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I think that the term comes from 18th century French economists (maybe physiocrats as
Quesnay) who thought that a good solution for the problems of the French agriculture would
be in a form of (at least internal) free trade.  The complete expression was "laisser (or
the imperative form: laissez!) faire, laisser passer", in other words "laisser faire" the
active classes (bourgeoisie) and "laisser passer" the goods (without trade barriers).
 
The expression "laissez faire, laissez passer" may result in a set of policy proposals
(abolishing internal and external trade barriers, abolishing all the obstacles resulting
from the medieval "produktionverhältnisse" to quote this Marxian term) that a French-
speaker could call "le laisser-faire, laisser-passer".
 
I will try to find out whether the expression actually came from the "maximes de l'ordre
naturel" of Francois Quesnay.
 
Jean Luc de Meulemeester 
 
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