605 



SHERIFF (SCOTLAND). 



SHEAV-BREAD. 



coa 



Bhire (where the sheriff ia not fixed in fee) if they list," is rather 

 declaratory of the people's right than a grant of a new privilege. 

 By the 14 Edward III., c. 7, it is enacted that no sheriff tarry in 

 his bailiwick more than a year, and then another, who hath land 

 sufficient in his bailiwick, shall be ordained on the morrow of 

 All Souls, 3rd November, by the chancellor, treasurer, and chief 

 baron of the exchequer, taking to them the chief justices of either 

 bench if they be present. This was the law also, till quite recently, 

 regarding under-sheriffe ; but it has now been altered. 



At present the crown in most cases appoints the sheriffs, and also 

 filla up any vacancy which is occasioned by the death of a sheriff 

 during his year of office. To some corporations of cities which are 

 counties of themselves charters have given the power to elect their 

 own sheriffs; the city of London has the right to elect the sheriff 

 of Middlesex. In the county of Durham the bishop was sheriff until 

 he was deprived of palatine powers in 1836 ; and in Westmoreland 

 the office was hereditary in the family of the earl of Thanet as heir- 

 general of the Viponts, to whom the shrievalty was granted by king 

 John, until the death of the last earl, when it lapsed to and was sub- 

 sequently by statute vested in the Crown. The annual appointment 

 of sheriffs is now, in most counties, made thus : On the morrow of 

 St. Martin (12th November), the lord chancellor, first lord of the 

 treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer, together with all the 

 judges of the three courts of common law, meet in the exchequer 

 chamber, the chancellor of the exchequer presiding. The judges 

 then report the names of three fit persons in each county, and of 

 these the first on the list is chosen, unless he assigns good reasons 

 for exemption. The list thus made is again considered at a meeting 

 of the Cabinet held on the morrow of the Purification (3rd February), 

 at the president of the council's, and attended by the clerks of the 

 council, when the excuses of the parties nominated are again 

 examined, and the names are finally determined on for the approval of 

 the queen, who, at a meeting of the privy council, pierces the parch- 

 ment with a punch opposite the name of the person selected for 

 each county ; and hence has 'arisen the expression of " pricking the 

 sheri3s." The judges of assize annually add the requisite number of 

 names to their lists by inserting those of persons recommended by the 

 sheriff going out of office. 



The sheriff derives his authority from two patents, one of which 

 commits to him the custody of the county, and the other commands 

 the inhabitants to aid him. He takes an oath of office, the greater 

 part of which relates to his collection of the crown revenue, and he 

 gives security to the crown that he will duly account. He then 

 appoint* an under-sheriff, by whom in fact the duties of the office 

 are performed. These duties are various and important. Lord 

 Coke quaintly says that the sheriff has a triple custody 1st, of the 

 life ofjuitice, because to him are addressed the writs commencing all 

 actions (all of which are now abolished), and he returns the juries for 

 the trial of men's lives, liberties, lands, and goods ; 2ndly, of the life 

 of the lav, because he executes judgments of the courts ; and 3rdly, 

 of the life of the republic, because he is in his county the principal con- 

 gervator of the peace. By Magna Charta he is prohibited from hold- 

 ing pleaa of the crown. He presides at all elections of members of 

 parliament and coroners, and hence he cannot during the year of his 

 office be elected a knight of the shire. He apprehends all wrong doers, 

 and for that purpose, in criminal cases, he is entitled to break open 

 outer doors to seize the offender ; he defends the county against riot 

 and rebellion or invasion [Lono LIKUTEXANT], and to this end may 

 require the assistance of all persons in it who are more than fifteen 

 yean of age, and who, when thus assembled under the sheriff's com- 

 mand, are called the pome comitatfa. [POSSE COMITATUS.] To refuse 

 to the sheriff the aid which he requires is an offence punishable by 

 fine and imprisonment. The sheriff takes precedence of all persons 

 in the county. He seizes all lands which have fallen to the crown, 

 and levies all fines and forfeitures; but he is not permitted to act 

 as a justice of the peace. He executes many of the writs that issue 

 from the superior courts, and all writs of execution ; he is likewise 

 responsible for the execution of criminals. He receives and entertains 

 the judges of assize, on whom he is constantly in attendance whilst 

 they remain in his shire. 



To assist him in the performance of his duties, the sheriff employs 

 an under-sheriff and also a bailiff and jailers, from whom he takes 

 security for their good conduct. He is prohibited by very ancient 

 statutes from selling his office or the profits of any part of it. 



The liability of the sheriff for breach or neglect of his duties is a 

 frequent sort of litigation. Few assizes occur without actions being 

 brought against him for illegal arrests or levies, or for wrongfully 

 abstaining from executing the process addressed to him. Thus the 

 decisions affecting him are numerous and complicated, and there are 

 many treatises concerning the office. 



SHERIFF (SCOTLAND). In Scotland the duties of the sheriff 

 are not, as in England, almost entirely executive. He exercises an 

 extensive judicial authority, and a large portion of the general litiga- 

 tion of the country proceeds before this class of local judges. In earlier 

 times his authority appears to have been merely oi an executive cha- 

 racter, and, appointed by the crown, he was the person to whom the 

 royal writs, issuing from the supreme courts, were usually directed. 

