Lauderdale's Notes on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations

Lauderdale's Notes on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nation'spublishes, for the first time, a work of the 8th Earl of Lauderdale, James Maitland. Lauderdale's work had been neglectd until this century, but he is now seen as the earliest systemic critic of Smith.Lauderdale's Notes on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nation'sis reproduced from hand-writted notes which appear in Lauderdale's own edition ofThe Wealth of Nationsand which was discovered only five years ago. The work illustrates the characteristics of Lauderdale's economic thought which were to be developed in later writings. The work clearly marks him a decided, and probably the first, opponent of the Smithian tradition of classical political economy and one of the forerunners of modern economics. The notes are reproduced in full along with the relevant passages fromThe Wealth of Nationsto which they refer.