Difference between revisions of "Old Corruption (United Kingdom)"

‘Old Corruption’ consisted of the appointment of an aristocrat, his relatives, or a political ally to an official position with a high income attached. Normally the income attached to this position was extraordinarily high, and manifestly in excess of what a legitimate, non-aristocratic holder of the position would be paid. Hundreds of examples of ‘Old Corruption’ in the early nineteenth century were collected in John Wade's Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked, originally published in 1816 and in subsequent editions<ref>Wade, J. 1820. The Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked! London: Effingham Wilson </ref>. For example, in 1832 Lord Bathurst, an aristocrat of the time, received £32,700 annually (over £3.5 million in today's money, at a time when there was no income tax) as the holder of the offices of Clerk of the Crown Court of Chancery, Secretary at War, Commissary of the Affairs of India, Teller of the Exchequer, and from an office entitled Clerk of Dispensations and Faculties. Furthermore, according to Wade, two of Bathurst’s relatives received £6400 per year (over £700,000 today) from three other offices they held. If any of these posts actually required work to fulfil their duties, this was done by clerks who were paid a tiny fraction of what Lord Bathurst received. According to Cobbett, Wade, and other critics of the British aristocracy of the time, there were literally hundreds of similar positions with similarly grandiose titles, enormous incomes, and few duties which were held by aristocrats and fortunate placemen.

‘Old Corruption’ consisted of the appointment of an aristocrat, his relatives, or a political ally to an official position with a high income attached. Normally the income attached to this position was extraordinarily high, and manifestly in excess of what a legitimate, non-aristocratic holder of the position would be paid. Hundreds of examples of ‘Old Corruption’ in the early nineteenth century were collected in John Wade's Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked, originally published in 1816 and in subsequent editions<ref>Wade, J. 1820. The Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked! London: Effingham Wilson </ref>. For example, in 1832 Lord Bathurst, an aristocrat of the time, received £32,700 annually (over £3.5 million in today's money, at a time when there was no income tax) as the holder of the offices of Clerk of the Crown Court of Chancery, Secretary at War, Commissary of the Affairs of India, Teller of the Exchequer, and from an office entitled Clerk of Dispensations and Faculties. Furthermore, according to Wade, two of Bathurst’s relatives received £6400 per year (over £700,000 today) from three other offices they held. If any of these posts actually required work to fulfil their duties, this was done by clerks who were paid a tiny fraction of what Lord Bathurst received. According to Cobbett, Wade, and other critics of the British aristocracy of the time, there were literally hundreds of similar positions with similarly grandiose titles, enormous incomes, and few duties which were held by aristocrats and fortunate placemen.

Analyses of corruption have traditionally focused on illegal abuses such as bribery and misuse of public funds. However, in recent years increasing academic attention has been paid to the notion of ‘legal corruption’, as developed by Kaufmann and Vicente (2011)<ref>Kaufmann, D. and Vicente, P. C. 2011. ‘Legal corruption’, Economics and Politics, 23(2): 195-219</ref>. Legal corruption involves the ‘abuse of office for private gain’ that is central to traditional notions of corruption, but where the ‘abuse’ is able to take place legally due to its perpetrators possessing political and legal control. While ‘Old Corruption’ was closely bound up with a titled aristocracy that no longer exists in modern European nations, in essence it may be still be regarded as an early form of ‘legal corruption’. It is thus interesting to note that conceptions of ‘corruption’ have come full circle, and that the concept of ‘legal corruption’ has roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British political discourse.

Analyses of corruption have traditionally focused on illegal abuses such as bribery and misuse of public funds. However, in recent years increasing academic attention has been paid to the notion of ‘legal corruption’, as developed by Kaufmann and Vicente (2011)<ref>Kaufmann, D. and Vicente, P. C. 2011. ‘Legal corruption’, Economics and Politics, 23(2): 195-219</ref>. Legal corruption involves the ‘abuse of office for private gain’ that is central to traditional notions of corruption, but where the ‘abuse’ is able to take place legally due to its perpetrators possessing political and legal control. While ‘Old Corruption’ was closely bound up with a titled aristocracy that no longer exists in modern European nations, in essence it may be still be regarded as an early form of ‘legal corruption’. It is thus interesting to note that conceptions of ‘corruption’ have come full circle, and that the concept of ‘legal corruption’ has roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British political discourse.