Dismembering the Body Politic

This is a major survey of how towns were governed in late Stuart and early Hanoverian England. A new kind of politics emerged out of England's Civil War: partisan politics. This happened first in the corporations governing the towns, and not at Parliament as is usually argued. Based on an examination of the records of scores of corporations, this book explains how war unleashed a cycle of purge and counter-purge which continued for decades. It also explains how a society that feared a system of politics based on division found the means to absorb it peacefully. As conflict sharpened in communities everywhere, local competitors turned to the court of King's Bench to resolve their differences. In doing so, they prompted the court to develop a new body of law that protected local governments from the divisive impulses within them.

"Paul D. Halliday's book offers a new insight into the electoral politics of corporate English towns in the unstable decades of the English monarchy between the execution of King Charles I and the confirmation of the Hanoverian succession. The importance of his work lies in the fact that corporate towns elected most of the members of parliament in these decades. My estimate is that Halliday's work needs to be read by political historians of England. Those interested in parliament and party, and urban historians, should buy it...a well-planned and well-argued book. It is easy, even compelling to read. It places more emphasis on local initiatives in politics, and if the approach is accepted, then Charles II and James II emerge as lesser demons in corporation history than has hitherto been claimed." The Journal of Modern History, "...Halliday's study provides a useful complement to the pioneering work on the emergence of partisan politics..." Choice, "This is an important book and should be studied by anyone interested in the impact of partisan politics on the body politic." Richard G. Bailey, Canadian Journal of History