for this purpose, is called state printer. It is his business to print the journal, bills, reports, and other papers and documents of each house of the legislature, and all the laws passed at each session to be distributed by the secretary of state as the law requires. State printers are either chosen by the legislature, or employed by persons appointed for that purpose; or the printing is let to the person or persons offering to do it at the lowest prices. Printers are required to give bonds, with sureties, for the faithful performance of the work.

§ 18. There are sundry other officers in the service of the state, properly called executive officers, among whom are the following: persons having the care of the public buildings and other property of the state; a state librarian, who has charge of the state library, consisting of books containing matter of a public nature, such as the laws of the state, laws of the United States and of the several states, enacted from year to year; together with a large collection of miscellaneous works; superintendents of state prisons, lunatic asylums, and other state institutions; whose duties are indicated by their titles, and need no particular description.

CHAPTER XVII.

COUNTIES AND COUNTY OFFICERS; POWERS AND DUTIES OF

COUNTY OFFICERS.

§ 1. THE necessity of dividing a state into small districts of territory, has already been mentioned. (Chap. IX., § 13, 14.) The first division is into counties; these again are divided into towns. These territorial divisions are the same as in England, the country from which the colonies were chiefly settled.

§ 2. Counties in England were formerly districts governed by counts or earls ; hence the name of county. A county was also called shire; and on officer was appointed by the count or earl to perform certain acts in the principal town in the county, which town was called shire town, and the officer

shire-reeve, or sheriff, whose powers and duties were of a nature similar to those of the sheriff of a county in this country. The shire town is that in which the court-house and other county buildings are situated, and where the principal officers of the county administration transact their business. In some counties there are two such towns, which are called half-shires.

§3. Counties and towns are bodies corporate, or bodies politic. A body politic, or corporation, is a number of persons united and authorized by law to act under one name, and as a single person, in the transaction of business. Hence a community of people, united for the purpose of government, is a body politic. Persons associated for any purpose without being incorporated by law, are not called. a corporation. The cbject of incorporating an association by law, is to give its members the power to make certain rules for their government, and to enforce those rules; and the power to sue and the capacity to be sued, and to hold and sell property, as one person.

§4. Although the names of the officers of the county administration, and the distribution of power therein, are in some respects different in the different states, the powers and duties of these officers are nearly the same in all the states. County officers are generally elected by the people of the counties at the general election.

§ 5. As a county possesses various corporate powers, there must necessarily be among its officers some in whose name these powers are to be exercised, and all acts and proceedings by and against it are to be done. In some of the New England states, Ohio, and others, there is a board of county commissioners, (usually three,) who exercise corporate powers. In New York and Michigan, these powers are exercised by and in the name of the board of supervisors, which is composed of the supervisors of the several towns, there being one supervisor in each town. This board of officers has power also to examine and settle the accounts against the county, and to order money to be raised to defray its expenses; to make orders or contracts in relation to the building or repairing of the court-house, jail, and other county buildings; and to perform such other acts as the laws require.

§ 6. There is also a treasurer in each county, to receive

and pay out the money required to be collected and paid out in the county. There is also an auditor in some states, to examine and adjust the accounts and debts of the county, and to perform certain other duties. The duties of county auditors, in their several counties, are similar to the duties of a state auditor. In states in which there is no county auditor, his duties are in part performed by the county treasurer, or some other county officer or officers.

§ 7. There is also a register or recorder, who provides suitable books, and records in them all deeds, mortgages, and other instruments of writing required by law to be recorded. In New York, and perhaps in some other states, the business of a register or recorder is performed by the county derk, who is also clerk of the several courts held in the county, and who serves in the capacity of clerk or secretary to certain boards of county officers. In some states, deeds, mortgages, &c., are recorded by the town clerks of the several towns.

