S94 



SHERIFF 



SHERLOCK 



not merely ministerial, tus in England ; and t lie 

 jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, is still very 

 extensive. The duties of the office are now per- 

 formed by two otticiaU, the sheriff called sheriff- 

 depute since the abolition of the Heritable Juris- 

 dictions (i|.v.) to distinguish him from the herit- 

 able sheriff-principal and the sheriff-substitute. 

 The sheriff-depute, except in the case of Edin- 

 burgh and Glasgow, does not reside in the county, 

 but holds courts therein at stated periods. The 

 sheriff-depute is disqualified from acting as advocate 

 in any cause originating in his county, though in 

 other respects he is at full liberty to practise. He 

 is appointed by the crown, must be an advocate of 

 three years' standing, and holds his office for life or 

 good behaviour. The sheriff-substitute was at first 

 appointed by the sherill '-depute, but he is now 

 appointed by the crown, requires to be an advocate 

 or solicitor of live years' standing, and holds otlice 

 ad ri/init ant culpam. He resides within the 

 county, and presides over the ordinary sittings of 

 the court. The civil jurisdiction of the sheriff 

 extends to all personal actions on contract or 

 obligations without limit, actions for rent, and 

 other questions between landlord and tenant. His 

 {lowers are limited in matters of heritable right and 

 title to cases where the value does not exceed 

 1000, or 50 by the year. He can, however, 

 adjudicate on questions of jmssession beyond these 

 limits and he can also deal with questions of 

 servitude and nuisance. He cannot decide ques- 

 tions of status, but he may entertain questions of 

 aliment. There are various other matters with 

 which the sheriff may deal, such as questions of 

 poor-law, lunacy, elections, &c. Besides his ordi- 

 nary court the sheriff holds two statutory courts, 

 the Debts Recovery Court and the Small Debt 

 Court. The former is for actions where the value, 

 exclusive of expenses, exceeds 12, but is less than 

 50. It is confined to certain specific kinds of 

 action, and has statutory forms of procedure. The 

 latter is for actions not exceeding 12 in value, or 

 which have been restricted to that amount. This 

 latter court is made great use of by all classes of 

 the community. The sheriff has also jurisdiction 

 in cases of bankruptcy and insolvency. Against 

 most judgments in ordinary cases by the sheriff- 

 .-11 list it MI f there lies an appeal to the sheriff, and in 

 some coses to the Court of Session. In criminal 

 cases the sheriff lias jurisdiction in all the minor 

 offences which do not infer death or banishment, 

 but his powers of punishment are practically 

 limited to imposing a sentence of not more than 

 two years' imprisonment. The forms of trial in 

 use l>efore the sheriff are jury trial and cases which 

 are brought under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. 

 Changes of considerable importance, and in many 

 of the details of criminal procedure, were intro- 

 duced l>v the Criminal Procedure ( Scotland ) Act, 

 1887. The sheriffs jurisdiction excludes that of 

 the justices of peace in riots. He has charge al-o 

 of taking the precoguitions in criminal cases, in 

 which he is a-ssisied hy the procurator-fiscal. He 

 revises the lists of electors, and returns the writs 

 for the election of mcinlicrs of parliament; and 

 this last is almost the' only duty which he |<erfoiins 

 in common with the English sheriff. An idea of 



the multifarious duties perfor <1 by the Scotch 



hherilf may be gathered from the statement that 

 he exercises somewhat similar functions to those 

 which in England are exerciaed by the commis- 

 sioners in bankruptcy, county-court judges, the 

 *ti|N'iidiary magistrate, recorders, revising barris- 

 ters, and coroners. The office of Commissary (q.v. ) 

 has been amalgamated with that of sheriff. Ad- 

 ditions to the miscellaneous duties of the Scottish 

 sheriffs are not infrequently made in the course 

 of legislation. S.-,- ' '.u M v. 



