ABSTRACT
Having established the extent of popular participation in local administration and law enforcement, we now turn to the influence of central government on the localities. The framework within which county and parish officials operated was laid down by parliamentary statutes. Charles saw Parliament as a nuisance, a possible nemesis or a regrettable necessity, but after the legislation of 1660-63 re-established effective monarchical government, he never saw Parliament or parliamentary legislation, other than fiscal legislation, as contributing to the task of governing the country. Charles was generally concerned to show that the military were not above the law. Popular suspicion of the abuse of military power necessarily limited the army's usefulness as a means of coercion. In the end, the articles included no mention of the death penalty and stressed that all civil matters should be handled by the civilian authorities, to whom the military should defer.
