Since the Civil War there have been few general and permanent changes in the legal principles of county administration. But with the growth of the United States there have been important developments in the functions of the county and in the methods of administration. The county system has been extended through out the country; and the increase of population and the general tendency toward the expan tion of public activities have added much to the scope of county administration.
General A one of the civil divisions of a State for judicial and political purposes; and at the same time is a district of a quasi-corporate character for pur poses of local administration. Generally the State legislature has power to establish counties; and in the North Atlantic group of States this power is not limited. But the constitutions of most of the States now impose various re strictions,— as to minimum area and population and requiring the consent of the voters. In most of the States the organization of new counties and changes in county boundaries are now seldom made; but in some of the newer States the creation of new counties and read justment of boundaries are still not infrequent.
There are about 3,000 counties in the United States. Most of the larger States have from 60 to 100 counties each. At one extreme Texas has 245 counties; at the other Rhode Island has five and Delaware three.
In area and population the counties show great differences; but for the most part Ameri can counties are much smaller both in area and population than counties in England, depart ments in France, and provinces in Prussia, Belgium, Italy or Spain. Nearly two-thirds of the counties contain from 300 to 900 square miles; and the most usual areas are from 400 to 650 square miles. More than half the coun ties have a population of 10,000 to 30,000; but in the North Atlantic States more than half the counties have over 50,000 population, while in the Southern States and still more in the States west of the arid plains many counties have less than 10,000 population.
Nine-tenths of the counties are mainly rural in character; but most counties contain urban communities, a considerable number have im portant cities, and the most important counties are those where the largest cities are located,— as New York city (which includes five counties), Chicago, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco and Denver. In most
of these cases the county administration is partly absorbed in that of the city.
The comparatively small area and popula fion of most counties in the United States necessarily makes them less important for some branches of public administration than the counties, departments and provinces in Euro pean countries. On the other hand the highly decentralized methods of administration fol lowed in the States of the American Union adds greatly to the number of officials locally elected by counties. Not only local county authorities, but even the principal local agents of the central government are elected within each county, and are subject to little or no effective supervision by the central government of the States. The national government has no supervision or control whatever over county or other locally elected officials.
Powers and Functions.— There are wide variations between the States in the relative importance of the county as an administrative district; and the powers and public functions of counties and county officials are far from uniform in all the States. But it is possible to note certain common factors and to call at tention to some of the most important dif ferences.
Very little in the way of legislative power, even in local matters, has been conferred in counties on the United States. They are con sidered in judicial decisions as primarily agents and instrumentalities of the State to carry out its governmental functions. The county officials thus act almost entirely under the provisions of statutes passed by the State legislatures, which define their duties and enumerate their powers in minute detail. Important questions are, however, often submitted to a popular referendum of the whole body of electors in the county,— such as the location of the county seat, loans for public buildings or public works, and the prohibition or licensing of places for the sale of intoxicating liquors, under ((local option" laws. In 1909 a more general grant of local legislative power was made to the county authorities by the legislature of the State of Michigan. In 1911 California adopted a home rule constitutional amendment authorizing counties to frame and adopt their own charters of local governments.