The office of sheriff
IT has been already observed, that the Saxons, when
they divided this realm into provinces, (called in their
language shires, and in Latin, comitatus, i. e. counties,)
framed the government of them from the antient constitution of the Romans, from whom it was derived to
them by their German ancestors, (fn. 1) in conformity to
which, they constituted certain of their chief men to
preside over their shires, whom they denominated in
their own language, ealdormen, (and in Latin, comites
and confules.) King Alfred, for the more ready administration of justice, allowed these ealdormen, or counts,
to make deputies, who were called vice comites, or viscounts, and in their own tongue, sheriffs, i. e. the shyrereeve, from the Saxon word gerefa, or gereva, i. e. provost, præfect, or steward, to distribute justice to the
people in their provincial, or county courts. This office of sheriff is supposed, by the best authorities, to
have been constituted by that king, when he new
modelled this realm into different shires and provinces.
That it was in being soon after may be learnt from Ingulphus, p. 876, where, in a grant of king Edric to
Crowland-abbey, about the year 984, mention is made
of this vice-comes, or sheriff, among his other ministers;
and afterwards in this subscription—Ego Alfer vicecomes audivi. In the same author, p. 912, edit. Franckf.
one Normannus is mentioned as vice-comes, or sheriff
to Edric Streon, ealdorman, or earl of Mercia, who
lived about the year 1007. The office of vice-comes
is mentioned likewise in the laws of king Edward the
consessor. (fn. 2) These ealdormen, or, as they were afterwards called by the Danes, eorlas, (from which name
is derived that of our modern earl) in process of time,
either by their ceasing to be officiary, and becoming
merely titular; or, by reason of their high employments, and attendance on the king's person, not being
able to transact the business of that county, were, by his
approbation, freed from the trouble, and the sheriff,
who was before only a deputy, and subordinate to the
earl, as the earl was to the king, became the king's
immediate officer in his respective county, transacting
all the king's business in it: for though the earl reserved the honour to himself, yet the whole labour
was laid on the sheriff, who, notwithstanding he is
still called vice-comes, is entirely independent of, and
in nothing subject to the earl, the king, by his letters
patent, committing custodiam comitatus to the sheriff
alone. (fn. 3) They were usually men of high rank and
great power in the realm, having one or more counties committed to them by the king at his pleasure,
either in custody or at a ferm certain. To them the
king usually committed (together with the counties)
his castles and manors lying within their bailiwick.
They provided the castles with ammunition and other
necessaries, and they stocked and improved his manors; in short, the sheriff was the king's farmer, or
bailiff, and the collector of all his rents and revenues
within his district. (fn. 4) As such he is called by Ethelwerd, exactor regis, i. e. the king's receiver, and by
others, questor provinciæ. His duty was then, as it still
is, to do the justice of his county, and to keep the
public peace, of which lie is within it the principal
conservator, in aid of which he has the power of raising the posse comitatus; and as keeper of the king's
peace he is, both by common law and by his commission, during his office, the first man in the county,
and superior in rank to any nobleman therein. As
to his judicial capacity, he hears and determines all
causes, not exceeding forty shillings value, in his own
court, called the county court, of which more has
been mentioned before, and he has also a judicial
power in several other civil cases. In his ministerial
capacity, he executes writs and processes, proclaims
statutes, returns juries, and makes return of writs for
electing knights of the shire, &c.
In whatever manner the sheriffs might have been
appointed or chosen before the Norman conquest, it
is certain, from that period they continued to be appointed by the king at his pleasure, till the latter end
of the reign of king Edward I. who, by statute in his
28th year, granted the election of sheriff to the people of each county, if they list, as the statute says, excepting in those where the shrievalty was hereditary,
as it still continues to be in the county of Westmoreland. Notwithstanding which, king Edward II. continued to appoint sheriffs in several counties, where,
I suppose, the people did not list to elect them; and
in those which did choose them, those popular elections grew so tumultuous, that they were put an end
to by the statute of 9 Edward II. which enacted, that
the sheriffs should from thenceforth be assigned by
the chancellor, treasurer, and judges, as persons in
whom that trust might be with confidence reposed,
from such as had sufficient lands in the county to answer the king and his people. By the statutes of
