COMITATUS, in Lat., a county. Ingulphus tells us, that England was first divided into counties by King Alfred; and the counties into hundreds, and these again into thythings: and Forstefee writes, that regnum Anglie 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 1234. See COUNTY.