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Constables were a form of law enforcement devised to replace an earlier system of two
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Constables were a form of law enforcement devised to replace an earlier system of two count or officer of the stable
(
Constables were ideally supposed to come from the yeoman class, but because these men were tradesmen and small landowners, they usually refused to serve. The end result was that constables were generally chosen from the fourth and lowest class of people. Poor and usually uneducated, they constitute a real historical basis for the comic bumbling of
In London, constables were chosen to serve the wards and parishes they lived in, since there was no citywide police system. In
(qtd. in Evans 428). Many men chosen for the job refused it, however, as suggested inMary, syr, sayd he,I am Constable for fault of a better, and was commaunded by the Iusticer to watch
Escalus . Come hither to me,Master Elbow ; come hither, Master Constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?Elbow . Seven year and a half, sir.Escalus . I thought, by the readiness in the office, you had continued in it some time. You say, seven years together?Elbow . And a half, sir.Escalus . Alas, it hath been great pains to you. They do you wrong to put you so oft upon’t. Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it?Elbow . Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters. As they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them. I do it for some piece of money and go through with all.
Since no one wanted the job, those who accepted it were often inadequate for the watch. In
Another example of the real-life inadequacy of Elizabethan law enforcement is a letter dated plumps
(qtd. in Evans) of ten to twelve men huddled together in towns he passed through, but he assumed they were doing so because it was raining. When he came to a town and saw another of these groups when it wasn’t raining, he recognized that they must be members of the watch and asked them what they were doing. The men replied that they were looking for three young men. When Burghley inquired how they would know these men, they answered that one of the men had a hooked nose. Burghley was surprised to hear that they had no other means of identifying the wanted men. He asked to see the head constable, a man named
After the Restoration of