 He was the ordinary conservator of the peace within the local limits of 



his authority. He was an important fiscal officer, having in the general 

 case the duty of levying the feudal casualties, forfeitures, and other 

 items of revenue ; and by statute he was vested with the power of 

 mustering the military force of the country to the weapon-showing. 

 In very early times, his 1 tenure of office appears to have been limited 

 by the grant ; at a period comparatively later, the office became, in the 

 general case, hereditary. The act for abolishing heritable jurisdictions 

 in Scotland (20 Geo. II., c. 43), was passed for the purpose of abolish- 

 ing all those remnants of the feudal courts of Scotland which were 

 hereditary, or in any other shape of the nature of property ; of bring- 

 ing all judicial offices within the appointment of the crown, and their 

 holders under responsibility to the public. By the same statute, the 

 sheriff is authorised to appoint one or more substitutes ; and at the 

 present day there is a substitute in every county, and in the larger 

 counties there are two or more. Both the sheriff and his substitute 

 are lawyers, but the latter is the local resident judge, the former 

 generally frequenting the courts in Edinburgh, where he hears appeals 

 from his substitute, and making occasional visits to his county. By 

 the Jurisdiction Act it was provided that each sheriff should reside 

 in his county during four months in each year ; this provision fell 

 into desuetude, until by the 1 & 2 Viet. c. 119, it was enacted that 

 each sheriff should remain in attendance ou the court of session, but 

 should hold eight courts in his county during the year. The sheriffs of 

 Edinburgh and Lanark are exempted from attendance on the court of 

 session, in the understanding that the business of their respective 

 courts is sufficient fully to occupy their time. 



In civil questions an appeal lies from the sheriff-substitute to the 

 sheriff, but wherever the former is a sound lawyer and an indus- 

 trious man, the privilege is seldom used. From the state in which the 

 profession of the bar of Scotland has been for many years past, several 

 of its members have been induced to accept the office of sheriff- 

 substitute as vacancies have occurred. Formerly the office fell to 

 country practitioners, who, not quite contented with the emoluments, 

 eked them out by private practice ; a state of matters seriously detri- 

 mental to the equal administration of justice. In some instances, even 

 retired officers in the army or unprofessional country gentlemen were 

 the best qualified persons who would undertake the office. No sheriff- 

 substitute can now act as a law-agent, conveyancer, or banker ; he is 

 not removable, except with the consent of the lord president and lord 

 justice clerk of the court of session, and must not be absent from his 

 county more than six weeks in one year, or more than two weeks at a 

 time, unless he obtain the consent of the sheriff, who must then act 

 personally or appoint another substitute. In one or two instances, as 

 in that of Kirkcudbright, the person who exercises the function of 

 sheriff is called the Stewart. This designation owes its origin to 

 certain peculiarities of territorial tenure which cannot be briefly ex- 

 plained and are subject to doubt and dispute. After the Reformation, 

 the sheriffs were generally appointed commissaries of the local com- 

 missariat districts which most nearly conformed with their respective 

 jurisdictions, and in 1823 (4 Geo. IV. c. 97) the commissariat functions, 

 were appointed to be merged in those of the sheriff. 



The jurisdiction of the sheriff in civil matters does not extend to 

 questions regarding heritable or real property. He cannot judge in 

 actions which are declaratory of rights, or which are of a rescissory 

 nature for the purpose of nullifying deeds or legal proceedings. In 

 other respects his jurisdiction extends to all actions on debt or obliga- 

 tion, without any limit as to the importance of the interests involved. 

 He has also the same bankruptcy jurisdiction as the Court of Session. 

 He does not act by a jury, though it appears that such an institution 

 was formerly connected with the civil jurisdiction of the sheriff. He lias 

 authority by special statute summarily to decide small debt cases, that 

 is, cases where the pecuniary value of the matter at issue does not exceed 

 121. By railway statutes and other acts of local administration special 

 functions are frequently conferred on him, and in the clauses for taking 

 lands he is usually appointed to act as presiding judge when a jury is 

 appointed to be empannelled. The decisions of the sheriff, when no 

 proceedings have been taken to enforce them, may be carried into the 

 Court of Session by advocation. 



The authority of the sheriff in matters criminal is practically to a 

 great extent measured by the proceedings of the crown lawyers in 

 leaving prosecutions to proceed before his court, or removing them to 

 the Court of Justiciary. It is not very clearly to be traced how far, 

 in old practice, the sheriffs jurisdiction was inferior to that of the 

 Court of Justiciary : he had undoubtedly the power of punishing with 

 death, though it has been long disused. The power of transporting, 

 which is of comparatively late introduction, he never possessed, not 

 having any criminal authority beyond his county. By degrees it came 

 to be considered that the jurisdiction in the four pleas of the crown 

 murder, rape, robbery and wilful fire-raising was exclusively in the 

 higher court. Important criminal cases in the sheriff court are tried 

 by jury. In more trifling matters the sheriff performs the functions of 

 a police magistrate. In these cases the punishment must not exceed a 

 fine of 10/. or sixty days' imprisonment (9 Geo. IV. c. 29). 



SHEW-BREAD (D^Q EH!?), lechem-panim, " bread of faces," or, 



as it has been rendered, " presence bread," was the name given to the 

 twelve unleavened loaves of bread, one for each of the tribes of Israel, 

 which were constantly displayed on a golden table in the holy place of 



