Nineteenth-century registers: constituting the market, professions and individuals

Abstract

The nineteenth century saw the introduction of at least 20 registers into English statutory law. These were used as techniques of governance, in a Foucauldian sense, and they reflect the shifts in the changing relationship between individuals and the state at the time. The registers include the better-known systems for voters, births, companies and some professions. Less well-known registers were introduced for industrial property, coalwhippers and for deserters from ships. Deploying the idea of governmentality allows the registers to be seen in terms of the externalisation of aspects of governance, the facilitation of the internalisation of specific practices by those who sought registration and, to a lesser extent, by the competitors of those who sought registration. As such, their introduction represents a move away from the pre-existing juridical mode of governance.