Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/196

144 only one way, except it were game of their own killing.

In our days sumptuary laws have been also enacted in Sweden; but with a different view from those of Arragon.

A government may make sumptuary laws with a view to absolute frugality; this is the spirit of sumptuary laws in republics; and the very nature of the thing shews that such was the design of those of Arragon.

Sumptuary laws may likewise be made with a design to promote a relative frugality: when a government perceiving that foreign merchandizes being at too high a price, will require such an exportation of the home manufactures, as to deprive them of more advantages by the loss of the latter, than they can receive from the possession of the former, they will forbid their being introduced. And this is the spirit of the laws that in our days have been passed in Sweden. Such are the sumptuary laws proper for monarchies.

In general the poorer a state is, the more it is ruined by its relative luxury; and consequently the more occasion it has for relative sumptuary laws. The richer a state is, the more it thrives by its relative luxury; for which reason it must take particular care not to make any relative sumptuary laws. This we shall better explain in the book on commerce ; here we treat only of absolute luxury. Rh