5.9. 9. In what Manner the Laws are in relation to their Principle in
Monarchies.
As honour is the principle of a monarchical government, the laws
ought to be in relation to this principle.
They should endeavour to support the nobility, in respect to whom
honour may be, in some measure, deemed both child and parent.
They should render the nobility hereditary, not as a boundary
between the power of the prince and the weakness of the people, but as
the link which connects them both.
In this government, substitutions which preserve the estates of
families undivided are extremely useful, though in others not so proper.
Here the power of redemption is of service, as it restores to noble
families the lands that had been alienated by the prodigality of a
parent.
The land of the nobility ought to have privileges as well as their
persons. The monarch's dignity is inseparable from that of his kingdom;
and-the dignity of the nobleman from that of his fief.
All these privileges must be peculiar to the nobility, and
incommunicable to the people, unless we intend to act contrary to the
principle of government, and to diminish the power of the nobles
together with that of the people.
Substitutions are a restraint to commerce, the power of redemption
produces an infinite number of processes; every estate in land that is
sold throughout the kingdom is in some measure without an owner for the
space of a year. Privileges annexed to fiefs give a power very
burdensome to those governments which tolerate them. These are the
inconveniences of nobility — inconveniences, however, that vanish when
confronted with its general utility: but when these privileges are
communicated to the people, every principle of government is wantonly
violated.
In monarchies a person may leave the bulk of his estate to one of
his children — a permission improper in any other government.
The laws ought to favour all kinds of commerce
[30]
consistent with the constitution, to the end that the subjects may, without ruining
themselves, be able to satisfy the continual cravings of the prince and
his court.
They should establish some regulation that the manner of collecting
the taxes may not be more burdensome than the taxes themselves.
The weight of duties produces labour, labour weariness, and
weariness the spirit of indolence.
Footnotes
[30]
It is tolerated only in the common people. See Leg. 3, Cod. de
comm. et mercatoribus, which is full of good sense.
