High Sheriff of County Galway

Not to be confused with High Sheriff of Galway Town.

The High Sheriff of County Galway was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Galway. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258.[1] Besides his judicial importance, he had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs.[2]

The first (High) Shrivalties were established before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and date back to Saxon times.[3] In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence.[4] However the office retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in a county.[2]

In Galway the office of High Sheriff was established when Connacht was shired around 1569 and ceased to exist with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.

  1. ^ John David Griffith Davies; Frederick Robert Worts (1928). England in the Middle Ages: Its Problems and Legacies. A. A. Knopf. p. 119.
  2. ^ a b Alexander, George Glover (1915). The Administration of Justice in Criminal Matters (in England and Wales). The University Press. pp. 89.
  3. ^ Morris, William Alfred (1968). The Medieval English Sheriff to 1300. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 73. ISBN 0-7190-0342-3.
  4. ^ Millward, Paul (2007). Civic Ceremonial: A Handbook, History and Guide for Mayors, Councillors and Officers. Shaw. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7219-0164-0.