Nonetheless, Montesquieu believes that this apparent chaos is much more comprehensible than
one might think. On his view, the key to understanding different laws and social systems is to
recognize that they should be adapted to a variety of different factors, and cannot be properly
understood unless one considers them in this light. Specifically, laws should be adapted "to the
people for whom they are framed..., to the nature and principle of each government, ... to the
climate of each country, to the quality of its soil, to its situation and extent, to the principal
occupation of the natives, whether husbandmen, huntsmen or shepherds: they should have
relation to the degree of liberty which the constitution will bear; to the religion of the inhabitants,
to their inclinations, riches, numbers, commerce, manners, and customs. In fine, they have
relations to each other, as also to their origin, to the intent of the legislator, and to the order of
things on which they are established; in all of which different lights they ought to be considered"
(SL 1.3). When we consider legal and social systems in relation to these various factors,
Montesquieu believes, we will find that many laws and institutions that had seemed puzzling or
even perverse are in fact quite comprehensible.