1. Why are law and order necessary to the peace and happiness of the people?
2. Why are public schools sometimes called free schools or common schools?
3. About how many square miles are there in a school district in this county?
4. What is the official title, and what the name, of the chief school officer of this county?
5. Why does the State want its people educated?
6. Why should children be regular and punctual in their attendance?
7. What can parents do to aid their children to acquire an education?
8. What number of directors do you think would be best for the school district? Why?
9. Should directors receive compensation? How much?
10. Why should the teacher pass an examination?
11. Should he be examined every year?
12. Why does the law place the teacher in the parent's place?
13. Why are citizens said to be rulers?
Resolved, That it is right for a man without children to pay school taxes.
INTRODUCTORY.--In our study, thus far, we have had to do with special forms of government as exercised in the family and in the school. These are, in a sense, peculiar to themselves. The rights of government as administered in the family, and the rights of the members of a family, as well as their duties to each other, are natural rights and duties; they do not depend upon society for their force. In fact, they are stronger and more binding in proportion as the bands of society are relaxed.
In the primitive state, before there was organized civil society, family government was supreme; and likewise, if a family should remove from within the limits of civil society and be entirely isolated, family government would again resume its power and binding force.
School government, while partaking of the nature of civil government, is still more closely allied to family government. In the natural state, and in the isolated household, the education of the child devolves upon the parents, and the parent delegates a part of his natural rights and duties to the teacher when he commits the education of his child to the common school. The teacher is said to stand in loco parentis (in the place of the parent), and from this direction, mainly, are his rights of government derived. The school, therefore, stands in an intermediate position between family government and civil government proper, partaking of some features of each, and forming a sort of stepping-stone for the child from the natural restraints of home to the more complex demands of civil society. The school district, also, while partaking of the nature of a civil institution, is in many respects to be regarded as a co-operative organization of the families of the neighborhood for the education of their children, and its government as a co-operative family government.
In nearly every part of the United States there is a unit of civil society in which the people exercise many of the powers of government at first hand. This civil unit is variously named in the different States, and its first organization may have been for some minor purpose; but it has grown to be an important sphere of government in many States, and throughout the entire country it is the primary school of the citizen and the voter.
There are many different names by which this civil unit is known.
In the State of Mississippi it is called the Beat, and this name is no doubt derived from the original purpose of the organization, as the jurisdiction of a watchman or constable.
In Delaware it is called the Hundred, which is the old English subdivision of a county, supposed to contain one hundred families, or one hundred men able to bear arms in the public service.
In the New England States, in New York, and in Wisconsin it is called the Town, from the old Anglo-Saxon civil unit, which antedates the settlement of England by its Saxon invaders, and is probably older than the Christian era.
In Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, the Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and parts of Illinois, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, it is called the Township, only a variation of name from the "town," and having the same origin.
In California it is called the Judicial Township, and in parts of the Dakotas it is called the School Township.
In Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and parts of Illinois and Nebraska, it is called the Election Precinct, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.
In Georgia it is called the Militia District, from the fact that each subdivision furnished a certain proportionate number of men for the militia service of the State.
In Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, it is called the Magisterial District, from the fact that it was constituted as the limit of the jurisdiction of a local magistrate.
In Louisiana it is called the Police Jury Ward, perhaps for the reason that from each one of these subdivisions a warden was elected to administer the parish government.
In Maryland and Wyoming it is called the Election District, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.
In Tennessee it is called the Civil District--probably, next to "town" or "township," the most fitting name for the smallest subdivision of civil government.
In Texas it is called the Justice's Precinct, as being the limit of a justice's jurisdiction.
In some of the New England States, also, districts which have not the entire town organization are provisionally called Plantations or Grants, being subject to the administration, in some local affairs, of other towns.
But under whatever name the civil unit may exist, it is the primary seat of government. In many cases the original reason for the name has disappeared, while the character of the government has greatly changed, and been modified and developed from the first crude forms.
