In February 1755 the following obituary, composed by Lord Chesterfield, was published in the London Evening-Post:

Chesterfield here articulates what is now a widely held view among political and intellectual historians. From the eighteenth century to the present day, commentators on both sides of the Channel have recognized the special status enjoyed by England and the English in Montesquieu's thought and writing. Yet whilst the influence of the English constitutional model on Montesquieu's political philosophy is well attested, there has to date been no general study that considers the author's relations with England in the context of his work as a whole.

Montesquieu famously extolled the benefits of England's balanced constitution in his best-known work, L'Esprit des lois (1748). Since its publication, this text has been taken as providing conclusive proof of the author's admiration for English culture and institutions. Consequently, scholars investigating the connection between Montesquieu and England have rarely looked further than L'Esprit des lois when seeking evidence to substantiate their claims. A case in point is Joseph Dedieu, whose study of Montesquieu's use of English sources in L'Esprit des lois is still, over a century after its publication, considered the authoritative work on the subject. In his enumeration of Montesquieu's source-texts, Dedieu presents the author as a more or less passive receptor of English ideas. This view also dominates in J. B. Sturges's anecdotal account of Montesquieu's experiences as a traveller in England in 1729–31.