A high sheriff is, or was, a law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
In England and Wales, the office is unpaid and partly ceremonial, appointed by the Crown through a warrant from the Privy Council. In Cornwall, the High Sheriff is appointed by the Duke of Cornwall. In England and Wales the office previously known as sheriff was retitled high sheriff on 1 April 1974.
In some states of the United States of America, the high sheriff is the chief sheriff of the state, who outranks and commands all other sheriffs.
Read more about High Sheriff: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Declaration, United States
Famous quotes containing the words high and/or sheriff:
“I affect no contempt for the high eminence he [Senator Stephen Douglas] has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species, might have shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence, than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch’s brow.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The man’s an M.D., like you. He’s entitled to his opinion. Or do you want me to charge him with confusing a country doctor?”
—Robert M. Fresco. Jack Arnold. Sheriff Jack Andrews (Nestor Paiva)