Editing Civil service (section)

== History ==

===In China===
[[File:Exam cells-large.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Imperial Civil Service Examination hall with 7500 cells in [[Guangdong]], 1873]]
[[File:Sui Wendi Tang.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Emperor Wen of Sui]] (r. 581–604), who established the first [[Imperial examination|civil service examination system]] in China; a painting by the [[Chancellor of China|chancellor]] and artist [[Yan Liben]] (600–673).]]
The origin of the modern meritocratic civil service can be traced back to [[imperial examination]] founded in [[Imperial China]].<ref name="China Imperial">{{cite web|url=http://www.historytoday.com/jonathan-mirsky/chinas-examination-hell-civil-service-examinations-imperial-china|title=China's Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China|work=History Today|access-date=October 25, 2011|archive-date=March 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319024949/http://www.historytoday.com/jonathan-mirsky/chinas-examination-hell-civil-service-examinations-imperial-china|url-status=live}}</ref> The imperial exam based on merit was designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy.<ref name="Imperial China">{{cite web|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~elman/documents/Civil%20Service%20Examinations.pdf|title=Imperial China: Civil Service Examinations|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=October 25, 2011|archive-date=April 1, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401191710/http://www.princeton.edu/~elman/documents/Civil%20Service%20Examinations.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of [[scholar-bureaucrats]] irrespective of their family pedigree.<ref name="Confucian civil service">{{cite web|url=http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian3.html|publisher=[[California State Polytechnic University, Pomona]]|title=Confucianism and the Chinese Scholastic System: The Chinese Imperial Examination System|access-date=December 7, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000418212653/http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian3.html|archive-date=April 18, 2000}}</ref>

Originally appointments to the bureaucracy were based on the patronage of [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrats]]; During the [[Han dynasty]], [[Emperor Wu of Han]] established the [[xiaolian]] system of recommendation by superiors for appointments to office. In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit. This was an early form of the imperial examinations, transitioning from inheritance and patronage to merit, in which local officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the [[Confucian classics]].<ref name="Confucian civil service"/> After the fall of the Han dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy regressed into a semi-merit system known as the [[nine-rank system]].

This system was reversed during the short-lived [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618), which initiated a civil service bureaucracy recruited through [[Imperial examination|written examinations]] and recommendation. The first civil service examination system was established by [[Emperor Wen of Sui]]. [[Emperor Yang of Sui]] established a new category of recommended candidates for the mandarinate in AD 605. The following [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) adopted the same measures for drafting officials, and decreasingly relied on aristocratic recommendations and more and more on promotion based on the results of written examinations. The structure of the examination system was extensively expanded during the reign of [[Wu Zetian]].<ref>[[Ann Paludan|Paludan, Ann]] (1998). ''[[iarchive:chronicleofchine0000palu|Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China]]''. New York: Thames and Hudson. {{ISBN|0-500-05090-2}}</ref>
The system reached its apogee during the Song dynasty.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=J. A. G.|title=A Concise History of China|year=1999|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=0-674-00075-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00robe_0}}</ref>

In theory, the Chinese civil service system provided one of the main avenues for social mobility in Chinese society, although in practice, due to the time-consuming nature of the study, the examination was generally only taken by sons of the landed gentry.<ref name="China civil service">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112424/Chinese-civil-service|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|title=Chinese civil service|access-date=December 7, 2011|archive-date=December 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216191712/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112424/Chinese-civil-service|url-status=live}}</ref> The examination tested the candidate's memorization of the [[Four Books and Five Classics|Nine Classics of Confucianism]] and his ability to compose poetry using fixed and traditional forms and [[calligraphy]]. It was ideally suited to literary candidates. Thus, toward the end of the Ming Dynasty, the system attracted the candidature of Tang Xianzu (1550–1616). Tang at 14 passed the imperial examination at the county level; and at 21, he did so at the provincial level; but not until he was 34 did he pass at the national level. However, he had already become a well-known poet at age 12, and among other things he went on to such distinction as a profound literati and dramatist that it would not be far-fetched to regard him as China's answer to William Shakespeare.<ref>{{cite book|last=Xianzu|first=Tang|title=The Complete Works of Tang Xianzu|year=2018}}</ref> In the late 19th century, however,  the system increasingly engendered internal dissatisfaction, and was criticized as not reflecting candidates' ability to govern well, and for giving undue weight to style over content and originality of thought. Indeed, long before its abandonment, the notion of the imperial system as a route to social mobility was somewhat mythical. In Tang's magnum opus, The Peony Pavilion, sc 13, Leaving Home, the male lead, Liu Mengmei, laments: "After twenty years of studies, I still have no hope of getting into office", and on this point Tang may be speaking through Liu as his alter ego. The system was finally abolished by the [[Qing government]] in 1905 as part of the [[New Policies]] reform package.

