Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/132

116 indefinite number of thee hundreds make up a county or hire. Shire is a Saxon word ignifying a diviion; but a county, , is plainly derived from , the count of the Franks; that is, the earl, or alderman (as the Saxons called him) of the hire, to whom the government of it was intruted. This he uually exercied by his deputy, till called in Latin , and in Englih the heriff, hrieve, or hire-reeve, ignifying the officer of the hire; upon whom by proces of time the civil adminitration of it is now totally devolved. In ome counties there is an intermediate diviion, between the hire and the hundreds, as lathes in Kent, and rapes in Suex, each of them containing about three or four hundreds apiece. Thee had formerly their lathe-reeves and rape-reeves, acting in ubordination to the hire-reeve. Where a county is divided into three of thee intermediate juridictions, they are called trithings, which were antiently governed by a trithing-reeve. Thee trithings till ubit in the large county of York, where by an eay corruption they are denominated ridings; the north, the eat, and the wet-riding. The number of counties in England and Wales have been different at different times: at preent there are forty in England, and twelve in Wales.

of thee counties, Cheter, Durham, and Lancater, are called counties palatine. The two former are uch by precription, or immemorial cutom; or, at leat as old as the Norman conquet : the latter was created by king Edward III, in favour of Henry Plantagenet, firt earl and then duke of Lancater, whoe heires John of Gant the king’s on had married; and afterwards confirmed in parliament, to honour John of Gant himelf, whom, on the death of his father-in-law, he had alo created duke of Lancater. Counties palatine are o called '; becaue the owners thereof, the earl of Cheler, the bihop of Durham, and the duke of Lancater, had in thoe counties ' ,