In Australia the seriousness of domestic violence is reflected in part by the on-going attention it receives from academics, public and community sector commentators, legal authorities and the police. Likewise, it can be suggested that the increase in public awareness about the seriousness and prevalence of domestic violence can be attributed to the manner in which authorities have handled the very reporting of the problem. In this article the authors seek to illustrate and contrast some of the ways in which domestic violence has been managed over time and place. To develop this contrast, they compare recent (primarily Australian) western material with historical examples taken from early modern England. The focus of the discussion is on how intervention into domestic violence has shifted from a decidedly community-based to an authority-based system of monitoring social relations. They argue, in seeing many aspects of this trend reversed, that there are good reasons for a more localised and community-based treatment of domestic violence.