The same material had also appeared as An Early Draft of Part of The Wealth of Nations and as Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms.
Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, originally delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1762–1763, present his ‘theory of the rules by which civil government ought to be directed.’ The chief purpose of government, according to Smith, is to preserve justice; and ‘the object of justice is security from injury.’[3] The state must protect the individual’s right to his person, property, reputation, and social relations.
[4] In the lectures, Smith contends that every system of law aims for, and thus jurisprudence can be divided into, "the maintenance of justice, the provision of police in order to promote opulence, the raising of revenue, and the establishment of arms for the defence of the state".
[8] Hasbach has also written that the Lectures offer a perspective of Smith's view on property that differs from that of John Locke.
"[4] Also, according to Hasbach, Smith rejects a state of nature and the doctrine on an original contract, two ideas supported by Locke.