14 Edward III. 23 Henry VI. and 21 Henry VIII.
the chancellor, treasurer, president of the king's council, the chief justices, and chief baron, are to make
this election, and that on the morrow of All Souls,
in the exchequer; and the king's letters patent, appointing the new sheriffs used commonly to bear date
the 6th day of November, and the custom now is,
and has been, at least ever since the reign of Henry VI. for all the judges, together with all the other
great officers, to meet in the exchequer chamber on
the morrow of All Souls yearly, (which day is now
altered to the morrow of St. Martin, by the last act
for abbreviating Michaelmas term) and then and
there propose three persons to the king, who afterwards appoints one of them to be sheriff. But though
this is the general practice, yet frequently, for parti-
cular reasons, the king omits appointing any one of
the three persons so proposed, and some time after,
by the sole authority of the crown, appoints one not
nominated to him as above, who is called from thence
a pocket sheriff, a custom of some time standing, and
uniformly continued at this day. Sheriffs, by virtue
of several old statutes, are to continue their office but
for one year; and yet it has been said, that a sheriff may
be appointed durante bene placito, or during the king's
pleasure, and so is the form of the royal writ; therefore, till a new sheriff is named, his office cannot be
determined, unless by his own death, or the death of
the king. And by the statute of I Richard II. no
man, who has served the office of sheriff for one year,
can be compelled to serve the same again within three
years after. (fn. 5) The under-sheriff usually performs the
duties of the office, a very few only excepted, where the
personal prefence of the high-sheriff is necessary; for
which purpose there is a large indenture signed and
sealed between him and his under-sheriff at the time
of his entering on his office. The principal personal
attendance which is required of the high sheriff of this
county is twice a year, at the assizes and general goal
delivery, held at the county town of Maidstone, to
which he comes on the commission day in great parade of equipage, with his under sheriff, bailiffs,
and other officers, and remains there attendant on
the judges, and business of the assizes, till the whole
is finished, and the judges have left the town; when
he too departs home, leaving the execution of the criminals, and such matters, to the under sheriff and his
officers.
In Hilary term next after the sheriff is out of office, he and his under sheriff are sworn to yield and
give a just and true account to the king, and his officers, in the exchequer of the king's debts, wherewith
he is charged by the green wax of the exchequer, and
other particulars which have happened within the
compass of his office, and of all other profits whatsoever, due and belonging to the king, and chargeable
to him to answer for; after which he leaves the farther trouble in passing his account to the care of his
under sheriff. The transacting of which, and obtaining the sheriff's quietus, or discharge, became so troublesome and expensive, from the delays made by the
officers concerned in it, and the variety of fees demanded by them, that the legislature thought it necessary to pass an act in the 3d year of George I. not
only for his greater ease in the execution of this office
of sheriff, but for the ascertaining the fees to be paid
by him in suing out his patent, and passing his accounts, and the preventing the officers and clerks
from retarding and hindering the passing of them;
and the inrolment and delivery of his quietus in due
time; and for establishing a new oath of office, in the
room of the old one; and as the profers payable at the
exchequer by the sheriff remained then the same as
they antiently were, though many of the rents and
premises, out of which they were payable, were alienated from the crown, the lord treasurer, and great
officers of the exchequer, were enabled, at the request
of the sheriff, to reduce and settle the same to such
sums as they should think just and reasonable, with
regard to the amount and value of such rents and
certainties at present in the county, which, when so
settled, were to be the profers payable by the respective sheriff.
The fees allowed by the above act to be taken of
the several sheriffs by the officers and clerks in the
exchequer and chancery, amounted all together to the
sum of four thousand pounds or thereabouts; and as
it was justly thought unreasonable, that the sheriffs of
this kingdom, who were obliged to take upon them
that troublesome and expensive office for the service
of their country, should pay so large a sum themselves, an act passed that year, for setting apart the
sum of four thousand pounds yearly in the exchequer,
for paying the expences they were at in suing out
their patents, passing their accounts, and obtaining
their quietus, according to the several proportions
therein recited, in which the sum allowed to the sheriff of Kent is one hundred and eight pounds ten shitings; notwithstanding this allowance, the expence of
serving the office for this county generally amounts to
about three hundred pounds.
