COUNTY

The name given to the prln• clpal subdivisions of the kingdom of England and of most of the states 'o:I' the.American Union, denoting a 41stinct portion of territory organized by itsel:I' for. political and judicial purposes. The etymology o:I' the word shows It to have been the district anciently governed by a count or earl. In modern use, the word may denote either the territory marked off' to form a county, or the citizens resident within such territory, taken collectively and considered as Invested with political rights, or the county regarded as a municipal corporation po e ing subordinate governmental powers, or an organ-· ized jural society invested with specific rights and duties. Patters on v. Temple, Z1 Ark. 2.07; Eagle v. Beard, 33 Ark. 501; Wooster v. Plymouth, 62 N. H. 208. -Conn-1:',f bridge. A bridge of the larger cla , erected by the county, and which the county is liable to keep in repair. Taylor v. Davis County, 40 Iowa, 295; Boone County v. Mutchler, 137 Ind. 140, 36 N. E. 534.-County commi ioners. Officers of a county charged with a variety of administrative and executive duties, but principally with the management of the financial affiairs of the county, its police regulations, and its corporate busine . Sometimes the local. laws give them limited judicial powers. In some states they are called "supervisors." Com. v. Krickbaum, 199 Pa. 351, 49 At!. 68.-County corporate. A city or town, with more or le territory annexed, having the privilege to be a county of itself, and not to be comprised in any other county; such as London, York, Bristol.I-. Norwich, and other cities in England. 1 BI. uomm. 120.--County court. A court of high antiquity in IDngland, incident to the jurisdiction of the sheriff. It is not a court of record, but may hold pleas of debt or damages, under the value of forty shillings. The freeholders of the county (anciently termed the "suitors" of the court) are the real judges in this court, and the sheriff is the ministerial officer. See 3 BI. Co=. 35, 36; 3 Steph. Comm. 395. But in modern English law the name is appropriated to a system of tribunals established by the statute 9 & 10 Viet. c. 95, having a limited jurisdiction, principally for the recovery of small debts. It is also the name of certain tribunals of limited jurisdiction in the county of Middle sex, established under the statute 22 Geo. II. c. 33. In American law. The name is used in many of the states to designate the ordinary courts of record having jurisdiction for trials at nisi prius. Their powers generally -comprise ordinary civil jurisdiction, also the charge and care of persons and estates coming within legal guardianship, a limited criminal jurisdiction, appellate jurisdicton over justices of the peace, etc.-County jail. A place of incarceration for the punishment of minor offenses and the custody of transient prisoners, where the ignominy of confinement is devoid of the infamous character which an imprisonment in the state jail or penitentiary carries with it. U. S. v. Green wald (D. C.) 64 Fed. 8.--County officers, Those whose genetal authority and jurisdiction are confined within the limits of the county in which they are appointed, who are appointed in and for a particular county, and whose duties apply only to, that county, and through whom the county performs its usual political functions.,State v. Burns. 38 Fla. 367, 21 South. 290; State v. Glenn, 7 Heisk. (Tenn.) 473; In re Carpenter, 7 Barb. (N. Y.) 34; Philadelphia v. Martin, 125 Pa. '5S3, 17 Atl. 507.--County palatine, A term bestowed 11pon certain counties in England, the lords of [s. 289]