An indefinite number of theſe hundreds make up a county or ſhire. Shire is a Saxon word ſignifying a diviſion; but a county, comitatus, is plainly derived from comes, the count of the Franks; that is, the earl, or alderman (as the Saxons called him) of the ſhire, to whom the government of it was intruſted. This he uſually exerciſed by his deputy, ſtill called in Latin vice-comes, and in Engliſh the ſheriff, ſhrieve, or ſhire-reeve, ſignifying the officer of the ſhire; upon whom by proceſs of time the civil adminiſtration of it is now totally devolved. In ſome counties there is an intermediate diviſion, between the ſhire and the hundreds, as lathes in Kent, and rapes in Suſſex, each of them containing about three or four hundreds apiece. Theſe had formerly their lathe-reeves and rape-reeves, acting in ſubordination to the ſhire-reeve. Where a county is divided into three of theſe intermediate juriſdictions, they are called trithings[1], which were antiently governed by a trithing-reeve. Theſe trithings ſtill ſubſiſt in the large county of York, where by an eaſy corruption they are denominated ridings; the north, the eaſt, and the weſt-riding. The number of counties in England and Wales have been different at different times: at preſent there are forty in England, and twelve in Wales.
Three of theſe counties, Cheſter, Durham, and Lancaſter, are called counties palatine. The two former are ſuch by preſcription, or immemorial cuſtom; or, at leaſt as old as the Norman conqueſt[2]: the latter was created by king Edward III, in favour of Henry Plantagenet, firſt earl and then duke of Lancaſter, whoſe heireſs John of Gant the king’s ſon had married; and afterwards confirmed in parliament, to honour John of Gant himſelf, whom, on the death of his father-in-law, he had alſo created duke of Lancaſter[3]. Counties palatine are ſo called a palatio; becauſe the owners thereof, the earl of Cheſler, the biſhop of Durham, and the duke of Lancaſter, had in thoſe counties jura
