The office-holding system and the transformation of local communities in early modern London

伊丽莎白一世时期的伦敦是一个由许多地方社区组成的自治机构，其成员大多是城市的自由民。他们参与了当地社区的政府，承担了多个地方办事处。从世纪开始，这一制度的主体框架没有发生变化，但其工作原理却逐渐发生了变化，通过缴纳罚金来逃避职务的做法和雇佣受薪官员的做法得到了推广。特别是当地居民的高度流动性阻碍了任职制度的有效运作。大火发生后，当地社区成功地将迁入者纳入了系统。但在《济贫法》的支持下，对地方社区来说，通过任职提供的服务越来越重要。

Elizabethan London was a self-governing body consisted of many local communities whose members were mostly the freemen of the City. They participated in the government of the local communities, undertaking the multiple local offices. The main framework of this system remained unchanged but the working principle of it changed gradually from the seventeenth century on. The office evasion by paying the fine and the practice of employment of salaried officers spread. Especially the high mobility of the local inhabitants hampered the efficient functioning of the office holding system. After the Great Fire, the local communities tried successfully to take the movers-in into the system. But backed by the Poor Law, the rate payment became more and more important than the services through the office-holding for the local communities.