The second theory, which originated with German scholars, and is the best known theory to English readers, is that of " coercitio" (curtailment). It holds that Christians were punished by Roman governors through the ordinary use of their power to keep order, because Christians had introduced "an alien cult which induced 'national apostasy', the abandonment of the traditional Roman religion. Others substituted for this a general aversion to the established order and disobedience to constituted authority. All of [this school seem to envisage the procedure as direct police action, or inquisition against notable malefactors, arrest, and punishment, without the ordinary forms of trial".