How did Montesquieu view the English constitution?

Montesquieu viewed the English constitution as the ideal model for a state that effectively promotes liberty. His analysis, most famously articulated in Book XI, chapter 6 of The Spirit of Laws, centered on the theory of the separation of powers.123

He argued that to prevent arbitrary government and safeguard freedom, the three branches of political authority—the legislative, executive, and judicial—must be entrusted to different individuals or bodies acting independently.12

Montesquieu’s interpretation was heavily influenced by his interactions with English political figures and his reading of polemical writings by Viscount Bolingbroke, which reflected the Tory opposition to the Whig leader Robert Walpole. While his specific reading of English political realities has been disputed by modern scholars—who note that power was increasingly concentrated in Parliament during his time—his doctrine remained profoundly influential, shaping the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.3214