The Acquisition and Development of Law Enforcement from England to the United States

The Acquisition and Development of Law Enforcement from England to the United States

Law enforcement from England to United Sates

The enforcement of law experienced sweeping changes as first political-religious then socio-economic transformations challenged existing administration at the state, county, and local levels. Two interacting themes of this era are those of expanding state interest in the institutions of law enforcement and of a broader societal debate on differing conceptions of the law's purpose. Throughout the turbulence of this period, social and legal definitions of “order” often conflicted with community-norms and practice. In some senses, the “nationalization” of law through centralized, “rationalized” institutions was achieved only to the extent that the law reflected its idiosyncratic origins (Benson, 2001).

Historical literature on law and its enforcement can be sorted into two main schools of interpretation. The Whig school views developments in England's and Britain's law enforcement as progressive, rational improvements centred in the state. Revisionist interpretations explain state action in terms or changing socio-economic conditions, often negatively, as the state reinvented social norms to suit its economic interests. Works range from examinations of administrative action by representatives of crown or parliament (from the “top down”) to the examination of the more immediate consequences of the law and its application to and on the community (from the “bottom up”). Since the 1970s, a hybrid of administrative and social history has produced intriguing studies that explore the law as a reflection of the mentalities of rulers and ruled. The broadest or most representative works of these emphases and trends are included here. Little work has been forthcoming on gender, on age, or on the complexity of colonial law enforcement, but the relationship between law and its institutions, and between the law and the society that it reflects and moulds, remains a fruitful avenue for socio-historical exploration (Benson, 2002).

CRITCHLEY provides a detailed, comprehensive overview of major trends in law enforcement from the Anglo-Saxon era to the 1970s. The most recent revision of the original text appeared in 1978. RADZINOWICZ's classic, monumental, multivolume history of the law from 1750 focuses on the movement towards “reform”. Whig in tone, Radzinowicz is at his best when tracing the development of policy in substantive and procedural law in minute detail. As a guide to parliamentary movement towards centralized regulated authority, Radzinowicz has no parallel, but the work is limited ...