Re: CSI: Horatio - whose arm was that, anyway?

aemeijers <aemeijers@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:PTWJj.73434$D_3.12844@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

> 
> Note that in most states, Sheriff is a STATE office, even though it
> only covers the one county, and is not under control of the city or
> county government, even though the county usually supplies most of the
> budget. 
>   Only people Sheriff answers to are the state AG and the governor.
>   (And 
> in some places, the only one that can arrest the sheriff is the 
> coroner.)  The job duties go back to Old England, when the ****re of
> the Rief (sp?) was the king's local rep, and provided a check on any 
> mischief the local lords and constables may get up to. 

Almost correct on the background, but you reversed the bits: "Reeve" was 
the title of several administrative positions (an estate would have a 
reeve, so would a manor. In fact, pretty much any piece of property big 
enough to need a general manager other than the owner could have a reeve) 
and a "****re" was an area usually consisting of a town and the surrounding

countryside (or several towns relatively close together and the
surrounding 
countryside.) So the administrative officer of a ****re was the
****re-reeve, 
which was modified over time to "Sheriff".