LIEUTENANT, LORD-, OF A COUNTY, a permanent provincial governor appointed by the sovereign by patent under the great seal. The office, in England, arose from the occasional commissions of array issued by the crown in times of danger or disturbance, requiring experienced persons to muster the inhabitants of the counties to which the commissioners were sent, and set them in military order. The right of Ilie crown to issue such commissions was denied by the long parliament, this question proving the immediate cause of the breach between Charles I. and his subjects. Their legality was established at the restoration by a declaratory act. The lord-lieutenant is now the per manent local representative of the crown, who, on the occasion of an invasion or rebel lion, has power to raise the militia, forifi regiments, troops, and companies. and give commissions to officers. The history of the office seems to have bun somewhat similar in Scotland. In act 1433 c. 3, the "lieutenant" is commanded to "raise the county"
whenever it may be necessary to bring the rebellions and unruly possessors of castles and fortalices into subjection; and though his powers were executive rather than judi cial, he seems sometimes to have had authority to exercise the functions of the sheriff, or overrule his decisions. The lord-lieutenant of a county is at the head of the magis tracy, the militia, and the yeomanry; he nominates officers of militia and volunteers. and is the chief executive authority, forming the settled channel of communication between the government and the magistracy, and considered as responsibm in cases of emergency for the preservation of public tranquillity. Under him are permanent deputy lieutenants appointed by him.