What is COUNTY? Definition of COUNTY in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms.
One of the civil divisions of a country for judicial and political purposes. 1 Bla. Comm. 113.
Etymologically, it denotes that portion of the country under the immediate government of a count or earl. 1 Bla. Comm. 116.
One of the principal subdivisions of the kingdom of England and of most of the states of the American Union, denoting a distinct portion of territory organized by itself for political and judicial purposes. In modern use, the word may denote either the territory marked off to form a county, or the citizens resident within such territory, taken collectively and considered as invested with political rights, or the county regarded as a municipal corporation possessing subordinate governmental powers, or an organized jural society invested with specific rights and duties. Eagle v. Beard, 33 Ark. 501; Wooster v. Plymouth, 62 N.H. 208; In re Becker, 179 App. Div. 789, 167 N.Y.S. 118, 119; Greb v. King County, 187 Wash. 587, 60 P.2d 690, 692. In the English law, this word signifies the same as shire, -county being derived from the French, and shire from the Saxon. Both these words signify a circuit or portion of the realm into which the whole land is divided, for the better government thereof and the more easy administration of justice. There is no part of England that is not within some county; and the shirereeve (sheriff) was the governor of the province, under the comes, earl, or count.
Counties are political subdivisions of the state, created to aid in the administration of state law for the purpose of local self-government. Hunt v. Mohave County, 18 Ariz. 480, 162 P. 600, 602; Board of Com'rs of Osborne County v. City of Osborne, 104 Kan. 671, 180 P. 233, 234; Divide County v. Baird, 55 N.D. 45, 212 N.W. 236, 243, 51 A.L.R. 296; Dolezal v. Bostick, 41 Okl. 743, 139 P. 964, 968; Middlesex County v. City of Waltham, 278 Mass. 514, 180 N.E. 318, 319, and hence not "municipal corporations." Housing Authority of Birmingham Dist. v. Morris, 244 Ala. 557, 14 So.2d 527, 535.
Counties are held in some jurisdictions to be municipal corporations. Mosier v. Cowan, 295 Mich. 27, 294 N.W. 85, 86; Pacific Fruit & Produce Co. v. Oregon Liquor Control. Commission, D.C.Or., 41 F.Supp. 175, 179; and are sometimes said to be involuntary municipal corporations. Perkins v. Board of Com'rs of Cook County, 271 Ill. 449, 111 N.E. 580, 584, Ann.Cas.1917A, 27. Other cases, seeking to distinguish between the two, say that counties are agencies or political subdivisions of the state for governmental purposes, and not, like municipal corporations, incorporations of the inhabitants of specified regions for purposes of local government. Dillwood v. Riecks, 42 Cal.App. 602, 184 P. 35, 37; Bexar County v. Linden, 110 Tex. 339, 220 S.W. Counties are also said to be merely quasi corporations. Breathitt County v. Hagins, 183 Ky. 294, 207 S. W. 713, 714; MacKenzie v. Douglas County, 91 Or. 375, 178 P. 350, 352; Jefferson County ex rel. Grauman v. Jefferson County Fiscal Court, 274 Ky. 91, 118 S.W.2d 181, 184.
"Vicinage," in its primary and literary meaning, denotes a neighborhood or vicinity; a "county," on the other hand, is a definitely designated territory. Commonwealth v. Collins, 268 Pa. 295, 110 A. 738, 739.
Body of the county. The county at large, as distinguished from any particular place within it; a county considered as a territorial whole. Fluke v. State, 27 Okl.Cr. 234, 226 P. 118, 120.
County affairs. Those relating to the county in its organic and corporate capacity and included within its governmental or corporate powers. Scarbrough v. Wooten, 23 N.M. 616, 170 P. 743, Such as affect the people of the county in question. Bradford v. Cole, 95 Okl. 35, 217 P. 470, 471.
County attorney. The public prosecutor. Kytka v. Weber County, 48 Utah, 421, 160 P. 111, 113. A constitutional officer, acting under oath, vested with authority, and it is his duty to inquire into alleged violations of law, to institute criminal proceedings, and to represent the state in matters and proceedings in his county, he signs all informations, and may make application for leave to file information before examination, commitment, or admission to bail. State ex rel. Juhl v. District Court of First Judicial Dist. in and for Jefferson County, Mont., 107 Mont. 309, 84 P.2d 979, 981, 120 A.L.R. 353.
County board of equalization. A body created for the purpose of equalizing values of property subject to taxation. , Overland Co. v. Utter, 44 Idaho, 385, 257 P. 480, 482.
County board of supervisors. Is not the county, but a body of town and city officers acting for and on behalf of county in such matters as have been turned over to them by law. Cort v. Smith, 249 App.Div. 1, 291 N.Y.S. 54, 60.
