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The Office of the New South Wales
Sheriff is the second oldest public position in English law. The only
public offices older than the Sheriff are the positions of King and
Queen.
After the Norman conquest of
England in 1066, King Alfred the Great divided England into Shires (called
'soires') to improve the administration of the country. These Shires were
the equivalent of today's local councils. A Reeve or overseer was
appointed to administer the Shires on behalf of the King. The combination
of the words 'soire' and 'reeve' (soire-reeve) eventually became known as
Sheriff.
In the early days, Sheriffs had
significant authority in the administration of law and order in the
Shires. Their role included many functions that today would be undertaken
by the armed forces and police.
Permanent armies were not
introduced in Europe until the 19th century. Before this, if an army was
needed to defend the country from invasion, it was gathered from among the
general public. Gathering an army in times of war was one responsibility
of the Sheriffs of England.
Halsbury's Laws of
England, one of the
earliest written collections of English law, said that the Sheriff was "a
conservator of the King's peace". It was the "... duty of the Sheriff to
... defend his County against invasion by the King's enemies..."
A permanent police service also
did not exist in England until the 19th century. As a result, all law
enforcement work was part of the general responsibility of the early
Sheriffs. The Sheriff had the power to
"suppress unlawful
assemblies and riots, to apprehend offenders, and ... to pursue and
arrest felons and for that purpose to raise the hue and cry."
Halsbury's Laws of England
states that every person
in a County was legally bound to be "ready at the command of the Sheriff
and at the cry of the County to arrest a felon." This was called raising
'the hue and cry'.
The idea of deputising members of
the public to go after suspected criminals was carried on in colonial
America for many years. The head of the police service in many areas of
the United States of America are still called Sheriff to this day. Today,
Sheriffs in Australia play a very different role to the Sheriffs of
old.
The Office of Sheriff in
Australia today
The Sheriff in
Australia
The Sheriffs of the Colony and
State of New South Wales
Page Design
© Ian Hunter.
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