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Mid-Century Reforms

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Policing and its Context 1750–1870

Part of the book series: Themes in Comparative History

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Abstract

Developments in the English police system during the 1840s and 1850s were not the working out of any great reforming plan, nor were they the result of any universal recognition of the value of police. They emerged for a variety of reasons, and pragmatism was as important as reforming ideology and zeal. In France during the July Monarchy there was some tinkering with the system, but major reorganisation in Paris had to await the Revolution of 1848, and lasting changes were not achieved until the Second Empire. Napoleon III’s police system was not hammered out in parliamentary committees; however, it did reflect changing attitudes and, authoritarian as his regime may have been, his police were still circumscribed by local interests, local government and money — in many respects the French police were less centralised than those established in England.

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References

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Authors
  1. Clive Emsley
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© 1983 Clive Emsley

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Emsley, C. (1983). Mid-Century Reforms. In: Policing and its Context 1750–1870. Themes in Comparative History. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17043-2_5

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