Australian Special Forces

How was the law enforced before the police force was esablished?

I heard that the Metropolitan police force in London, England was the first police force anywhere in the world. I'm not sure whether that is true, but if so, how was the law enforced up until this time in London and elsewhere? The non-existence of a police force seems a bewildering concept to me.

Public Comments

1. Public or People's Justice.... the best sometimes xD Also, some of them were judged by the Church.
2. The king had a shire reive,,, or sheriff
3. Vigilantes Military
4. Vigilante Justice,
5. truth be told it was not very well inforced. that brings us back to cowboy sherrif and deputies. hard work for those men and thats why their were a lot the theiveries and killings back then.
6. By the king/queen of a nation or the people in a town or a village.
7. It is a common error that R Peel founde the first police force. The first police force in the modern sense was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris, then the largest city in Europe. The royal edict, registered by the Parlement of Paris on March 15, 1667 created the office of lieutenant général de police ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined the task of the police as "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties and prior to that in many countries aspects of the law were enforced variously Law enforcement in Ancient China was carried out by "prefects." The notion of a "prefect" in China has existed for thousands of years. The prefecture system developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. In Ancient China, prefects were government officials appointed by local magistrates, who in turn were appointed by the head of state, usually the emperor of the dynasty. The prefects oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture," or jurisdiction. Prefects usually reported to the local magistrate, just as modern police report to judges. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement of the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. In Ancient Greece, publicly-owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens, a group of 300 Scythian slaves was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, and also assisted with dealing with criminals, manhandling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves.[10] Before its decline, the Roman Empire had a relatively effective law enforcement system. When under the reign of Augustus the capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, he created 14 wards, which were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men called "Vigiles," who guarded against fires and served as nightwatchmen. In the United Kingdom, the development of police forces was much slower than in the rest of Europe. The British police function was historically performed by private watchmen (existing from 1500 on), thief takers, and so on. The former were funded by private individuals and organizations and the latter by privately-funded rewards for catching criminals, who would then be compelled to return stolen property or pay restitution. In 1737, George II began paying some London and Middlesex watchmen with tax moneys, beginning the shift to government control. In 1750, Henry Fielding began organizing a force of quasi-professional constables.
8. Depends on th era - at one time the local landholder would be expected to enforce some elements and some areas with Borough status would also have enforcement duties. the local sherrif or Shire Reeve was originally a tax collector. Local Hue & Cry, troops from local garrisons, even private armies Trade laws were enforced by guilds, who had much more severe punishments than traders experience today for dodgy trading
9. Dear Liam, I just love answering your questions when I can they are so interesting. You have a twisted or wry sense of humor with them yet intriguing as well, so here goes. When there were Kings ruling England they had their own brand of justice. Anyone could accuse anyone else of theft, murder, robbery or anything else and would ultimately be thrown in prison without a trial as we have today and then they could possibly be executed unless they had someone to buy their way out of prison or bribe guards to let them escape but if the guards were caught they were immediately executed by the king's executioner. Now until the late middle ages no real police department as such was ever created, the king always had sheriff's in the different shires or counties that upheld the justice and wrong doings that people did. This was very medieval justice and often included torture which many died during torture who were in all respects innocent of any crime. The Sheriff's of course had soldier's under him that he could use for the enforcement of the king's law and edicts. Later as the years went by these sheriff's being corrupt were killed and replaced by others who eventually became corrupt also. Finally, vigilante justice was the main thing that kept people from the more serious of crimes. I some places if a thief stole something his hand was severed from his arm as a reminder that he was a thief to all who saw him. If a woman was caught in the act of adultery she was ordered to have an "A" branded on her forehead and had to wear scarlet clothing which meant she was of course an adulteress and it added to her lifelong shame. Later as we got more civilized we started having a regular police force and it was not perfect but it was after all the best thing going at the time. Fortunately, after Scotland Yard was established after the Metropolitan Police Departments were in use for many years and became the forerunner of the modern police departments of today. Scotland Yard has the highest ethical rating of any police department in the world and has the highest regard for the respect of people and IF there is any corruption within Scotland Yard it is ferreted out by the Internal Affairs Department and dealt with promptly, unlike some police departments here in the USA. I hope this helps you with your question and may God Bless. Richard