Chu Qingdong, State Regulation of Alehouses and Enforcement of Justices of the Peace in Early Modern England

　　The number of alehouses increased greatly in early modern England, which caused popular drunkenness, worsening the problems of the poor and crime. The whole country was in a state of panic about disorder and demoralization. Accordingly, the state issued a series of statutes to regulate alehouses which empowered justices of the peace to give license for alehouse and punish the illegal alehouse keepers and patrons. Justices of the peace were agents of the state and governors of the local society, and possessed the decisive power to enforce laws concerning alehouse regulation. According to the practices of justices of the peace, they issued licenses based on the requirements of local people, property of alehouse keepers and their behaviour. Moreover, they punished illegal alehouse keepers and patrons. Therefore, justices of the peace enforced the statutes of alehouse regulation generally. This also reflected that justices of the peace reached extensive consensus on alehouse regulation with the central government, and formed the pattern of state governance characterised by compromise and cooperation between centrality and locality. This pattern of state governance made state power diffused into the local society, which was vital for the social transition in early modern England.