Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/545

Rh COUNT Y 513 kingdom or community, now long merged in the larger unity of the English kingdom. The same mistake that has been made as to the historical relations of the county and the kingdom is repeated in the popular accounts of the subdivisions of the county itself. Alfred the Great, it is said, divided the county into hundreds, and these again into tithings. The truth is exactly the contrary the sub division of the county being an earlier aggregate than the county itself. The parish, the manor, and the township all appear to be traceable to the independent tribal settle ment the village community of the early Saxons. They appear in history with their political and judicial organism complete. A combination of these units forms the district of the hundred ; and a combination of hundreds forms the county. All of these groups have the same kind of organ ization. They all have their moots or meetings, partly judicial partly political in character, and their head-man or reeve. The Witenagemot of the Saxon kingdom is the folk-moot for the whole kingdom, corresponding to the folk-moot for the shire or county. In the period preceding the Norman Conquest two officers appear at the head of the county organization. These are the ealdorman or earl and the scirgerefa or sheriff. The latter was more particularly the representative of the king the former represented, in dignity at least, the head of the county before ithad ceased to be an independent community. After the Conquest the sheriff became a purely royal officer (vice-comes or ballivus). He held an annual court (the sheriffs tourn or leet) to which the vassals of the king were suitors. These were the judicial tribunals for the people within the jurisdiction of the county. An appeal lay from them to the king, and the growth of the king s court, in its three developments King s Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer tended to draw suits at the first instance away from the county court into the higher tribunal. The county court, moreover, arranged the assessment of rates, and the sheriff was, in fact, the financial representative of the Crown within his district. When the principle of representation came into existence, the county court was the assembly which elected the knights of the shire. The ancient offices of coroner and verderer were also filled up by the same assembly. The county organization thus in many points retained the features of an independent political society. From the time of the Plantagenets its importance in the constitution declined. The office of sheriff in England has lost all its financial and nearly all its judicial duties. He is now chiefly a ministerial officer he arrests or imprisons, summons and returns the jury, carries the judgment or sentence of the court into effect, &c. The military functions of the sheriff were in the reign of Henry VIII. (or, according to some, Edward VI.) handed over to a new officer, the lord-lieutenant, who is now more prominently associated with the headship of the county than the sheriff is. The office is honorary, and is held during royal pleasure, but virtually for life. The Government of the day invariably appoints one of its own supporters, generally a person of high position in the county. He is the chief conservator of the peace and keeper of the records of quarter sessions. He is also commander of the militia and yeomanry of the county, whose officers he appoints. In tha United States of America the county forms the section into which the State is divided ; it is again sub divided into townships. The financial affairs of the county are superintended by county officers, and each county is provided with a court of inferior jurisdiction. Louisiana is the only State which is divided into parishes, instead of counties. The Counties Palatine are three in number, viz., Durham, Chester, arid Lancaster. The counts palatine (earl of Chester, bishop of Durham, and duke of Lancaster) exercised royal rights within their districts. Chester was united with the Crown under Henry III., but the palatinate jurisdictions survived in the other two cases. The Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster and the Court of Common Pleas at Durham are among the courts whose jurisdiction is transferred to the High Court of Justice by the Judicature Act, 1873. The palatine authority of the bishop of Durham was vested in the Crown by 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 19. The duchy of Lancaster has still its own chancellor, in whose name a chancery court is held, presided over by a vice- chancellor, and the courts of the lord chancellor of England do not run in the districts. The chancery court is not affected by the Judicature Act. Section 99 of that Act, provides that, from and after the commencement of this Act, the counties palatine of Lancaster and Durham shall respectively cease to be counties palatine, so far as respects the issue of commissions of assize, or other like commis sions, but not further or otherwise. Counties of cities, or counties corporate, are cities which have acquired the privileges of counties. The officers of the counties in which these towns are situated have no jurisdiction Avithin them. Among them are London, York, and Bristol. County Court. The jurisdiction of the ancient County Court has within recent years been revised and extended with the view of making justice cheaper and more accessible, especially in disputes about small amounts. The 9 and 10 Viet. c. 95 (County Courts Act, 1846), reciting various Acts, the provisions of which should bo amended, and that one rule, and manner of proceeding for tha lecovery of small debts and demand, should prevail throughout England ; that the County Court is a court of ancient jurisdiction, having cognizance of all pleas of personal actions to any amount by virtue of a wilt of justices issued in that behalf ; that the pro ceedings in the County Court are dilatory and expensive, and that it is expedient to alter and regulate the manner of proceeding in. the said courts for the recovery of small debts and demands ; that tha courts established under the said recited Acts of Parliament, or such of them as ought to be continued, should be holden after tha passing of this Act as branches of the County Court under the provi sions of this Act, enacts that &quot; it shall be lawful for her Majesty, with the advice of her Privy Council, to order that this Act shall be put in force in such county or counties as to her Majesty, with rf the advice aforesaid, shall seem fit.&quot; By section 2 her Majesty, j with the advice aforesaid, may divide the whole or part of any such county, including all counties of cities and counties of towns, cities, boroughs, towns, ports, and places, liberties and franchises therein contained into districts, and may order that the County Court shall be holden under this Act in each of such districts. Courts under this Act are to have &quot; all the jurisdiction and powers of the County Court for recovery of debts and demand as altered by this Act,&quot; and shall be courts of record. For all other purposes the County Court shall be holden as if this Act had not passed. Judges, treasurers, registrars, high bailiffs, and their assistants were to be appointed for each district. The 21 and 22 Viet. c. 74 3 limits the number of judges to sixty. The salary of a County Courtjudire was originally fixed at 1200, but as a rule he now receives 1500. He must be a barrister-at-law of seven years standing ; after appointment he cannot sit as a member of Parliament, or practise at the bar. The appointment is made by the lord chancellor, with whom also rests the power of dismissal for sufficient cause shown. Lawyers of considerable repute have in many cases accepted these appoint ments. The jurisdiction of the County Courts was at first confined to pleas in personal actions, when the sum claimed was not more than 30, but it has since been considerably enlarged. The limit was raised to 50 by the 13 and 14 Viet. c. 61. A jurisdiction in ejectment, where the annual rent or value of the land was not moro than 20, was conferred by the County Courts Act, 1867. Up to 1865 the jurisdiction of the County Courts was with a few trifling exceptions a common law jurisdiction, but the County Courts Act of that year conferred an equitable jurisdiction, limited as to tha value of the amount at stake to 500. This Act, and the power to set up equitable defences to actions under the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, are noticeable in the history of English law, as anticipations of the fusion of law and equity now being carried out under the recent Judicature Act. Jurisdiction in probate (up to 200), in admiralty, in bankruptcy, and certain powers in aid of the jurisdiction of other courts have also been conferred by separate Acts. By the consent of parties the court may have jurisdiction in any action. In certain cases (e.g., recovery of penalties for VT ... f^