THREE GENERAL CLASSES.--As a result, there are at present but three general classes into which we need subdivide the civil unit in the various States: these are the Civil District, which would include the "Beat," "Hundred," "Election Precinct," "Militia District," and numerous other classes, embracing about one half the States of the Union; the Town, which has its fullest development in the New England States; and the Township, which in some States has nearly the full development of a New England town, while in other States it has a looser organisation, approximating the civil district of the Southern and Southwestern States.
We shall treat of the various forms of the civil unit which we have classed under the general name of civil district before we speak of the town and the township, because they are simpler and much less developed, and therefore naturally constitute the simplest form of the civil unit.
NUMBER, SIZE.--In number and size, civil districts vary widely in different States and in different counties of the same State. There are rarely less than five or more than twelve districts to the county.
PURPOSES.--The division of the county into districts, each with its own court of law, brings justice to the people's doors. It secures officers to every part of the county, thus affording better means for the punishment of crimes. It provides a speedy trial for minor offences and minor suits. It aids the higher courts by relieving them of a multitude of small cases. As each district has one or more polling-places, it secures convenience to the electors in casting their votes.
GOVERNMENT.--The functions of the civil district arc judicial and executive, and lie within a narrow range. Its government possesses no legislative or corporate power whatever; it can not make a single law, however unimportant. Within a narrow jurisdiction or sphere, it applies the law to particular cases, and this is the chief purpose for its existence. Whenever the civil unit possesses more powers than are herein set forth, it is more properly described under the township in the next chapter, no matter what name it may go by locally.
The citizens of the civil district are the people residing within it. It exists for their benefit, that they may be secure in life, liberty, and property. In a certain sense they constitute the district, since its government concerns them directly, and others only remotely.
RIGHTS.--All citizens have a right to the full and equal protection of the laws. Each has a right to be secure in his person and property; to demand that the peace be preserved; to do all things according to his own will, provided he does not trespass upon the rights of others. No one in the family, in the school, in the civil district, in the county, in the State, or in the nation, has the right to do or say any thing which interferes with the life, liberty, property, or happiness of another. Any act which interferes with the rights of others is an offence against the common good and against the law. It is chiefly for the prevention and punishment of these unlawful acts that the civil district exists, with its court and its officers.
All legal voters of the district have the right to participate in its government by exercising a free choice in the selection of its officers, except in States where these officers are appointed. They have the right to cast their votes without fear or favor. This is one of the most important and sacred rights that freemen possess. Free government can not exist without it. The law guarantees it, and all the power of the State may be employed to maintain it. Therefore, whoever prevents a voter from exercising the right of suffrage does it at his own peril.
DUTIES.--As the citizens of the civil district have rights, they also have corresponding duties. As they may demand protection and the preservation of the peace, so it is their duty to obey the law and assist the officers in its enforcement, in order that the same protection may be extended to the whole people. Each should abstain from acts that injure others, and render cheerful aid to all in securing their rights through the law.
All qualified voters have the right, and it is also their duty, to vote. The voters elect the officers of the district, and are therefore its rulers. When they fail to vote, they fail to rule--fail in their duty to the people and to themselves. The duty to vote implies the duty to vote right, to vote for good men and for good measures. Therefore, citizens should study their duty as voters, that they may elect honest, capable, faithful officers, and support the parties and principles that will best promote the good of the country? Every one should study his political duty with the best light that he can obtain, decide what is right, and then vote his sentiments honestly and fearlessly. If the district has good government, the voters deserve the credit; if it has bad government, the voters deserve the blame.
The officers of the district are the justices of the peace and the constable. In some States there is only one justice to each district, in other States there are two, and in others there are three.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.--The office of justice of the peace is one of dignity and importance. Justices can render great service to society by the proper discharge of their duties. They may have much to do with enforcing the law, and therefore the best men should be elected to this office.
ELECTION, TERM OF OFFICE.--Justices of the peace are usually elected by the qualified voters of the district. In some States the governor appoints them. The term of office is two, three, four, or even seven years, varying in different States.
