SHIRE

In English law. A county. So called because every county or shire is divided and parted by certain metes and bounds from another. Co. Litt. 50a. Knights of the shire. See Knight. Shire clerk. He that keeps the county court. Shire man, or Scyre man. Before the Conquest, the judge of the county, by whom trials for land, etc., were determined. Tomlins; Mozley & Whitley. Shire mote. The assize of the shire, or the assembly of the people, was so called by the Saxons. It was nearly if not exactly, the same as the scyregemote, and in most respects corresponded with what were afterwards called the “county courts.” Brown. Shire reeve. In Saxon law. The reeve or bailiff of the shire. The viscount of the Anglo Normans, and the sheriff of later times.