First published in 1999, this volume is an ambitious attempt to provide a wide-ranging introduction to local government in the overseas empires of Portugal, Spain, England and France, with further reference to the English East India Company and the Dutch East and West India Companies.

Part 1. Law and Order: Constables and Militiamen. 14. De La Police. Moreau de Saint-Méry. 15. The Militia of Colonial Massachusetts. Jack S. Radabaugh. 16. Freedmen and Slaves in the Barbados Militia. Jerome S. Handler. 17. Milicias Negras y Mulatas en el Reino de Guatemala (Siglo XVIII). Salvador Montoya. Part 2. Social Welfare in New France and New England. 18. Social Welfare Measures and Policies in New France. W.J. Eccles. 19. Poor Relief, Local Finance, and Town Government in Eighteenth-Century Rhode Island. Bruce C. Daniels. Part 3. Company Rule: Cape Colony and New Netherland. 20. VOC Government at the Cape. M.F. Katzen. 21. Local Government and Central Authority in New Netherland. Langdon G. Wright. 22. Civil Law and Colonial Liberty in New Netherland. Morton Wagman. Part 4. Company Rule: British India. 23. Aldermen and Attorneys: Mayor's Court, Calcutta. Tarit Kumar Mukherji. Part 5. Customary Rule and European Governance. 24. The Portuguese Administration in Malacca, 1511-1641. D.R. Sar Desai. 25. The Dutch Administrative Structure in Sri Lanka. S. Arasaratnam. 26. Indian Town Government in Colonial Cuernavaca: Persistence, Adaption, and Change. Robert S. Haskett. Part 6. Elite Formation and Creolization. 27. The Growth of Political Institutions in Virginia, 1634-1676. Warren M. Billings. 28. English-Born and Creole Elites in Turn-of-the-Century Virginia. Carole Shammas. 29. Creoles and Government: The Cabildo of Popayán. Peter Marzahl. Part 7. Representation and Oligarchy. 30. El Cabildo y Regimiento de la Ciudad de México en el Siglo XCII: Un Ejemplo de Oligarquía Criolla. Manuel Alvarado Morales. 31. The Social Context of Democracy in Massachusetts. Michael Zuckerman. 32. Large Town Officeholding in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut: The Growth of Oligarchy. Bruce C. Daniels. 33. The Rise of Representation: Electing County Officeholders in Colonial Pennsylvania. Clair W. Keller. Part 8. Royal Government and Local Government. 34. The Intendant System and the Cabildos of Peru, 1784-1810. John Fisher.