sheriff

sheriff, a title derived from the Saxon shire reeve, the king's principal administrative and judicial representative in each shire.

The sheriff's primary responsibility was to collect the king's revenues for the exchequer in Dublin. These included the profits of justice, the farm of the county (the annual fee he paid for holding office), rents from royal manors, and subsidies. Failure to meet the demands of the exchequer resulted in seizure of the sheriff's property. Not surprisingly, sheriffs employed high‐handed methods to satisfy these demands as much as for self‐enrichment. In 1295, for example, the sheriff of Kerry was accused by a grand jury of murder, dismemberment, seizing the land of Henry fitzRys for a missing syllable in a writ, falsely seizing the estates of the bishop of Ardfert because he refused to confer the precentorship on the sheriff's brother, buying up land with the king's revenues, and much else besides. His brother Adam, the subsheriff, was accused of rigging juries and extorting money from jurors anxious to avoid doing service in Dublin.

In his judicial capacity, the sheriff presided over the county court, kept watch on the king's interests by holding his tourn court in every cantred twice a year, summoned juries, executed writs, made attachments, levied fines, and delivered prisoners.

He was frequently obliged to defend the county in time of war and, when necessary, to enforce writs by calling on the aid of the posse (Latin posse comitatus).

Revd Canon C. A. Empey