Corrupt and corporate bodies: attitudes to corruption in eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century towns

During the eighteenth century, the emphasis in critiques of corruption shifted from the moral and social aspects to the public and political dimensions of the exercise of power. The gulf between early eighteenth-century attitudes and those of the nineteenth century and a more modern era towards probity in public affairs may be gauged by considering this extract from The Spectato. Individual members of a corporation were able to hide behind the public character of the corporation, so that they were not called to account for the actions they had performed as corporators. The private individuals are allowed to be pure, but once they become a part of the body corporate they become part of a system which is an abuse and can only operate to the harm of society. The critic of Tiverton Corporation argued for its dissolution, quoting a decision of Lord Mansfield on the custom and privilege of taking town dues.