Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui (1694-1748) was a Genevan professor whose writings on natural law influenced the American founders. After studying philosophy in Geneva and touring universities abroad, Burlamaqui began teaching at the Academy of Geneva, where his lectures attracted students from across the continent. He edited and expanded some of these lectures into the treatise Principles of Natural Law; upon his death, Burlamaqui’s colleagues used his remaining lecture notes as the basis for a second treatise, Principles of Political Law. The two-volume work was an international sensation, and after an English translation in 1752, they became standard textbooks for British and American students of law. His writings were among the most widely read by America’s founding generation, and Burlamaqui’s theories of natural rights, separated powers, and judicial oversight were touchstones for the founders’ understanding of politics.