DUTIES.--The duties of justices of the peace are principally judicial, and their jurisdiction extends throughout the county. Upon the sworn statement of the person making complaint, they issue warrants for the arrest of offenders. With the aid of juries, they hold court for the trial of minor offences--such as the breach of the peace--punishable by fine or brief imprisonment. They sometimes try those charged with higher crimes, and acquit; or, if the proof is sufficient, remand the accused to trial by a higher court. This is called an examining trial. They try civil suits where the amount involved does not exceed a fixed amount--fifty dollars in some States, and one hundred dollars in others--and prevent crime by requiring reckless persons to give security to keep the peace. Justices sometimes preside, instead of the coroner, at inquests, and in some States they have important duties as officers of the county.
CONSTABLE, ELECTION, TERM OF OFFICE.--There is usually one constable--in some States more--in each civil district. Constables, like the justices, are elected in most States; but in some they are appointed. The term of office is usually the same as that of the justice in the same State.
DUTIES.--The constable is termed a ministerial officer because it is his duty to minister to, or wait upon, the justice's court. He serves warrants, writs, and other processes of the justice, and sometimes those of higher courts. He preserves the public peace, makes arrests for its violation, and in some States collects the taxes apportioned to his civil district.
1. In what respect does civil government differ from family or school government?
2. Why does the government of the civil district concern its people directly and others remotely?
3. What is meant by the civil unit? By what names is it known in the various States?
4. What are the three general classes under which the civil unit may be considered?
5. Why can not free government exist without the right to vote?
6. Why should the people try to secure their rights through the law?
7. What is the purpose of the subdivision of a county into districts?
8. Define in general terms the rights and duties of the citizens of civil districts.
9. By what other names are justices of the peace sometimes called?
10. Why is the jurisdiction of a justice's court limited?
11. Who are the justices of this civil district?
12. When elected, and what is their term of office?
13. Who is constable of this district?
Resolved, That the government of the civil district should have a legislative department.
INTRODUCTION.--We have learned that in the Southern States the civil unit under various names may be described under the common name of the civil district; that in the New England States it is called the town, and in many of the Western States it is known as the township. As the powers and functions of the town and the township are the same in kind, differing only in extent, and as the two names are so often used, the one for the other, we shall consider both under the head of the township.
As a rule, the township possesses more extensive governmental functions in the Eastern than in the Western States, and in the West it possesses functions much more extensive than those of the civil district in the South. Many of the most important powers that belong to the county in the Southern States belong to the township in the Eastern and the Western States.
FORMATION.--In the Eastern States the townships were formed in the first settlement of the country, and afterward a number of townships were combined to form the county. In the Western States the townships were surveyed, and their boundaries marked, by agents of the general government, before the Territories became States of the Union. As a natural result, the townships of the Eastern States are irregular in shape and size, while those of the Western States have a regular form, each being about six miles square. In the Western States the township is usually composed of thirty-six sections, each section being one mile square, and containing six hundred and forty acres of land.
PURPOSES.--It is an old and true maxim that government should be brought as near the people as possible. This the township system does. In our country all power resides in the people, and the township provides a convenient means of ascertaining their wishes and of executing their will. The farther away the government, the less will be the people's power; the nearer the government, the greater will be the people's power. The township system enables each community to attend to its own local affairs--a work which no other agency can do so well--to remove readily and speedily its local public grievances, and to obtain readily and speedily its local public needs.
The citizens of the township are the people living in it, whether native or foreigners who have become citizens. It exists for their benefit, to afford them a means of securing their rights and of redressing their wrongs. It is these persons that the law has in view when setting forth the privileges and immunities of citizenship.
RIGHTS.--All citizens of the township arc entitled to enjoy the rights of "life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness." The township government exists for the purpose of securing these rights to the people. All have equal claims to the fullest protection of the law. They may use their own property as they choose, and do whatever pleases them, so long as they do not interfere with the rights of others. Whenever one's act, speech, or property interferes with the rights of others, he falls under the censure of the law and becomes subject to its penalty.
All male inhabitants born in the United States, and foreigners who have become citizens, who have resided within the State, county, and township the time required by law, are entitled to vote at all township, county, state, and national elections. Several States require ability to read, or the payment of poll-tax, as a qualification to vote; a few permit the subjects of foreign countries to vote; and in some States women are permitted to vote in school elections or in all elections. Lunatics, idiots, paupers, and persons convicted of certain high crimes are disfranchised; that is, are not permitted to vote. The right of suffrage is one of great power and value, being the basis of all free government, and is jealously guarded by the laws of the land.
