A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country.

The word "sheriff" is a contraction of the term "shire reeve". The term, from the Old English scīrgerefa, designated a royal official responsible for keeping the peace (a "reeve") throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king. The term was preserved in England notwithstanding the Norman Conquest. From England the term spread to several other countries, like Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. Fact: date=April 2009

The position of sheriff now exists in various countries:

• Sheriffs are administrative legal officials (similar to bailiffs) in Ireland, Australia, and Canada.
• Sheriffs are judges in Scotland.
• Sheriff is a ceremonial position in England, Wales and India.
• In the United States of America the role of a sheriff varies between different states and counties. In many rural areas, sheriffs and their deputies are the principal form of police, while in urban areas they may have more specialized duties, such as prisoner transport, serving warrants, service of process or police administration.

In British English, the political or legal office of a sheriff is called a shrievalty.

History

See article History of the sheriff

Australia

The office of Sheriff was first established in Australia in 1824. This was simultaneous with the appointment of the first Chief Justice of New South Wales. The role of the Sheriff has not been static, nor is it identical in each Australian State. In the past his duties included: executing court judgements, acting as a coroner, the transportation of prisoners, managing the gaols, and carrying out executions (through the employment of an anonymous hangman). Currently, no Australian State provides for capital punishment. A government department (usually called the Department of Corrections or similar) now runs the prison system and the Coroner's Office handles coronial matters. The Sheriff is now largely responsible for enforcing the civil orders and fines of the court (seizing and selling the property of judgement debtors who do not satisfy the debt), providing court security, enforcing arrest warrants, evictions, taking juveniles into custody and running the jury system.

Canada

Various jurisdictions in Canada on provincial and sub-provincial levels operate sheriff's departments primarily concerned with court bailiff services such as courtroom security, post-arrest prisoner transfer, serving legal processes, and executing civil judgments. Sheriffs are defined under Section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada as "peace officers" and in many cases, have the same authority as a police officer. In other parts of Canada not covered by a sheriff's agency, bailiff functions are handled directly by the local, provincial police or Royal Canadian Mounted Police as appropriate.