“Society … must repose on principles that do not change” — wrote Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, 1748, Book 24.

Montesquieu was a French political philosopher whose books were read by Catherine the Great of Russia, praised in England, and banned by Louis XV of France.

He greatly influenced America’s founders, with Thomas Jefferson even translating Destutt de Tracy’s Commentary on Montesquieu, August 12, 1810.