DUTIES.--The people have extensive rights and they have equally extensive duties. Each citizen has rights that others must respect. It is the duty of each to observe and regard the rights of all other persons; and when he does not, the law interferes by its officers and deprives him of his own rights by fine or imprisonment, and in some instances by a still more severe penalty. It is the duty of the people to love and serve the country; to be good citizens; to labor for the public good; to obey the law, and to assist the officers in its enforcement.
It is the duty of the qualified voters to give the township good government by electing good officers. A vote cast for a bad man or a bad measure is an attack upon the rights of every person in the community. The power of suffrage is held for the public good; but it is used for the public injury when incompetent or unfaithful men are elected to office. Good government and the happiness and prosperity of the country depend upon an honest and intelligent vote.
The township government possesses legislative, judicial, and executive functions. It has a legislative department to make local laws, a judicial department to apply the laws to particular cases, and an executive department to enforce these and other laws. The three functions are of nearly equal prominence in the Eastern States, but in the West the executive function is more prominent than the legislative and the judicial.
CORPORATE POWER.--Each township is a corporation; that is, in any business affair it may act as a single person. In its corporate capacity it can sue and be sued; borrow money; buy, rent, and sell property for public purposes. When it is said that the township possesses these powers, it is meant that the people of the township, acting as a single political body, possess them.
OFFICERS.--The officers of the township are more numerous, and their functions are more extensive than those of the civil district. Many officers are the same in name, and others have the same duties as those of the county in the Southern States.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT; THE PEOPLE.--In the Eastern States the legislative department of the township government has more extensive functions than in the West. In the New England States most local affairs belong to the township government, and the county is of minor importance. In these and a few other States the people make their own local laws instead of delegating this power to representatives. The electors of the township meet annually at a fixed place, upon a day appointed by law, discuss questions of public concern, elect the township officers, levy township taxes, make appropriations of money for public purposes, fix the salaries and hear the reports of officers, and decide upon a course of action for the coming year. Thus the people themselves, or more strictly speaking, the qualified voters, are the government. In some States special town meetings may be called for special purposes. The town meeting places local public affairs under the direct control of the people, and thus gives them a personal interest in the government, and makes them feel a personal responsibility for its acts. Another benefit of the system is that it trains the people to deal with political matters, and so prepares them to act intelligently in all the affairs of the State and the nation.
In the Western States the county government is more important, and township legislation is confined to a narrow range. In power and importance the township of most Western States is intermediate between the town of the East and the civil district of the South.
SELECTMEN OR TRUSTEES.--The legislative power of the township is vested in the trustees, town council, or selectmen, as they are variously termed. The number of trustees or selectmen is not the same in all parts of the Union, being fixed at three in most States of the West, and varying in New England with the wishes of the electors. The trustees, councilmen, or selectmen are elected by the qualified voters of the township for a term of one, two, or three years, varying in different States. They are the legal guardians of the public interests of the township, and make laws or ordinances, sometimes called by-laws, expressly pertaining to the local wants of the community, and to a limited extent may levy taxes.
In some States, especially those of the East, the principal duties of the trustees or selectmen are executive. They divide the township into road districts; open roads on petition; select jurors; build and repair bridges and town halls, where the expenditure is small; act as judges of elections; purchase and care for cemeteries; have charge of the poor not in the county charge; and act for the township in its corporate capacity. If any thing goes wrong in the public affairs of the town, complaint is made to these officers.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.--Most of the public affairs of the township, as well as of all other governments, pertain to the executive department. Its duties are far more extensive, and its officers are more numerous, than those of the other departments. The executive officers of the township are the clerk, the treasurer, the school directors, the assessor, the supervisors, and the constables. In most States all these officers are elected by the qualified voters; but in some the clerk, the treasurer, and the constables are elected by the town council.
