The origins of policing in Britain

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In early times Britain was settled by waves of different invaders. Among the last of these were the Anglo-Saxons. When they settled in England they lived in small communities, that is, in villages rather than in towns. They brought their own customs and laws to protect people and their property. According to the Anglo-Saxon custom, if someone broke the law it as not just a crime against the victim, but a crime agains the whole community.

The Anglo-Saxon kings expected their people to keep good order, and this they called keeping the peace. A crime was an act against the peace, and some of the more serious crimes were said to be against the King’s Peace. Gradually the idea grew that all crimes were against the King’s Peace.

Under Anglo-Saxon rule, it was the duty of the citizens themselves to see that the law was not broken, and if it was, to catch the offenders. All the males in the community between the ages of twelve and sixty were reponsible for this duty. They were organized in groups of about ten families and each group was called a tything : at their head was a tythingman. Each member of the tything was held responsible for the good behaviour of the others. If one member of the tything commited a crime, the others had to catch him and bring him before the court, or the moot as the Saxons called it. If they faild to do so, they were all punished, usually by paying a fine. In a way, the tythingman is a very early ancestor of the policeman, because it was his duty to see that the King’s Peace was kept. If anyone saw a crime, he raised a hue and cry and all men had to join in the chase to catch the criminal, and bring him to trial before the court.

For minor offences, people accused of crimes were brought before the local folk moot. More serious cases went to the hundred court, headed by a hundredman or reeve, or the shire court,
which came under the shire reeve, or sheriff as he came to be known. The sheriff was responsible to the King for the peace of the whole area. In an emergency, the sheriff could call out the poss comitatus – all the available men in the shire.


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