County bonds. Broadly, any bonds issued by county officials to be paid for by a levy on a special taxing district, whether or not coextensive with the county. Forrey v. Board of Com'rs of Madison County, 189 Ind. 257, 126 N.E. 673.
County bridge. A bridge of the larger class, erected by the county, and which the county is liable to keep in repair. Boone County v. Mutchler, 137 Ind. 140, 36 N.E. 534.
County business. All business pertaining to the county as a corporate entity. City of Astoria v. Cornelius, 119 Or. 264, 240 P. 233, 235. All business of the county, and any other business of such county connected with or interrelated with the business of any other county properly within the jurisdiction of the county commissioners' court. Glenn v. Dallas County Bois d'Arc Island Levee Dist., Tex.Civ.App., 275 S.W. 137, 145.
County commissioners. Officers of a county, charged with a variety of administrative and executive duties, but principally with the management of the financial affairs of the county, its police regulations, and its corporate business. Sometimes the local laws give them limited judicial powers. In some states they are called "supervisors." Corn. v. Krickbaum, 199 Pa. 351, 49 A. 68. In Georgia, the term is used interchangeably with "commissioners of roads and revenue." Morris v. Smith, 153 Ga. 438(2), 112 S.E. 468; Rhodes v. Jernigan, 155 Ga. 523, 117 S.E. 432, 434.
County corporate. A city or town, with more or less territory annexed, having the privilege to be a county of itself, and not to be comprised in any other county; such as London, York, Bristol, Norwich, and other cities in England. 1 Bl. Comm. 120. See State v. Finn, 4 Mo.App. 347. They differ in no material points from other counties.
County court. A court of high antiquity in England, incident to the jurisdiction of the sheriff. It is not a court of record, but may hold pleas of debt or damages, under the value of forty shillings. The freeholders of the county (anciently termed the "suitors" of the court) are the real judges in this court, and the sheriff is the ministerial officer. See 3 Bl. Comm. 35, 36; 3 Steph. Comm. 395. But in modern English law the name is appropriated to a system of tribunals established by the statute 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95, having a limited jurisdiction, principally for the recovery of small debts. It is also the name of certain tribunals of limited jurisdiction in the county of Middlesex, established under the statute 22 Geo. II. c. 33. In American law. The name is used in many of the states to designate the ordinary courts of record having jurisdiction for trials at nisi prius. Their powers generally comprise ordinary civil jurisdiction, also the charge and care of persons and estates coming within legal guardianship, a limited criminal jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction over justices of the peace, etc.
County farm bureaus. Governmental agencies intrusted with the duty of disseminating among farmers scientific knowledge of an educational nature for the improvement of agriculture. State v. Miller, 104 Neb. 838, 178 N.W. 846, 848.
County funds. This term may include township funds, the legal title of which is in the county, which holds them for disbursement in accordance for the purpose for which they are created. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Wilkinson County, 109 Miss. 879, 69 So. 865, 868. See, also, State v. McGraw, 74 Mont. 152, 240 P. 812, 817. Compare Board of Education v. Wake County, 167 N.C. 114, 83 S.E. 257, 258.
County general fund. A fund raised to meet the expenses incident to county government. County Board of Education v. Austin, 169 Ark. 436, 276 S.W. 2, 5.
County jail. A place of incarceration for the punishment of minor offenses and the custody of transient prisoners, where the ignominy of confinemeat is devoid of the infamous character which an imprisonment in the state jail or penitentiary carries with it. U. S. v. Greenwald, D.C. Cal., 64 F. 8.
County line. This term, when used in a statute providing that the trial for an offense committed on a county line may be in either county divided by such line, is not to be given the geometrical definition of a "line" as having neither breadth nor thickness, but includes all of a fenced public highway dividing two counties, so that a prosecution for robbery committed upon the highway may be maintained in either county, regardless of the side of the center line of the highway upon which the offense was committed. Stone v. People, 71 Colo. 162, 204 P. 897, 898.
County line bridge. A bridge over a stream constituting the boundary line between two counties, one end of which bridge is in one county and the other end in another county. Newberry v. Hall County, 52 Ga.App. 472, 183 S.E. 664, 665.
County officers. Those whose general authority and jurisdiction are confined within the limits of the county in which they are appointed, who are appointed in and for a particular county, and whose duties apply only to that county, and through whom the county performs its usual political functions. State v. Burns, 38 Fla. 367, 21 So. 290; State v. Glenn, 7 Heisk., Tenn., 473; In re Carpenter, 7 Barb., N.Y., 34; Hamilton v. Monroe, Tex.Civ.App., 287 S.W. 304, 306; State ex rel. Osborn v. Eddington, 208 Ind. 160, 195 N.E. 92. Public officers who fill a position usually provided for in the organization of counties and county governments, and are selected by the county to represent it continuously and as part of the regular and permanent administration of public power in carrying out certain acts with the performance of which it is charged in behalf of the public. Coulter v. Pool, 187 Cal. 181, 201 P. 120, 123.
