Montesquieu "The Spirits of the Laws"

Environment and Law
Montesquieu is the so called ‘first ecologist’. He suggests social conditions are shaped by environment, climate and ‘general spirit’ or collective consciousness. As civilization progresses the importance of the natural conditions falls and that of the ‘general spirit’ becomes larger. The law is not the sum of individual decisions, it is above that, in fact, it often shapes individuals.
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