope to support his theory of climate?

    A frog’s hind leg The eye of a calf A piece of human skin A sheep’s tongue
34. 34. In the chapter on legislators, whom does Montesquieu call Machiavelli’s idol?

    Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Aragon Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino Julius Caesar
35. 35. What does Montesquieu say the state owes every citizen?

    Only alms in times of famine Subsistence, food, clothing and a healthy way of life Nothing beyond the protection of the laws A plot of land on reaching adulthood
36. 36. What example does Montesquieu give to show that a state can be tranquil without uniform laws?

    Turkey, where every subject obeys the same law of the Sultan China, where Chinese and Tartars each keep their own ceremonial The Roman provinces, all governed by a single praetor’s edict The Swiss cantons, which share one code of law and one religion
37. 37. How does Montesquieu define the political liberty of the subject in Book XI, chapter 6?

    Tranquillity of mind from each person’s opinion of his safety The power of doing whatever one wishes, without any restraint of law The right of every citizen to vote in person on each and every law A share in the sovereign power, exercised by the people as a body
38. 38. With what image does Montesquieu close Book XXVIII?

    An antiquarian who visits Egypt, glances at the pyramids and goes home A traveller lost among the ruins of Rome A pilot who sights the long-sought land and then turns back to the open sea A builder who lets the scaffold fall away once the house is finished at last
39. 39. What does Montesquieu say he means by virtue in a republic?

    Love of one’s country, that is, love of equality Obedience to the prince’s will Christian charity and humility Personal honour and the pursuit of glory in the prince’s service
40. 40. What does Montesquieu say about the Roman jurists’ three justifications of slavery (capture in war, self-sale and birth)?

    They hold in republics but not in monarchies All three are false They are valid if the master provides subsistence Only capture in war is valid
41. 41. How does Book I define laws “in their most general signification”?

    The decrees of God revealed in scripture The necessary relations arising from the nature of things The commands of a sovereign, backed by force and the fear of punishment The customs of a people, handed down unchanged from its ancestors
42. 42. Which pairing of governments and principles does Book III give?

    Republic: fear; monarchy: honour; despotism: religion Republic: virtue; monarchy: fear; despotism: honour Republic: virtue; monarchy: honour; despotism: fear Republic: honour; monarchy: virtue; despotism: fear
43. 43. How does Book VI justify the trouble, expense and delays of legal proceedings in moderate governments?

    They protect the judges from bribery They enrich the judges and so secure their loyalty to the crown They discourage the poor from going to law over trifles They are the price each subject pays for his liberty
44. 44. What was the effect of Servius Tullius’s division of the Roman people into centuries?

    Every citizen had an equal vote, whatever his fortune The poor were given the first vote Magistrates were chosen by lot Property rather than numbers decided elections
45. 45. How many witnesses does Montesquieu think should be required to condemn a man to death?

    Three Twelve Two One
46. 46. In the English constitution as Montesquieu describes it, which power is “in some measure next to nothing”?

    The power of rejecting The executive The judiciary The legislative
47. 47. To whom, according to Plutarch as cited by Montesquieu, did Cato lend his wife?

    Cicero Hortensius Marcus Crassus Pompey
48. 48. What, for Montesquieu, was the crowning error in the Spaniards’ trial of Atahualpa?

    They let him go free in exchange for a ransom They tried him by canon law before a church court They tried him under the law of nations, but without a jury of his peers They judged him by Spain’s political and civil laws, not his own
49. 49. How does Montesquieu define the right of conquest?

    A necessary, lawful but unhappy power, bound to repair injuries A right that a republic may lawfully exercise but a monarchy may not A right to enslave the conquered people for ever An absolute right of life and death over the conquered and their goods
50. 50. How does Montesquieu explain the custom among the Naires of Malabar by which a woman may have several husbands?

    It is a law imposed by the Mahomedan conquerors There are far more women than men in Malabar, owing to the climate It frees noble soldiers from family cares and keeps them warlike It prevents the division of landed estates among many sons and heirs