County palatine. A term bestowed upon certain counties in England, the lords of which in former times enjoyed especial privileges. They might pardon treasons, murders, and felonies. All writs and indictments ran in their names, as in other counties in the king's; and all offenses were said to be done against their peace, and not, as in other places, contra pacem domini regis. But these privileges have in modern times nearly disappeared. 1 Holdsw. Hist. E. L. 49; 4 Inst. 205.
County powers. Such only as are expressly provided by law or which are necessarily implied from those expressed. Hersey v. Nelson, 47 Mont. 132, 131 P. 30, 32, Ann.Cas.1914C, 963.
County property. That which a county is authorized to acquire, hold, and sell. State v. Brown, 73 Mont. 371, 236 P. 548, 549; State v. Po land, 61 Mont. 600, 203 P. 352, 353.
County purposes. Those exercised by the county acting as a municipal corporation. Conrad v. Shearer, 197 Iowa 1078, 198 N.W. 633, 634.
As regards the rate of taxation, all purposes for which county taxation may be levied. Test whether a tax is levied for county purposes is whether it is for strictly county uses, for which county or its inhabitants alone would benefit, or is it for a purpose in which entire state is concerned and will profit. Public Utilities Commission v. Manley, 99 Colo. 153, 60 P.2d 913, 917. Seaboard Air Line Ry. Co. v. Wright, 34 Ga.App. 88, 128 S.E. 234, With reference to budgets, all legitimate components of a county budget. Garrison v. Jersey City, 92 N.J.Law, 624, 105 A. 460, 462. The term has been held to apply only to the constantly recurring expenditures, such as salaries of county officers. Obenchain v. Daggett, 68 Or. 374, 137 212, 214. But it has also been held not to be equivalent to "current expenses." Seaboard Air-Line Ry. Co. v. Wright, 157 Ga. 722, 122 S.E. 35, 36.
County rate. In English law. An imposition levied on the occupiers of lands, and applied to many miscellaneous purposes, among which the most important are those of defraying the expenses connected with prisons, reimbursing to private parties the costs they have incurred in prosecuting public offenders, and defraying the expenses of the county police. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 81.
County road. One which lies wholly within one county, and which is thereby distinguished from a state road, which is a road lying in two or more counties. State v. Wood County, 17 Ohio, 186.
County-seat. A county-seat or county-town is the chief town of a county, where the county buildings and courts are located and the county business transacted. Williams v. Reutzel, 60 Ark. 155, 29 S.W. 374; In re Allison, 13 Colo. 525, 22 P. 820, 10 L.R.A. 790; McGregor v. Cain, 177 Ark. 474, 7 S.W.2d 13, 14.
The county town as the seat of government. Dunne v. Rock Island County, 283 Iii. 628, 119 N.E. 591, 595. The place where the courthouse is situated, and the district and county courts are held. Turner v. Tucker, 113 Tex. 434, 258 S.W. 149, 150.
County sessions. In England, the court of general quarter sessions of the peace held in every county once in every quarter of a year. Mozley & Whitley.
County site. The seat of government of the county. Board of Revenue of Covington County v. Merrill, 193 Ala. 521, 68 So. 971, 977. The courthouse site. Board of Revenue of Jefferson County v. Huey, 195 Ala. 83, 70 So. 744, 746.
County tax. Tax exclusively for county purposes, in which state has no sovereign interest or responsibility, and which has no connection with duties of county in its relation to state. Amos v. Mathews, 99 Fla. 1, 126 So. 308, 323.
County-town. The county-seat; the town in which the seat of government of the county is located. State v. Cates, 105 Tenn. 441, 58 S.W. 649.
County treasury. Not the physical place of deposit, but the funds deposited to the credit of the county. State v. Kurtz, 110 Ohio St. 332, 144 N.E. 120, 123.
County warrant. An order or warrant drawn by some duly authorized officer of the county, directed to the county treasurer and directing him to pay out of the funds of the county a designated sum of money to a named individual, or to his order or to bearer. Savage v. Mathews, 98 Ala. 535, 13 So. 328; Crawford v. Noble County, 8 Okl. 450, 58 P. 616; Quinn v. Reed, 130 Ark. 116, 197 S.W. 15, 16; Tyler v. Shelby County, Tex., C.C.A. Tex., 47 F.2d 103, 105.
Foreign county. Any county having a judicial and municipal organization separate from that of the county where matters arising in the former county are called in question, though both may lie within the same state or country.
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That's the definition of COUNTY in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
