Shire

A Saxon word which signified a division; it was made up of an indefinite number of hundreds — later called a county ( Comitatus ). 1 Steph. Com. 76. The ancient English states, though degraded to the rank of shires, preserved their autonomy to the utmost practicable extent. They retained the state assembly, which was the supreme court of law, the king himself sitting in it as in the national assembly. In the absence of the king, the ealdorman presided in it The shire government was not royal, but ducal. The king, in appointing the ealdorman, appointed, not a servant of his will, but a prince and lord of the shire. The Anglo-Saxon shire constitution, in spite of the establishment of the empire, was an expression of still undeveloped royalty. See Essays Ang. Sax. Law 21. A county. SHIRE-GEMOT (spelled, also, Seire-gemote, Scir-gemot, Scyre-gemote, Shire-mote; from the Saxon scir or scyre, county, shire, and gemote, a court, an assembly). The Saxon county court. It was held twice a year before the bishop and aldermen of the shire, and was the principal court. Spelman, Gloss, Gemotum; Crabb, Hist. Eng. Law 28.

In English law. A county. So called because every county or shire is divided and parted by certain metes and bounds from another. Co. Litt. 50a.

— Kuights of the shire. See Knight.

— Shire-clerk. He that keeps the county court. -Shire-man, or Scvre-man. Before the Conquest, the judge of the county, by whom trials for land, etc., were determined. Tomlins; Mozley & Whitley.

— Shire-mote. The assize of the shire, or the assembly of the people, was so called by the Saxons. It was nearly if not exactly, the same as the scyregemote, and in most respects corresponded with what were afterwards called the "county courts." Brown.

— Shire-reeve. In Saxon law. The reeve or bailiff of the shire. The viscount of the Anglo-Normans, and the sheriff of later times. Co. Litt. 168a.

A county. Shire clerk. The under-sheriff. Also, a.clerk in the old county court, who was deputy to the under-sheriff. Cowel. Shire-man. The ancient title in England of the judge of the county, by whom trials for land, &c., were determined. Tomlins. Shire-mote. The assises of the shire, or the assembly of the people, was so called by the Saxons. It was nearly, if not exactly, the same as the scyr-gemote, and in most respects corresponded with what were afterwards called the county courts. Brown.