Description: (Scottish Judge, Scholar of Linguistic Evolution, Philosopher and Deist)
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo was a Scottish judge, scholar, philosopher, and deist. He was a pioneer in modern comparative historical linguistics and served as a judge in the Court of Session starting in 1767. He adopted an honorary title from his family seat, Monboddo House, and was involved in early concepts of biological evolution. Monboddo is credited with anticipating the principle of natural selection, later developed by Erasmus Darwin and further explored by his grandson, Charles Darwin.