"It is interesting to note that Montesquieu, whose concern was not with laws but with the actions their
spirit would inspire defines laws as rapports subsisting
between different beings. This definition is surprising because laws has
always been defined in terms of boundaries and limitations. The reason for it
is that Montesquieu was less interested in what he called the “nature of
government” ---whether it was a republic or a monarchy, for instance –than in
its "principle…by which it is made to act,…the human passions which set in
motion”.
(H. A, The Human Condition, fn17; pp. 190-191; Book III, ch 1).
