in British Geography, originally signified the territory of a count or earl, but is now used in the same sense with shire; the one word coming from the French, the other from the Saxon. The territory of England and Wales is divided into fifty-two counties, Scotland into thirty-three, and Ireland into thirty-two.

The origin of the division of England into counties or shires is not known. It is among the many other arrangements popularly attributed to the administrative genius of Alfred. Several of the English counties are identical, or nearly so, with ancient Saxon kingdoms. Others seem to have gradually formed themselves on the model of these old organizations. The county, as a Scottish territorial division, is of comparatively late application, yet nothing particular is known of its origin. In Ireland the division was adopted on the model of England, and it has only recently been popularly recognized.

For the execution of the laws in the several counties of England, excepting Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, officers are appointed every Michaelmas term under the denomination of sheriffs. The other officers of the several counties are—lord-lieutenant, who has the command of the militia of the county, custodes rotulorum, justices of peace, bailiffs, high constable, and coroner.

The system of county courts has created a new class of judicial officers for administering local justice in a manner deemed by some to be a restoration of the old county administration.

Of the fifty-two English counties, there are three which, from their peculiar origin, are termed counties palatine, viz., Lancaster, Chester, and Durham.

COUNTY RATE, a local tax collected in England for purposes of local administration. It is of unknown origin, and came into force by custom and prescriptive usage. Originally consisting of several rates applicable to the different purposes, these were consolidated by statute in 1739. In a report on The Local Taxes of the United Kingdom, prepared by the Poor-Law Commissioners of England in 1846, there are enumerated seventeen different purposes to which the county rate is applicable. They may be grouped under the administration of justice, internal transit, and protective police; and practically they include the support of prisons, the removal of prisoners, the prosecution of vagrants and other classes of offenders, allowances to constables, the custody of the insane, the holding of coroners' inquests, the support of bridges, with many miscellaneous expenses connected with such matters as the militia, the census, the salaries of public officers, and the like. In 1844 (7th and 8th Vict., cap. 33) the old machinery for collecting the rate was abolished, and that which had been established ten years earlier under the English Poor-Law Act was substituted for it. The property liable to be assessed for county rate is the same as that which is liable for the relief of the poor. In Scotland, the tax most nearly resembling the county rate is called the rogue money. County edifices are generally supported under local acts, and there is a separate tax under distinct administration for the support of prisons. In Ireland, the county rate of England is more exactly represented by the grand jury cess.

Representation of. See PARLIAMENT.