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> There was an expectation on adult men that maintaining order was part of your social responsibility This is pretty interesting. Imagine a society where you'r

> There was an expectation on adult men that maintaining order was part of your social responsibility This is pretty interesting. Imagine a society where you're the police, in fact everyone is the police. I wonder when the thinking on this changed. It would be unthinkable these days to feel responsible for general public order as a private citizen. At best you'd report whatever the issue was and move on.

quickthrower2 3y ago
I read somewhere that police were an invention - I can't remember what prompted it. But there was law (courts, trials) before there was enforcement.
denton-scratch 3y ago
> I wonder when the thinking on this changed. In London, I believe the first "professional" police force ("The Bow Street Runners") was created by the magistrate Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones. That's in the early 1700s. I imagine the idea took some decades to spread across the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fielding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fielding
sethammons 3y ago
The more rural you get the more this is still true. In many places, there is no mentionable police force. You handle it or you get a group together to handle it.
icegreentea2 3y ago
I think modern police evolved from multiple strands (especially depending on locality), but in the context of England, I think there's been a more or less continuous evolution. The same idea that every adult man was responsible for maintaining order was the basis for night watch men duties, which was a duty that every household was supposed to partake in. Obviously, being a night watch man kind of sucks, so the combination of there being a law that compelled people to actually perform their responsibility, and that not everyone actually wanting to perform that responsibility (or really being fit for that responsibility) naturally led to people paying others to get out of duty... and here we go.

quickthrower2 3y ago

I read somewhere that police were an invention - I can't remember what prompted it. But there was law (courts, trials) before there was enforcement.

denton-scratch 3y ago

> I wonder when the thinking on this changed. In London, I believe the first "professional" police force ("The Bow Street Runners") was created by the magistrate Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones. That's in the early 1700s. I imagine the idea took some decades to spread across the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fielding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fielding

sethammons 3y ago

The more rural you get the more this is still true. In many places, there is no mentionable police force. You handle it or you get a group together to handle it.

icegreentea2 3y ago

I think modern police evolved from multiple strands (especially depending on locality), but in the context of England, I think there's been a more or less continuous evolution. The same idea that every adult man was responsible for maintaining order was the basis for night watch men duties, which was a duty that every household was supposed to partake in. Obviously, being a night watch man kind of sucks, so the combination of there being a law that compelled people to actually perform their responsibility, and that not everyone actually wanting to perform that responsibility (or really being fit for that responsibility) naturally led to people paying others to get out of duty... and here we go.