Excerpt from Institutes of Law: A Treatise of the Principles of Jurisprudence as Determined by Nature It has often been a subject of regret to me that the speculative tendencies of my countrymen were not directed more definitely to the life of man in Society and in the State. Had those great thinkers who have rendered the Scottish School of Philosophy illustrious set before them the task of placing Politics and Jurisprudence on a scientific basis, Political Economy might, long ago, have ceased to be the only practical science for which the world was indebted to a Scotch professor. This task I recognized as more immediately incumbent on the occupant of the Chair which I had been called to fill; and the desire of contributing, however humbly, to its accomplishment, has determined the character both of my oral teaching and of this d104-book. Although the present is not a speculative age, in some respects it has, unquestionably, been favourable to the work which I had in hand. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.