The Chinese system was often admired by European commentators from the 16th century onward.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brook|first=Timothy|title=China and Historical Capitalism|year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=0-521-64029-6}}</ref> However, the Chinese imperial examination system was hardly universally admired by all Europeans who knew of it. In a debate in the unelected chamber of the UK parliament on March 13, 1854, John Browne 'pointed out [clearly with some disdain] that the only precedent for appointing civil servants by literary exams was that of the Chinese government'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coolican|title= Chapter 5: The Northcote–Trevelyan Report|pages=106–107|year=2018}}</ref>

=== Roman Empire ===
The [[Roman Empire|Roman empire]] (27 BC – AD 395) had several types of civil servants who fulfilled diverse functions in Roman society. They were called [[Apparitor|apparitores]].

==== Accensi ====
[[Accensi#Civil servants|Accensi]] were usually professional civil servants, providing assistance to the elected [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] during their term in office. In the courts, they summoned witnesses, kept track of time, and helped keep order.<ref>{{Cite book |last=(LL.D.) |first=Alexander ADAM |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4NaAAAAcAAJ&dq=accensi+courts&pg=PA165 |title=Roman Antiquities; or, an Account of the manners and customs of the Romans, etc |date=1825 |publisher=T. Cadell |language=en}}</ref> Outside of the courts, they escorted the magistrate and acted as [[Herald|heralds.]]<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Suetonius • Life of Julius Caesar, 20 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/suetonius/12caesars/julius*.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530163202/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html |archive-date=2012-05-30 |access-date=2018-02-09 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 45, chapter 29 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0168:book=45:chapter=29 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2018-02-09 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> They also helped in writing [[Edict|edicts]] and [[Roman law|laws]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plessis |first=Paul J. du |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDVYDwAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi&pg=PT131 |title=Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic |date=2016-08-30 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-0884-4 |language=en}}</ref> It is also possible they were messengers and [[orderlies]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erdkamp |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1D612o_X2VYC&dq=Accensi&pg=PA56 |title=A Companion to the Roman Army |date=2011-03-31 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-9376-7 |language=en}}</ref> The ''Accensi Velati'' were non military participants of military campaigns.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cicero |first1=Marcus Tullius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sqb73m5oskYC&dq=Accensi&pg=PA128 |title=Cicero, Against Verres, 2.1.53-86: Latin Text with Introduction, Study Questions, Commentary and English Translation |last2=Gildenhard |first2=Ingo |date=2011 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-906924-53-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nettleship |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4Dcf4d0N7MC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA14 |title=Contributions to Latin Lexicography |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01272-0 |language=la}}</ref> They probably assisted clerks, accountants, supply officials, and aides.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Delbruck |first1=Hans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MP2k4rx-Q_UC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA266 |title=Warfare in antiquity |last2=Delbr_ck |first2=Hans |date=1990-01-01 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9199-7 |language=en}}</ref> The''y'' also assisted religious affairs especially the [[Feriae Latinae]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Hans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhC_GqPDcjUC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA129 |title=Consuls and Res Publica: Holding High Office in the Roman Republic |last2=Duplá |first2=Antonio |last3=Jehne |first3=Martin |last4=Polo |first4=Francisco Pina |date=2011-09-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-49719-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rüpke (theoloog) |first=Jörg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xO_8AwAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA32 |title=From Jupiter to Christ: On the History of Religion in the Roman Imperial Period |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-870372-3 |language=en}}</ref> formed a [[Collegium (ancient Rome)|collegium]] dedicated to managing the streets,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Giroire |first1=Cécile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnIbg00BQ14C&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA192 |title=Roman Art from the Louvre |last2=Roger |first2=Daniel |date=2007 |publisher=Hudson Hills |isbn=978-1-55595-283-9 |language=en}}</ref> and had a [[Centuriate Assembly|centuriate assembly]] dedicated to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Botsford |first=George Willis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SyF2kmJOxYC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA207 |title=The Roman Assemblies from Their Origin to the End of the Republic |date=2001 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-58477-165-4 |language=en}}</ref>

===== Carnifex =====
The carnifex punished slaves and foreigners, unlike lictores who punished Romans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Public Executioners in Ancient Rome (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Carnifex.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

===== Coactor =====
They were the tax collectors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • The Roman Civil Service (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Apparitores.html#Coactor |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> The name coactor is derived from its latin meaning: "to compel, to force".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Olivetti |first=Olivetti Media Communication-Enrico |title=ONLINE LATIN DICTIONARY - Latin - English |url=https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?parola=coactor |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=online-latin-dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref>

==== Lictores ====
Similarly to accensi, [[Lictor|lictores]] were public officers tasked to assist magistrates since the times of the [[Roman Kingdom|Roman kingdom]] (753 BC – 509 BC) or even earlier Etruscan times. The number of lictores a magistrate had was proportional to status. Lictores were in charge of punishing Roman citizens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • The Roman Lictor (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lictor.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

==== Praecones ====
They were generally employed to make announcements in public and crowds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Praeco — The Roman Crier (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Praecones.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

