Historical Law-Tracts is one of the earliest contributions to the Scottish Enlightenment project of a historical science of society. Kames deployed a large range of ancient, medieval, and early-modern sources to trace the development of law and explain it in terms of interactions between principles of human nature and political, economic, and social circumstance. His goal was to show the study of law as a genuinely scientific inquiry and not a mere collection of facts for the lawyer to memorize. The Liberty Fund edition provides historical context and biographical information, expands Kames's footnotes, translates the Latin passages, and annotates important changes Kames made to the text.
