SHIRE, from the Saxon schyran, to divide (whence also to shear), is the name of districts into which the whole of Great Britain and Ireland is di vided. The word shire is in most cases equivalent to county, a name often substituted for it in Great Britain, and always in Ireland. The origin of this distribution of the country cannot be ascertained. In England it has been customary to attribute it t' Alfred, upon the authority of a passage iu Ingulphus, the monk of Croylaud, who wrote about a century and a half after the reign of that king. Asser however, the biographer of Alfred, does not men tion this most important fact ; and, in truth, shires were certainly known before Alfred's time. Sir Francis Palgrave shows them to be identical, in many cases, with Saxon states ; thus Kent, Sussex, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, and Surrey were antient kingdoms : Lincoln shire, under the name of Lindesse, was an independent state, and Worcestershire (Iluiccas) was the jurisdiction of the bishop of Worcester. Another class of shires were formed out of large divisions, either for the sake of more easy manage ment when the population of the par ticular district had increased, or for the sake of giving territory to an earl. York shire was part of the kingdom of Deira, and Derbyshire of Mercia. Lancashire was made a county subsequently to the Conquest. On the other hand, some shires have merged in others : Winchel combeshire is a part of Gloucestershire ; and in the act for abolishing the palatine jurisdiction of the bishop of Durham (6 and 7 William IV., c. 19, s. 1) no less than five shires are mentioned, viz. Cmik shire, Bedlingtonshire, Norhamshire, Allertonshire, and Islandshire, which have long ceased to possess, if indeed they ever had, separate jurisdictions.
The uses of the division into shires may be learnt by an enumeration of the principal officers in each : 1, the lieutenant, to whom is entrusted its mi litary array [LORD LIEUTENANT] ; 2, the custos rotulorum, or keeper of the rolls or archives of the county [CUSTOS ROTULORUM], such as the county court rolls—this officer is appointed by letters patent under the great seal, and is now always identical with the lord-lieutenant, except in counties of cities, where the high steward is usually custos rotulorum ; 3, the sheriff, or, as he is often called, the high sheriff [SHERIFF] ; 4, the re ceiver-general of taxes, who is appointed by the crown, and accounts to it for the taxes levied within his district—he also receives the county rates, and disburses them as the magistrates in quarter ses sions, or as any other competent authority.
direct ; 5, the coroner [Comma() ; 6, the justices of the peace, whose com mission extends only to their own county, and who, assembled in sessions, have jurisdiction over many offences, and con trol over the county funds [SESSIoNs] ; 7, the under-sheriff, who is appointed by and performs nearly all the duties of sheriff; and 8, the clerk of the peace, an officer (almost always an attorney) appointed by the custos rotulorum, whose duty it is to file and produce re cognizances, returning them, when for feited, to the sheriff to be levied [RECOG NIZANCE] : he likewise prepares or files indictments to be tried at the sessions or assizes, and in general acts as the officer of the justices in quarter-sessions. To this list of officers may be added the knights of the shire, or representatives of the county in parliament.
County rates are assessments made by the justices in quarter-sessions assembled, according to estimates laid before them.