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All Collections > The Complete Works of Montesquieu. Electronic Edition. > Volume II. > body > book xxvi.: of laws, as relative to the order of things on which they determine. > chap. XVIII.: that it is necessary to enquire, whether the laws which seem contradictory, are of the same class.
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The Complete Works of Montesquieu. Electronic Edition.
cover
Volume II.
Body
BOOK XXVI.: OF LAWS, AS RELATIVE TO THE ORDER OF THINGS ON WHICH THEY DETERMINE.
CHAP. XVIII.: That it is necessary to enquire, whether the Laws which seem contradictory, are of the same Class.

CHAP. XVIII.: That it is necessary to enquire, whether the Laws which seem contradictory, are of the same Class.

AT Rome the husband was permitted to lend his wife to another. Plutarch tells us this†465 in express terms. We know that Cato lent his†466 wife to Hortensius, and Cato was not a man to violate the laws of his country.

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On the other hand, a husband who suffered his wife to be debauched, who did not bring her to justice, or who took her again after her†467 condemnation, was punished. These laws seem to contradict each other, and yet are not contradictory. The law which permitted a Roman to lend his wife, was visibly a Lacedæmonian institution, established with a view of giving the republic children of a good species, if I may be allowed the term: the other had in view the preservation of morals. The first was a law of politics, the second a civil law.