LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT:  COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, OR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.—­In most States the public interests of the county are intrusted to a board of officers, three or five in number, called county commissioners.  In some States the board consists of one or more supervisors from each township, and is called the board of supervisors.  In a few States the board consists of all the justices of the county, with the county judge as presiding officer.

The county commissioners, or board of supervisors, have charge of the county property, such as the court-house, the jail, and the county infirmary; make orders and raise funds for the erection of county buildings, and for the construction and improvement of highways and bridges; provide polling-places; make appropriations of money for public purposes; and act as the chief agents of the county in its corporate capacity.  In some States they fix the salaries of county officers; in others they have power to form new townships and to change the township boundaries.  In several States the functions of the board are almost wholly executive.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT:  COUNTY ATTORNEYS, OR PROSECUTIN ATTORNEYS.—­The county attorney, or prosecuting attorney, is the county’s counsellor at law, and when requested gives legal advice to all the county officers.  It is his duty to prosecute the accused in the trial of crimes and offences, in the justice’s court, the county court, and in some States in the circuit court or district court; to represent the county in all civil suits to which it is a party; and to act for it in all cases in which its legal interests are involved.

COUNTY SUPERINDENTENT OF SCHOOLS.—­In some States there is no county superintendent of schools.  In most States there is such an officer elected by the township school directors or by the people of the county, or appointed by the State superintendent of public instruction.  In a few States the county is divided into two or more districts, each having a commissioner of schools.

The county superintendent, or school commissioner, is the chief school officer of the county.  He administers the public school system, condemns unfit school-houses and orders others built, examines teachers and grants certificates, holds teachers’ institutes, visits and directs the schools, instructs teachers in their duties, interests the people in education, and reports the condition of the schools to the State superintendent of public instruction.  He is one of the most important officers of the county, a capable administration of his duties being of the greatest benefit to the whole people.

SHERIFF.—­“The sheriff is the guardian of the peace of the county and the executive officer of its courts."[1] He preserves the peace, arrests persons charged with crime, serves writs and other processes in both civil and criminal cases, makes proclamation of all elections, summons jurors, and ministers to the courts of his county.  In States having no county jailer, the sheriff has charge of the prisons and prisoners, and is responsible for their safe-keeping.  When persons refuse to pay their taxes, he seizes and sells enough property to pay the sum assessed; and in some States he is the collector of all State and county revenue.