CLERK.--The clerk of the township is clerk of the trustees, council, or selectmen, and in some States of the school board. He attends the meetings of the trustees, and makes a careful record of the proceedings. He keeps the poll-lists and other legal papers of the township, administers oaths, and notifies officers of their election. In the New England States, and some others, he keeps a record of the marriages, births, and deaths, calls the town meeting to order, reads the warrant under which it is held, presides until a moderator is chosen, and then acts as clerk of the meeting.
TREASURER.--Taxes collected from the people for local purposes are paid to the treasurer. He receives all fines, forfeitures, and license-fees paid to the township. He is the keeper of the township funds, giving bond for the faithful performance of his duties, and pays out money upon the written order of the trustees, attested by the clerk. In some States, as in New York, there is no separate township treasurer, the above and other duties being performed by the supervisor, who is the chief officer of the township.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS.--The school directors have charge of the public schools of the township. The number of directors varies widely, being usually three, five, or more. In a few of the States, the clerks of the district trustees constitute the township school directors, or township board of education. The directors levy taxes for school purposes, visit and inspect the public schools, adopt text-books, regulate the order of studies and length of the term, fix salaries, purchase furniture and apparatus, and make reports to the higher school officers. In some States they examine teachers and grant certificates to teach. In many States a part of these duties falls to the county superintendent.
ASSESSOR.--The assessor makes a list of the names of all persons subject to taxation, estimates the value of their real and personal property, assesses a tax thereon, and in some States delivers this list to the auditor, and in others to the collector of taxes. In most States there, is also a poll-tax of from one to three dollars, sometimes more, laid upon all male inhabitants more than twenty-one years of age. In some States there are two or more assessors to the township, and in others real estate is valued only once in ten years.
COMMISSIONERS, or surveyors of highways, have charge of the construction and repair of highways, summon those subject to labor on the road, and direct their work.
SUPERVISOR.--In some States the chief executive duties of the town fall upon the supervisor, but his principal duties are rather as a member of the county board of supervisors.
CONSTABLES.--Constables are ministerial and police officers. There are usually two or three in each township. They wait upon the justice's court, and are subject to his orders. They preserve the public peace, serve warrants and other processes, and in some States act as collectors of taxes.
COLLECTOR, ETC.--In some States the township has a collector and three or more auditors. They are usually elected by the trustees, or council, but in a few of the States they are elected by the town meeting. The collector collects the township taxes, giving bond for the faithful performance of his duties. In order to secure honesty and efficiency in public office, and to exhibit the financial condition of the township, the auditors annually examine the books of the treasurer and the collector, and publish a report showing the receipts and expenditures of public money.
In a few States the township has a field-driver and a pound-keeper, whose respective duties are to take stray animals to the pound, an enclosure kept for the purpose, and to retain them with good care until the owner is notified and pays all expenses; two or more fence-viewers, who decide disputes about fences; surveyors of lumber, who measure and mark lumber offered for sale; and sealers, who test and certify weights and measures used in trade. These officers are usually appointed by the selectmen.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT; JUSTICES.--The judicial power is vested in the justices, who are elected by the qualified voters of the town. There are usually two or three justices, but in some States there is only one in each township. The term of office is one, two, three, four, or more years, varying in different States. Justices preside in the justice's court to hear and determine suits at law. "This is the humblest court in the land, the court of greatest antiquity, and the court upon which all other courts are founded."[1] The justice's court tries petty offences and civil suits for small amounts. In some States the justices preside at the town meetings, and in others they perform the duties of coroner in the township.
[1]Thorpe's Civil Government.
1. Has this State the township system? If so, give the name and number of your township.
2. How does the township system provide a convenient means of ascertaining and of executing the people's will?
3. Why is the people's power greater when the government is near?
4. Why can the community manage its own affairs better than any other agency can manage them?
5. How do people secure their rights?
6. What is meant by falling under the censure of the law?
7. What is a naturalized person?
8. Is it right for subjects of foreign governments to vote? Why?
9. Is it right for women to vote?
10. Why is suffrage the basis of all free government?
11. What is a more severe penalty than imprisonment?
12. How can people serve the country?
13. What is a good citizen?
14. Why is a bad vote an attack on the rights of the people?
15. What other laws than those made by the legislative department of the township does the executive department enforce?
16. How do you like the New England town meeting? Why?
17. Name some duties that belong to the executive department.
18. What is a poll-list?
19. What are the duties of judges of election?
20. Of what use is a record of marriages, births, and deaths?
21. What is meant by license-fees?
22. What persons are subject to taxation?
23. What is a poll-tax, and is it right? Why?
24. Who are subject to road duty in this State?
25. Give the names of the officers of this township.
Resolved, That the town meeting is the best system of local government yet devised.
