Dismembering the Body Politic

Know about the book -

Dismembering the Body Politic is written by Paul D. Halliday and published by Cambridge University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0521526043 (ISBN 10) and 9780521526043 (ISBN 13).

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.