County

A county is a type of officially recognized geographical division within a modern country, federal state, or province. Counties are defined in diverse ways, but they are typically current or former official administrative divisions within systems of local government, and in this sense counties are similar to shires, and typically larger than municipalities. Various non-English terms can be translated as "county" or "shire" in other languages, and in English new terms with less historical connection have been invented such as "council area" and "local government district". On the other hand, in older English-speaking countries the word can still refer to traditional historical regions such as the ones which exist in England, Scotland and Wales. The term is also sometimes used for districts with specific non-governmental purposes such as courts, or land registration.

Historically the concept of a geographical administrative "county" is European (from French: comté, Latin: comitatus), and represented the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of a medieval count, or viscount (French: vîcomte, Latin: vicecomes) working in the place of a count. However, there were no such counts in medieval England, and when the French-speaking Normans took control of England after 1066 they transplanted the French and medieval Latin terms to describe the pre-existing Anglo Saxon shires, and the original counties of England, Scotland and Wales can still be seen as "shires". Although these had previously been presided over by earls (and before that by ealdormen), the Norman and Angevin governments of medieval England did not re-establish any system placing the administration of shires under the control of a high-level noble. Instead, although there were exceptions, the officers responsible for administrative functions, such as tax collection, or the mustering of soldiers, were sheriffs, theoretically assigned by the central government, and controlled directly by the monarch, cutting out the land-holding nobility.

The Counties of England have evolved in several different directions, so that there is now more than one definition. The 39 "traditional", "ancient" or "historic" counties of England have on the one hand evolved into 83 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, which are modern administrative districts covering the whole country except London, Berkshire, and the Isles of Scilly. The historic counties are also the basis for the 48 ceremonial counties of England, which still each have lords-lieutenants and high sheriffs, who theoretically represent the monarchy in different parts of the country. In cases such as Yorkshire and Sussex, some historical counties remain as geographical regions without any administrative function. The postal counties of the United Kingdom, based upon older county definitions, were used by the Royal Mail until 1996. Scotland replaced its 34 historic counties or shires with 32 modern "council areas", some of which correspond to the old counties, or use the old names. In Wales the modern "principal areas" correspond to some extent to the old county boundaries, and they can also still be referred to as "counties" and "county boroughs".

The 32 modern Irish counties evolved over many centuries, with the earliest having been first defined after the Norman invasion, preceding this was the 'tuath' which defined a region ruled by a local lord (clan chief). Several modern Irish counties are broadly continuations of these earlier divisions (Tír Eoghain became county Tyrone, Tír Chonaill became county Donegal, west Breifne became county Leitrim and Fír Manach became modern county Fermanagh). Notable examples of more recently-founded English-speaking administrations which have taken up the term "county" as a level of local government include the United States and Canada, where counties sometimes evolved from historic districts governed by courts or magistrates, before the countries became independent of the United Kingdom. In New Zealand there were counties historically, but these have been replaced by cities or districts. In Australian local government, the term "shire" is among the several which are typically used in local government, depending upon the state. The term "county", which was used by the colonial administration, is sometimes still relevant for land registration districts (for example in Queensland lands administration). It is also used for the County Court of Victoria, which is a court covering a whole Australian state.