INTRUDUCTORY.--The county is a political division of the State, and is composed of civil districts or of townships. It bears the name of county in all parts of the country except in Louisiana, where a similar organization is known as a parish. In New England the county has less power than the town; in the Western States it has more than the township; and in the Southern States it has far more than the civil district, being there the unit of political influence.
PURPOSES.--The county organization brings justice near the people, enables them to attend to local affairs too extensive for a smaller community, and affords a medium by which they may transact business with the State. It serves as a convenient basis of apportioning members of the legislature among the people. It maintains local officers, such as sheriff and prosecuting attorney, whose duties would be too narrow if confined to a township. It secures a competent and higher tribunal than the justice's court for the trial of suits at law. This was the original purpose, and is still the controlling reason for the division of the States into counties.
FORMATION, AREA.--Counties are formed, their rights are conferred, and their duties imposed, by act of the State legislature. In most States counties vary greatly in shape and size, but in some of the Western States they have a regular form. The average area of counties in the United States is eight hundred and thirty square miles; the average area of those east of the Mississippi River is only three hundred and eighty square miles.
COUNTY SEAT.--The county government resides at the county seat, county town, or shire town, as it is variously called. The court-house, the jail, the public offices, and sometimes other county buildings are located at the county seat. Here are kept the records of the courts; also, usually copies of the deeds, wills, mortgages, and other important papers of the people.
The county, like the United States, the State, and the township, has a republican form of government; that is, it is governed by representatives elected by the people. In nearly all States the county government has three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial; but the functions of making, of executing, and of explaining the laws, are not always kept separate and distinct. In a few States the county does not have a judicial department.
OFFICERS.--County officers and township officers have duties similar in kind, but the former have charge of the larger interests. The usual officers of the county are the commissioners or supervisors, the county attorney or prosecuting attorney, the county superintendent of schools or school commissioner, the sheriff, the treasurer, the auditor, the county clerk or common pleas clerk, the surveyor, the coroner, and the county judge and surrogate, or probate judge. In the counties of many States one or more of these officers are lacking, and others have different names from those here given. In the Western and the Southern States county officers are elected by the direct vote of the people; in most of the New England States some of them are chosen in other ways. The terms of county officers vary in different parts of the Union, being usually two, three, or four years; but in some States certain officers are elected for a longer term.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT: COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, OR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.--In most States the public interests of the county are intrusted to a board of officers, three or five in number, called county commissioners. In some States the board consists of one or more supervisors from each township, and is called the board of supervisors. In a few States the board consists of all the justices of the county, with the county judge as presiding officer.
The county commissioners, or board of supervisors, have charge of the county property, such as the court-house, the jail, and the county infirmary; make orders and raise funds for the erection of county buildings, and for the construction and improvement of highways and bridges; provide polling-places; make appropriations of money for public purposes; and act as the chief agents of the county in its corporate capacity. In some States they fix the salaries of county officers; in others they have power to form new townships and to change the township boundaries. In several States the functions of the board are almost wholly executive.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS, OR PROSECUTIN ATTORNEYS.--The county attorney, or prosecuting attorney, is the county's counsellor at law, and when requested gives legal advice to all the county officers. It is his duty to prosecute the accused in the trial of crimes and offences, in the justice's court, the county court, and in some States in the circuit court or district court; to represent the county in all civil suits to which it is a party; and to act for it in all cases in which its legal interests are involved.
COUNTY SUPERINDENTENT OF SCHOOLS.--In some States there is no county superintendent of schools. In most States there is such an officer elected by the township school directors or by the people of the county, or appointed by the State superintendent of public instruction. In a few States the county is divided into two or more districts, each having a commissioner of schools.
