Smith believed that governments should not interfere with commerce, a view that was also held by other Scottish thinkers around him, including the philosopher David Hume.
An earlier French writer, Pierre de Boisguilbert, used the phrase laisse faire la nature ("leave nature alone"), by which he meant "leave business alone".
The term "laissez-faire" is used in economics to advocate minimal government.
In Smith's view, government did have an important role, supplying defence, justice, and certain "public goods" that private markets were unlikely to provide, such as roads.