POLICE AND STATE FUNCTIONS UNDER THE <i>ANCIENT RÉGIME</i>
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/rfdufpr.v49i0.17033Keywords:
Polícia, Governo da Casa e Reino, Absolutismo, Polizeiwissenschaft, Administração Pública, Liberalismo, Police, House and Kingdom, Absolutism, Public Administration, LiberalismAbstract
The changes in meaning undergone by the word “police” since the beginning of the
Modern Era clearly reflect the changeable nature of legal language. At that time the concept was
associated mainly with the protection of Christian morality and social order against “disorder” and
innovations brought in by social transformations. The concept was though greatly broadened in the
times of absolutist reformism, mirroring and supporting the Crown subsequent new functions. In the
eighteenth century the term already included in its meaning the whole internal management of the
State, as well as all its measures – including specific “police laws” – aiming at an increase in wealth
and in the number of subjects, which were supposedly the very basis of State power. In this context,
“police law” became a tool to transform reality by means of directing and disciplining subjects, showing
the increasing instrumental character of law itself. The idea of “police” was so closely connected to
Absolutism that it became an embarrassing topic for the liberal legal thought in the 19th century.
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