sheriff

n.

1. The chief law enforcement officer for the courts in a U.S. county.
2. An officer of a county or an administrative region in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, charged mainly with judicial duties.

[Middle English, the representative of royal authority in a shire, from Old English scīrgerēfa : scīr, shire + gerēfa, reeve.]

For more information on sheriff, visit Britannica.com.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Usually the chief peace officer of a county.

The modern office of sheriff in the United States descends from a one-thousand-year-old English tradition: a "shire-reeve" (shire-keeper) is the oldest appointment of the English crown. Because county governments were typically the first established units of government in newly settled American territories, sheriffs were among the first elected public officials in an area and thus developed a leading role in local law enforcement.

A dichotomy frequently exists today between a sheriff's jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of a local police department. A metropolitan area may encompass an entire county or more; police departments and sheriffs will often maintain concurrent jurisdiction in the overlapping area. A sheriff may assume that a local police department will do its duty in enforcing the law, but the primary obligation rests with the sheriff and requires him to act when evidence of neglect of that duty exists.

Some state constitutions specifically provide for the office of sheriff, and state legislatures frequently establish conditions of office. Sheriffs are typically chosen in a county election. To serve as sheriff, an individual must usually meet certain requirements: residence within the jurisdiction, no criminal record, U.S. citizenship, and compliance with provisions guarding against nepotism. Sometimes officeholders must also satisfy certain age, physical, and educational requirements. A sheriff typically takes an oath and posts a bond upon taking office to ensure the faithful performance of the duties of the office. Compensation typically consists of commissions or fees for particular services performed, a fixed salary, or a combination of fees and salary.

State statutes or state constitutions regulate many duties of a sheriff and emphasize preserving the peace and enforcing criminal laws. Sheriffs arrest and commit to jail felons and other lawbreakers, including pretrial detainees and sentenced prisoners. They transport prisoners to state penal facilities and mental patients to state commitment facilities. In addition, a sheriff is usually responsible for the custody and care of the county courthouse and the jail, attends upon courts of record in serving process, and often has the power to summon jurors. As an officer of the court, a sheriff is subject to a court's orders and direction. Sheriffs also have the power to serve process, including summons, mesne (intermediate) process, and final process.

State statutes define a sheriff's role in serving process. Generally a sheriff is the proper officer to execute all writs returnable to court, unless another person is appointed. A sheriff must execute process without attempting to determine its validity. A court will not direct or advise a sheriff as to the manner of executing process, but she has a duty to effect service promptly, respectfully, and without unnecessary violence. A sheriff must exercise due diligence but need not expend all possible efforts in effecting service.

As part of the traditional common-law duties passed down from the English, sheriffs retain the power to summon the aid of a posse, or posse comitatus, as it is sometimes called. Ideally, a posse furnishes immediate, able-bodied assistance to a sheriff in need. For example, a sheriff may summon bystanders to assist in recapturing an escaped prisoner. These persons are neither officers nor private citizens. They are generally clothed with the same protection of the law as the sheriff and have full authority to provide the sheriff with any necessary assistance.

Sheriffs also levy writs of attachment, that is, the seizure of a debtor's property pursuant to a court order. The sheriff must safeguard seized goods from damage or loss, but he does not absolutely ensure their safety. Generally, property that is lost, destroyed, or damaged by something other than a sheriff's neglect will not result in liability for the sheriff. After seizure, the goods are sold at a sheriff's auction to satisfy creditors' claims. A sheriff decides the time, manner, and place of a judicial sale, collects purchase monies, and distributes the proceeds pursuant to court instructions. A sheriff may not purchase property at a sheriff's sale.

In general, a sheriff may be liable in damages to any person injured as a consequence of a breach of duty connected with the office. A sheriff may not exceed the authority given by law: a sheriff who uses legal authority for illegal conduct is liable as if she had acted without process of law. Some instances where liability may be imposed include a negligent failure to seize sufficient available property that would reasonably be expected to satisfy a debt, a failure to execute process delivered for execution, a levy upon the wrong party, or an excessive levy. Liability is in a personal capacity, not in an official capacity. Limited immunity usually protects a sheriff from liability for acts performed in conjunction with official duties but will not shield her from liability caused by overstepping the authority of the office.