There are many instances of the great nobility of
the kingdom, women as well as men, being in early
times appointed to this office, and among them are
several archbishops and bishops, as may be seen in
the rolls of those times, For example, earl Gospatrick bought the sheriffwic of Northumberland of
William the Conqueror; Robert earl of Leicester
had the county of Hereford granted, by king Stephen, to him and his heirs; king Richard I. gave
the sheriff-wick of Yorkshire to the highest bidder;
William, bishop of Ely, the chancellor, offered the
king for the sheriffdom of the counties of York,
Lincoln, and Northampton, fifteen hundred marks
in hand, and one hundred more increment, or increase,
for those counties above the usual ferm every year of
each; Geoffrey, archbishop of York, offered the king
for the sheriffdom of Yorkshire, only three thousand
marks, and one hundred more increment, upon which
he was made sheriff of that county. (fn. 6) Henry III. by
his letters patent, committed the counties of Norfolk
and Suffolk to Hubert de Burgh, chief justicier of
England, during pleasure, and commanded all persons
therein to be intendant and respondent to him as the
king's bailiff and sheriff; and in all letters and precepts directed to the sheriff, there was an injunction for
all archbishops, dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, bishops, barons, &c. to assist him in the execution of
them, which shews the great extent of his authority;
but since the constitution of the office of lord-lieutenant this has been omitted, and his power much
abridged. (fn. 7) The same king, by letters patent, committed the county of Southampton to Peter, bishop
of Winchester, and in the 3d year of that king he
was accounted as sheriff of the same. (fn. 8) Queen Isabel
had the sheriffwic of Cornwall several years before, as
well as after her husband, king Edward II.'s death.
Margaret, widow of Edward earl of Cornwall held
this office in the county of Rutland the last five years
of king Edward I. and as many of king Edward II.
It is said that she was sheriff fourteen years, as was her
husband, Edmund earl of Cornwall, son of Richard,
king of the Romans, from the 17th to the 28th, and
in the 30th of that reign, but it is not mentioned of
what county. (fn. 9) And after the next three years Margaret, the wife of Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall,
answered to king Edward II. the profits of that county. Elizh, countess of Salisbury, had the county of
Wiltshire committed to her the 21st of king Henry III. Each of these having her shire clerk, or substitute under her. King Henry III made his son,
prince Edward, the five last years of his reign, sheriff
of Bedford and Buckingham. The Black Prince was
often sheriff of Cornwall under king Edward III. and
prince Henry, in the life-time of king Henry IV. was
sheriff of the same. (fn. 10) William earl of Salisbury was
sheriff of different counties for several years during
the reign of king John. The earls of Warwick were
often sheriffs of the counties of Warwick and Leicester, under king Edward III. and of the county of
Worcester most part of that reign. Ralph earl of
Chester, was sheriff of that county the 1st of king
Henry III. and of Lancashire in the 2d year of the
same king. Walter, archbishop of York, was sheriff
of Nottingham in the 54th and 55th of king Henry III. Hilarius, bishop of Lincoln, was sheriff of
Lincolnshire from the 9th to the 13th of that reign;
and Hilarius, bishop of Chichester, was sheriff of Sussex and Surry in the 8th year of king Henry II.
There are many more instances of earls, archbishops,
and bishops, being sheriffs of different counties; but
those mentioned above are sufficient to shew the dignity and eminence this office was held in. Before the
reign of queen Elizabeth, as may be seen by the
above account, some counties were joined with others
lying next to them, for the ease of the service of the
sheriff; as Sussex and Surry, Devon and Cornwall,
Somerset and Dorset, Hants and Wilts, Warwick
and Leicester, Norfolk and Suffolk, Essex and Hertford, Nottingham and Derby, Oxford and Berks,
Bucks and Bedford, Cambridge and Huntingdon;
since which, by reason of the increase of gentry able
to bear the office in them, they have been separated,
each county in the realm having now a distinct sheriff to itself, excepting the two last mentioned. (fn. 11)
King Henry VI. in his 18th year, made this title
of vice-comes or viscount, honorary, and made it a degree of state among the peers of this realm, by creating John lord Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont, which
name and title of viscount, though it is the same
word as, both in Latin and French, denominated
our officiary sheriff, yet it has not the least connexion
with it, being merely honorary.
I shall now give a CATALOGUE of the VICECOMITES or SHERIFFS OF KENT, as they are registered in the Pipe rolls, and other records and evidences.