It's interesting to argue that you should 16px fonts because that's the browser default size and browser vendors must have had a good reason, then in the next s

It's interesting to argue that you should 16px fonts because that's the browser default size and browser vendors must have had a good reason, then in the next section argue that the default line-height is too small and needs to be increased. Are the browser defaults only logically chosen when they agree with your particular thesis? The browser defaults are set the way they are to maximize compatibility with previous versions of browsers. The 16px font size is probably a relic from Mosaic or Netscape 1.0.