The county superintendent, or school commissioner, is the chief school officer of the county. He administers the public school system, condemns unfit school-houses and orders others built, examines teachers and grants certificates, holds teachers' institutes, visits and directs the schools, instructs teachers in their duties, interests the people in education, and reports the condition of the schools to the State superintendent of public instruction. He is one of the most important officers of the county, a capable administration of his duties being of the greatest benefit to the whole people.
SHERIFF.--"The sheriff is the guardian of the peace of the county and the executive officer of its courts."[1] He preserves the peace, arrests persons charged with crime, serves writs and other processes in both civil and criminal cases, makes proclamation of all elections, summons jurors, and ministers to the courts of his county. In States having no county jailer, the sheriff has charge of the prisons and prisoners, and is responsible for their safe-keeping. When persons refuse to pay their taxes, he seizes and sells enough property to pay the sum assessed; and in some States he is the collector of all State and county revenue.
COUNTY TREASURER.--The duties of the treasurer are indicated by the title of his office. He receives all county taxes, licenses, and other money paid into the county treasury. In most States he is custodian of the county's financial records, and of the tax-collector's books, and in others he collects all the taxes assessed in the county. He gives bond for the faithful performance of his duties, and pays out funds upon the warrant of the county commissioners. In most States having no county treasurer, the sheriff is keeper of the public money.
AUDITOR.--The auditor is the guardian of the county's financial interests. He examines the books and papers of officers who receive or disburse county funds; keeps a record of receipts and expenditures; draws all warrants for the payment of public money; and publishes a report of the county's financial transactions. In some States he receives the assessor's returns, apportions taxes among the people, and prepares the tax-collector's duplicate list. In States having no county auditor, these duties are performed by other officers.
COUNTY CLERK, OR COMMON PLEAS CLERK.--The county clerk, or common pleas clerk, is the recording officer of the county court, or probate court, and in some States of the circuit court. He issues writs, preserves papers, and records judgments. In many States he issues licenses, preserves election returns, and records wills, deeds, mortgages, and other important papers.
RECORDER, OR REGISTER.--In many States the county has a recorder, or register, instead of the county clerk, and in some States it has both. The recorder, or register, makes a record in books kept for that purpose, of wills, deeds, mortgages, village plats, and powers of attorney. Some of these instruments must be recorded in order to make them valid in law. In some States having no recorder, these duties are performed by the township clerk, and in others by the county clerk.
SURVEYOR.--The county surveyor, or engineer, surveys tracts of land to locate lines, determine areas, and to settle conflicting claims. In some States his services are frequently needed in the transfer of real estate. In most States he makes plots of surveys, issues maps of the county, and has charge of the construction of roads and bridges.
CORONER.--The coroner investigates the death of persons who have died by violence, or in prison, or from causes unknown. He receives notice of the death; a jury is summoned; witnesses testify; and the jury renders a verdict in writing, stating the cause and the manner of the death. This inquiry is known as the coroner's inquest. In some States when the office of sheriff is vacant, the coroner performs the duties.
OTHER OFFICERS.--In some States there are superintendents of the poor, or infirmary directors, who have charge of the county infirmary in which the dependent poor are maintained; in others the township overseers of the poor support these unfortunates with funds furnished for that purpose by the county. In some States there is a collector who collects all the taxes of the county; a county jailer who holds prisoners in custody and has charge of the county buildings, under the commissioners' directions; and also a circuit clerk, or district clerk, who is the recording officer of the circuit court, or district court as it is often called.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT: COUNTY JUDGE OR PROBATE JUDGE.--The judicial power of the county is vested in the county judge, or probate judge, who in many States is its most prominent and important officer. He has jurisdiction of wills and estates, appoints administrators and guardians, and settles their accounts. In many states he grants licenses; presides over the legislative body of the county; makes orders opening roads and appointing overseers of the public highway: appoints officers of elections; holds examining trials; sits in the county court to try minor offences and civil suits for small amounts; and in a few States acts as county superintendent of schools.
In some States there is a probate judge, or judge of the orphan's court, in addition to the county judge.
[1]Thorpe's Civil Government.