This he cannot do unless he knows how many forms
of government there are. It is often supposed that there is only one
kind of democracy and one of oligarchy. But this is a mistake; and, in
order to avoid such mistakes, we must ascertain what differences there
are in the constitutions of states, and in how many ways they are
combined. The same political insight will enable a man to know which
laws are the best, and which are suited to different constitutions;
for the laws are, and ought to be, relative to the constitution, and
not the constitution to the laws. A constitution is the organization
of offices in a state, and determines what is to be the governing
body, and what is the end of each community. But laws are not to be
confounded with the principles of the constitution; they are the rules
according to which the magistrates should administer the state, and
proceed against offenders. So that we must know the varieties, and the
number of varieties, of each form of government, if only with a view
to making laws. For the same laws cannot be equally suited to all
oligarchies or to all democracies, since there is certainly more
than one form both of democracy and of oligarchy.
II
In our original discussion about governments we divided them into
three true forms: kingly rule, aristocracy, and constitutional
government, and three corresponding perversions- tyranny, oligarchy,
and democracy.
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