ABSTRACT
Punishment is the usual deterrent against transgression, but not, as the romantic lore and legal minutiae of crimes of passion remind us, in the case of dire need. European magistrates and police,1 as we learn from Tilly (1975b), usually acted with a combination of force and persuasion in the face of hostile crowds. As the mailed fist of the modern state, they often found themselves at the interface between the limited supply and the overwhelming demand for scarce goods, both material and moral. The classical art of order making drew as much on collective welfare (as understood in the temporal context) as on individual sanctions. I probe into this complex and ambiguous relationship of sanctions, perceived welfare and orderly rule in this chapter.
