sheriff1 (sherif)

[Also sometimes in the restored or explanatory form shire - reeve; also sometimes contracted shrieve, early mod. E. sheriffe, schereff, shireeve, etc., crown in every county or shire, who does all the sovereign's busine in the county, the crown by letters patent committing the custody of the county to him alone. Sheriffs are appointed by the crown upon presentation of the judges in a manner partly regulated by law and partly by custom (see pricking ); the citizens of London, however, have the right of electing the sheriffs for the city of London and the county of Middle sex. Those appointed are bound under a penalty to serve the office, except in specified cases of exemption or disability. As keeper of the queen's peace, the sheriff is the first man in the county, superior in rank to any nobleman therein during his office, which he holds for a year. He is specially intrusted with the execution of the laws and the preservation of the peace, and for this purpose he has at his disposal the whole civil force of the county-in old legal phraseology, the po e comitatus. He has also some judicial functions, le extensive now than formerly. The most ordinary of his functions, which he always executes by a deputy called under- sheriff, consists in the execution of writs. The sheriff performs in person such duties only as are either purely honorary, such as attendance upon the judges on circuit, or of some dignity and public importance, such as the presiding over elections and the holding of county meetings, which he may call at any time. A shirreve hadde he been and a count our. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. Т., 1. 359. Erlez of Ynglande with archers ynewe: Schirreves scharply schiftys the comouns. Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L. 725. "Rise vp," he seid, "thou prowde schereff ." Robin Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 5). The reeve of the shire had doubtle been a fiscal officer from the beginning. It was the Sheriff who had to see to the King's profit and his own in every corner of his shire. E. A. Freeman , Norman Conquest, V. 294. (b) In Scotland, the chief local judge of a county. There are two grades of sheriffs, the chief or superior sheriffs and the sheriffs-substitute (besides the lord lieutenant of the county, who has the honorary title of sheriff - principal ), both being appointed by the crown. The chief sheriff, usually called simply the sheriff, may have more than one substitute under him, and the discharge of the greater part of the duties of the office now practically rests with the sheriffs-substitute, the sheriff being (except in one or two cases) a practising advocate in Edinburgh, while the sheriff-substitute is prohibited from taking other employment, and must reside within his county. The civil jurisdiction of the sheriff extends to all personal actions on contract, bond, or obligation without limit, actions for rent, po e ory actions, etc., in which cases there is an appeal from the decision of the sheriff-substitute to the sheriff, and from him to the Court of Se ion. He has also a summary jurisdiction in small-debt cases where the value is not more than £12. In criminal cases the sheriff has jurisdiction in all offenses the punishment for which is not more than two years' imprisonment. He has also jurisdiction in bankruptcy cases to any amount. (c) In the United States, except in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, sheriffs are elected by popular vote, the qualification being that the sheriff must be a man, of age, a citizen of the United States and of the State, and a resident in the county; usually he can hold no other office, and is not eligible for reëlection until after the lapse of a limited period. In all the States there are deputy sheriffs, who are agents and servants of the sheriff. In New York and some other States there is, as in England, an undersheriff, who acts in place of his chief in the latter's absence, etc. The principal duties of the sheriff are to preserve peace and order throughout the county, to attend the courts as the administrative officer of the law, Weasels and polecats, shere grigs , carrion crows, Seen and smelt only by thine eyes and nose. Wolcot (P. Pindar), p. 186.