§ 8. Another county officer is a sheriff, whose duty it is to attend the sittings of all courts held in the county; to execute all warrants, writs, and other processes directed to him by the proper authority; to apprehend persons charged with crime; and to take charge of the jail and the prisoners therein. It is his duty also to preserve the public peace; and he may cause all persons who break the public peace within his knowledge or view, to give bonds, with sureties, for keeping the peace, and for appearing at the next court to be held in the county, and commit them to jail if they refuse to give such bonds. In the performance of these and other duties, he is assisted by deputies. Sheriffs are generally elected by the people.

§ 9. There are elected in each county one or more coroners, to inquire into the cause of the death of persons who have died by violence, or suddenly, and by means unknown. Notice of such death is given to the coroner, who orders a jury to be summoned, and witnesses subpoenaed, and repairs to the place of such dead person to inquire into the cause and manner of the death. Such examination is called a coroner's inquest. The fees of sheriffs and coroners are fixed by law.

§ 10. In some states there is a county surveyor, whose duties

within his county are similar in their nature to those of a state surveyor-general.

§ 11. An attorney, elected or appointed for the purpose, attends all courts in which persons are tried in the county courts for crimes, and conducts all prosecutions for crimes tried in such courts. In states where there is no attorneygeneral for the state, the prosecuting attorney for each county serves in this capacity, in trials in which the state is a party. As all breaches of the peace, and all crimes, are considered as committed against the state, and prosecuted in its name, this attorney is sometimes called state's attorney.

CHAPTER XVIII.

TOWNS AND TOWN OFFICERS; POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWN OFFICERS.

§ 1. THE territories into which a county is divided, are usually called towns. In some states they are called, and perhaps more properly, townships; and the name of town is given to an incorporated village, or a city. We shall, however, in this work, apply to these territorial divisions the name of town.

§ 2. The people of the several towns meet once a year for the election of town officers, and for the regulation of certain town affairs. The electors of a town have power, at their annual town meetings, to order money to be raised for the support of the poor, for the building and repairing of bridges, and for other town purposes; to make regulations concerning fences; to fix the compensation of town. officers in certain cases; and to perform such other acts as come within the usual powers of towns.

§ 3. The principal officers generally elected in towns, are the following: one or more persons who have the general oversight and direction of town affairs, called by some name corresponding to the nature of their duties; a town clerk; one or more assessors; one or more overseers of highways; overseers of the poor; officers to manage school

affairs; constables; collectors of taxes; treasurer; fenceviewers; pound-keepers, &c. In some states, there are also sealers of weights and measures; persons to measure and inspect wood, lumber, bark, and other commodities.

§ 4. The officers first mentioned in the preceding section, are, in the New England states, called selectmen, of whom there are at least three, and in no state more than nine, in each town. In Ohio, and perhaps a few other states, they are called trustees of townships, and are three in number. In New York and Michigan, there is in each town one such officer, called supervisor.

§ 5. The powers and duties of these officers are more numerous and extensive in some states than in others. They have power to lay out roads, and lay out and alter road districts; and to do certain acts relating to roads, bridges, taxes, common schools, the support of the poor, &c., and to examine and settle all demands against the town. In some of the states, however, some of these duties are in whole or in part performed by other officers.

6. The town clerk keeps the records, books, and papers of the town; records in a book the proceedings of town meetings, and the names of the officers elected at these meetings, and such other papers as are required by law to be recorded. In some states, deeds and other conveyances are recorded by the clerks of towns.

§ 7. The duties of assessors and collectors relate to the assessment and collection of taxes, and are described in another chapter.

8. The persons having the general care and superintendence of highways, have power to lay out roads, and to lay out and alter road districts; to assess the labor to be performed in the several districts; to pay out the money raised for repairing bridges, &c. In some states, these duties are devolved upon other officers.

§ 9. Each town is divided by the proper officers into as many road districts as may be judged convenient; and a person residing in each such district is chosen, called overseer or supervisor or surveyor of highways, whose duty it is to see that the roads are repaired and kept in order in his district. In some states, a tax is laid and collected, sufficient to keep in repair the highways, cach person assessed being allowed to perform labor or furnish materials to the amount