George Turnbull's eighteenth-century translation of A Methodical System of Universal Law was his major effort to convey continental natural law to Britain, thus making Heineccius's natural jurisprudence more accessible to English-speaking audiences. Turnbull includes extensive comments on Heineccius's text and also presents his own philosophical work, A Discourse upon the Nature and Origin of Moral and Civil Laws.

Johann Gottlieb Heineccius (1681-1741) studied theology at Leipzig and later law at the newly founded (1694) University of Halle, where he became a pupil of Christian Thomasius.

Thomas Ahnert is a Lecturer in History at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Peter Schr der is Senior Lecturer in the History Department at University College, London.