ABSTRACT
Government in eighteenth-century England was understood in terms of the equal government of the community by the citizens, a series of family heads, each of whom could be described as 'independent', that is not subject to domination. The chapter explores the historical reconstruction of the English 'governmental imaginary' in order to further our understanding of the eighteenth-Century 'rationality' of police. The 'old' police in the context in which they were debated, arguing that opposition to its reform revolved around a particular conception of the nature of freedom in a free state. It becomes apparent that those arguing for police reform were actually instigating a radical reconfiguration of liberty. The 'old police' system of government based on the activity of the citizens in the free state 'civic' police. In order to understand this rationality of government, it is necessary to attend to the contemporary meanings carried by eighteenth-ccntury police organization.