The Sheriff-clerk, in Scotland, is the registrar of 

 the sheriff's court, and as such has charge of the 

 records of the court He registeis, and, when 

 required by the proper party, issues the sheriff's 

 judgments. He also conducts what corresimndence 

 may be required. He him ini|x>rlant duties to 



pcit'orm in regulating the HIM uy execution which 



is issued in Scotland against the itehtors in bills 

 of exchange, promissory-notes, and lxni.1-. with- 

 out the necessity of any judicial suit. See .1. I). 

 Wilson, Practice of the Sheriff Courts of Scotland. 



I n the United States the office of sheriff i- mainly 

 ministerial ; the principal duties being to maintain 

 peace and order, to attend courts as administrative 

 officer, to guard prisoners and juries, to serve pro- 

 cesses and execute the judgments of the courts, 

 and to preside at inquisitions. In most of the 

 states the sheriff is appointed by the popular vote, 

 and the shrievalty in such places as New York is a 

 highly paid and highly coveted political office. 

 In all the states there are deputy-sheriffs, who are 

 the servants and agents of the sheriff ; and in some 

 of the states there is an under-sheriff, who does 

 duty for the sheriff in his absence. See Murfree's 

 Treatise on the Laws of Sheriffs (St Louis, 1884). 



SlH-rill'inuir. in Perthshire, on the northern 

 slope of the Ochils, 2} miles ENE. of Dunblane, 

 was the scene, on 13th Novemlier 1715, of an inde- 

 cisive battle between 8400 Jacobites under the Earl 

 of Mar and 3500 Hanoverians under the Duke of 

 Argyll. The Macdonalds, who formed the centre 

 mm right of the Highland army, completely routed 

 the left of their opponents; out Argyll with his 

 dragoons had meantime driven the left of the 

 Highlanders back for two miles. About 500 fell 

 on each side. 



Sherlock, WILLIAM, was liorn in Southwark 

 in 1641, had his education at Eton and Peterhonse, 

 Cambridge, and became Rector of St George's, 

 IJotolph Lane, London, in 1669. Later he was 

 preferred to be prebendary of St Paul's, Master of 

 the Temple, Rector of Therfield in Herts, and Dean 

 of St Paul's (1691 ). At the Revolution he refused 

 at first to take the oath, but scran complied. He 

 died at Ilampstead in 1707. He wrote about sixty 

 books or pamphlets, mostly controversial. His 

 Practical Discourse Concern i in/ I truth (1689) was 

 long famous, and was styled bv Addison 'one of 

 the strongest Persuasives to a Iteligious Life that 

 ever was written in any language. ' The Vindica- 

 tion of the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the 

 J animation ( 1690) opened up a fierce and unseemly 

 controversy with South (q.v.) and others, which 

 is said to have been closed only by the express 

 desire of the king. Sherlock attempted to explain 

 the relations of the three Persons by ' a mutual self- 

 conscionsness/buthis metaphysical powers w ere not 

 subtle enough for his task, and he cannot lie said 

 to l>e altogether undeserving of Sonth's charge of 

 Tritheism. His Case of Allr<ii<inrc to Sovereign 

 Powers Stated (169\) was published to justify his 

 own swallowing of the oath, anil at once excited a 

 raging controversy. Other works discussed Future 

 Judgment ( 1692) and Future Punishment ( 1704-5), 

 but these have long lost their importance. 



His son, THOMAS SHKKI.OCK, w.-us IHUU in London 



in KiTH, educated at Kton and Catharine Hall, 

 Cambridge, and in 17<>l succeeded his father as 

 Master of the Temple. In 171. r > he became Dean 

 of rhichester, in 1728 Hi-hop of R-mgor, in 1734 of 

 Salisbury, and in 1748 of London. Me died in 1761. 

 Sherlock was a strenuous Tory, yet so much of 

 an olwerver of the times a* to earn licntley's nick- 

 name of Cardinal Al heron i. Mis volumes of Temple 

 Sermons were highly praised in their day, and the 

 I lev. T. S. Hughes edited his complete writings, 

 including treatises against Hoodley, on prophecy, 



