COMITATUS, in law, a county. Ingulphus tells us, that England was first divided into counties by king Alfred; and the counties into hundreds, and these again into tythings: and Fortescue writes, that regnum Angliae per comitatus, ut regnum Francie per ballivatus distinguitur. Sometimes it is taken for a territory or jurisdiction of a particular place; as in Mat. Paris, anno 1224. See COUNTY.