===== Scriba =====
The [[Scriba (ancient Rome)|scriba]] were civil servants working as public notaries as well as general bureaucracy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=A. H. M. |date=1949 |title=The Roman Civil Service (Clerical and Sub-Clerical Grades) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/roman-civil-service-clerical-and-subclerical-grades/384B50535ADE1A802DFD73DC6BFA0BC3 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1–2 |pages=38–55 |doi=10.2307/297706 |jstor=297706 |issn=1753-528X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Roman Scribes (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Scribae.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Greek cities had a similar figure, however the job was done by slaves.<ref name=":1" />

===Modern civil service===
In the 18th century, in response to economic changes and the growth of the [[British Empire]], the bureaucracy of institutions such as the [[Office of Works]] and the [[Navy Board]] greatly expanded. Each had its own system, but in general, staff were appointed through patronage or outright purchase. By the 19th century, it became increasingly clear that these arrangements were falling short. "The origins of the British civil service are better known. During the eighteenth century a number of Englishmen wrote in praise of the Chinese examination system, some of them going so far as to urge the adoption for England of something similar. The first concrete step in this direction was taken by the British East India Company in 1806."<ref name=Bodde/> In that year, the [[Honourable East India Company]] established a college, the [[East India Company College]], near London to train and examine administrators of the company's territories in India.<ref name=Bodde/> "The proposal for establishing this college came, significantly, from members of the East India Company's trading post in Canton, China."<ref name=Bodde/> Examinations for the Indian "civil service"—a term coined by the Company—were introduced in 1829.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/highercivilservi0000hudd|url-access=registration|title=The Higher Civil Service in the United States: Quest for Reform|author=Mark W. Huddleston, William W. Boyer|year=1996|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=978-0822974734}}</ref>

British efforts at reform were influenced by the [[imperial examination]]s system and [[Meritocracy|meritocratic system]] of China. Thomas Taylor Meadows, Britain's consul in [[Guangzhou]], China argued in his ''Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China'', published in 1847, that "the long duration of the Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the good government which consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only", and that the British must reform their civil service by making the institution meritocratic.<ref name=Bodde>{{cite web|last=Bodde|first=Derke|title=China: A Teaching Workbook|url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_ideas.htm|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=2012-08-05|archive-date=2012-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104040501/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_ideas.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, John Browne, in the 1854 debate mentioned above, 'argued that elegant writing had become an end in itself, and the stultifying effect of this on the Chinese civil service had contributed in no small measure to China's failure to develop its early lead over Western civilisations': Coolican, p. 107.

[[File:Charles Edward Trevelyan.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], an architect of [[Her Majesty's Civil Service]], established in 1855 on his recommendations.]]
In 1853 the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]], commissioned Sir [[Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh|Stafford Northcote]] and [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]] to look into the operation and organisation of the Civil Service. Influenced by the Chinese imperial examinations, the [[Northcote–Trevelyan Report]] of 1854 made four principal recommendations: that recruitment should be on the basis of merit determined through competitive examination, that candidates should have a solid general education to enable inter-departmental transfers, that recruits should be graded into a hierarchy and that promotion should be through achievement, rather than "preferment, patronage or purchase". It also recommended a clear division between staff responsible for routine ("mechanical") work, and those engaged in policy formulation and implementation in an "administrative" class.<ref name= "APH">{{cite book|editor1-last=Kazin|editor2-last= Edwards|editor3-last= Rothman |date=2010|page= 142|title = The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History|publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn = 9780691129716}}</ref>

The report was well-timed, because bureaucratic chaos during the [[Crimean War]] was causing a clamour for the change. The report's conclusions were immediately implemented, and a permanent, unified and politically neutral civil service was introduced as [[Her Majesty's Civil Service]]. A [[Civil Service Commission (United Kingdom)|Civil Service Commission]] was also set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and most of the other Northcote–Trevelyan recommendations were implemented over some years.<ref>{{cite news|last=Walker|first=David|title=Fair game|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2003-07-09|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jul/09/publicsector.guardiansocietysupplement|access-date=2003-07-09|location=London|archive-date=2013-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228032309/http://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jul/09/publicsector.guardiansocietysupplement|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The same model, the [[Imperial Civil Service]], was implemented in [[British India]] from 1858, after the demise of the [[East India Company]]'s rule in India through the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] which came close to toppling British rule in the country.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmyVKwxmeyUC |title=In quest of Indian folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke |first=Sadhana |last=Naithani |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |page=6 |isbn=978-0-253-34544-8 |access-date=2015-10-14 |archive-date=2016-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512113605/https://books.google.com/books?id=DmyVKwxmeyUC |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Northcote–Trevelyan model remained essentially stable for a hundred years. This was a tribute to its success in removing corruption, delivering public services (even under the stress of two world wars), and responding effectively to political change. It also had a great international influence and was adapted by members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]. The [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act]] established a modern civil service in the United States, and by the turn of the 20th century almost all Western governments had implemented similar reforms.