SHIRE, from the Saxon schyras,.to divide (whence also to shear), is the name of districts into which the whole of Great Britain is divided. The word shim 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 probably now be ascertained. It has been customary to attribute it to Alfred, upon the authority of a passage in Ingulphus, the monk of Croyland, who wrote about a century and a half after the reign of that king. Asser, how ever, the biographer of Alfred, does not mention this most important fact, and the unsupported statement of Ingulphus is of little value. 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 ancient kingdoms : Lincolnshire, under the name of Lindesse, was an independent state, and Worcestershire (Ifuiccas) was the juris diction of the bishop of Worcester. Shires of another class were formed out of larger divisions, either for the sake of more easy management when the population of the particular district had increased, or for the sake of giving territory to an earL Yorkshire was part of the kingdom of Deira, and Derbyshire of Mereia. Lanca shire was made a county subsequently to the Conquest. On the other hand, some shires have merged in others ; Winchelcombeshire is a part of Gloucestershire ; and in the Act for abolishing the palatine Jurisdiction of Durham (6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 19) no less than five shires are mentioned, namely, Craikshire, Bedlingtonshire, Norham shire, Allertonshire, and Islandshire ; which had long ceased to possess, if indeed they ever enjoyed, separate jurisdictions.
The uses of the division into shires may be learnt by an enumera tion of the principal officers in each :-1, the lord lieutenant, to whom is entrusted its military array 2, the custos rotulorum, or keeper of the ro or archives of It c county ; 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 [SnEttiFF] ; 4, the receiver general of taxes, who is appointed by the crown, and accounts to it for the taxes levied within his district; 5, the coroner [Cortosmt]; 6, the justices of the peace, whose commission extends only to their own county, and who, assembled in sessions, have jurisdiction over many offences, and control 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 justices in quarter-sessions, whose duty it is to file and produce recognisances, returning them, when forfeited, to the sheriff to be levied [RECOGNISANCE] : 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.
County-rates are assessments made by the justices in quarter sessions assembled, according to estimates laid before them. The principal objects of these rates are : the building and repair of bridges, jails, shire-halls, and courts of justice, and of late years lunatic asylums; the repair of roads; the payment of the salaries of the coroner, clerk of the peace, high and special constables, jailers, fic.; the expense attending the apprehension, conveyance, and prosecution of persons accused of crime ; and under this head is included the remuneration to witnesses for their loss of time and expenses; the maintenance of prisoners, and their transportation. The rates are levied by collectors, and enforced by the sheriff.
The judicial tribunals in each county are the assize court [AsstzEs]; the old schyremote or county-court held for the election of knights of the shire, and the hundred courts, and courts-leet. [Comas.) These hundred courts and courts-leet have long been almost entirely ohms lete, and the county court statutes accordingly contain provisions for their surrender to the crown.