A sheriff typically has broad discretion in appointing, removing, and setting conditions of employment for deputies. A deputy is said to be clothed with the power and authority of the sheriff with respect to the sheriff's ministerial duties. For example, a deputy may act for the sheriff in the service and return of process, in making an execution or other judicial sale (including the appraisal of the property as a prerequisite to such sale), in executing a deed to a purchaser, in serving an execution for taxes, and in serving a garnishment summons.

A deputy's acts, breaches, or misconduct committed in the performance of official duties may result in liability on the sheriff's behalf. For example, in the absence of statutory authority to the contrary, a sheriff could be held liable for a deputy's reckless or wanton acts during an arrest, negligence in caring for and protecting prisoners, or failure to serve process or return a writ.

A sheriff may be removed from office for a variety of reasons, including habitual intoxication or intoxication on the job; misconduct in office, such as misuse of public funds or property; refusal to enforce the law; mistreatment of prisoners; neglect of duty; nepotism; or conviction of a crime.

See: service of process.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

In America the chief executive office of a country, whose most characteristic duties, in some of the Western and Southern States, are the catching and hanging of rogues.

    John Elmer Pettibone Cajee
    (I write of him with little glee)
    Was just as bad as he could be.
    
    'Twas frequently remarked:  "I swon!
    The sun has never looked upon
    So bad a man as Neighbor John."
    
    A sinner through and through, he had
    This added fault:  it made him mad
    To know another man was bad.
    
    In such a case he thought it right
    To rise at any hour of night
    And quench that wicked person's light.
    
    Despite the town's entreaties, he
    Would hale him to the nearest tree
    And leave him swinging wide and free.
    
    Or sometimes, if the humor came,
    A luckless wight's reluctant frame
    Was given to the cheerful flame.
    
    While it was turning nice and brown,
    All unconcerned John met the frown
    Of that austere and righteous town.
    
    "How sad," his neighbors said, "that he
    So scornful of the law should be --
    An anar c, h, i, s, t."
    
    (That is the way that they preferred
    To utter the abhorrent word,
    So strong the aversion that it stirred.)
    
    "Resolved," they said, continuing,
    "That Badman John must cease this thing
    Of having his unlawful fling.
    
    "Now, by these sacred relics" -- here
    Each man had out a souvenir
    Got at a lynching yesteryear --
    
    "By these we swear he shall forsake
    His ways, nor cause our hearts to ache
    By sins of rope and torch and stake.
    
    "We'll tie his red right hand until
    He'll have small freedom to fulfil
    The mandates of his lawless will."
    
    So, in convention then and there,
    They named him Sheriff.  The affair
    Was opened, it is said, with prayer.
                                                     J. Milton Sloluck

---

IN BRIEF: A law enforcement officer.

In the Old West, the sheriff was the main peacekeeper.

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Common misspelling(s) of sheriff

• sherif

Dansk (Danish)
n. - sherif, distriktspolitimester

Nederlands (Dutch)
sheriff

Français (French)
n. - (GB, Jur) shérif, (Écosse) juge, (US) shérif

Deutsch (German)
n. - Sheriff

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σερίφης, αρχηγός αστυνομίας επαρχίας ή κομητείας

Italiano (Italian)
sceriffo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - xerife (m)

Русский (Russian)
шериф

Español (Spanish)
n. - gobernador civil, primer presidente del tribunal de un condado

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sheriff

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
郡治安官, 州长

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 郡治安官, 州長

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 군 보안관, 주장관

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 州長官, 郡保安官, 保安官

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألشريف " عمدة ألبلدة "‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ממונה על שמירת החוק בעיר או במחוז, שריף‬

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sheriff ornament	zippo sheriff lighter
harley davidson sheriff