Jump to content

County seat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromShire town)

Acounty seatis an administrative center,seat of government,or capital city of acountyorcivil parish.The term is in use in five countries:Canada,China,Hungary,Romania,and theUnited States.An equivalent term,shire town,is used in theU.S. stateofVermontand in several other English-speaking jurisdictions.[1]

Canada[edit]

InCanada,theprovincesofOntario,Quebec,New Brunswick,Prince Edward Island,andNova Scotiahave counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat.[2][3]

China[edit]

Main article:Counties of China

County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in thePeople's Republic of China. Xianhave existed since theWarring States periodand were set up nationwide by theQin dynasty.[4][5]The number of counties inChina propergradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. AsQin Shi Huangreorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the EasternHan dynasty,the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when theSui dynastyabolished thecommanderylevel ( quận jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties.

In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure;[6]in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was themagistrate,who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases.

The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of theQing dynasty.Changes of location and names of counties inChinese historyhave been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties inMainland Chinaout of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions.

Taiwan[edit]

Main article:County (Taiwan)
Miaoli,the county seat ofMiaoli Countyin Taiwan

InTaiwan,the first counties were first established in 1661 by theKingdom of Tungning.The later rulerQing empireinherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase ofHan Chinesepopulation in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan.Protestant missionariesin China first romanized the term ashien.[7]WhenTaiwanbecame aJapanese colonyin 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into theJapanese systemin the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule.

By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8prefectures(ChâuandThính), which remained after theRepublic of Chinatook over.

There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function ascounty-administered cities,urban townships,orrural townships.

Lists of county seats[edit]

See also:Counties of Taiwan

United States[edit]

Allentown, Pennsylvania,the third-largest city inPennsylvaniaand county seat ofLehigh County
Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as this one inRenville County, Minnesota.

Function[edit]

The old courthouse inCentreville, Maryland,the county seat ofQueen Anne's County, Maryland,U.S.

In most of theUnited States,acountyis anadministrativeor political subdivision of astatethat consists of a geographic area with specificboundariesand usually some level of governmental authority.[8]The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as theseatof its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large.

A county seat is usually an incorporatedmunicipality.The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such asArlington County, Virginia,where the county seat is the entire county.[9]Ellicott City,the county seat ofHoward County, Maryland,is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed byTowson,the county seat ofBaltimore County, Maryland.Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example,Cape May Court House, New Jersey,though unincorporated, is a section ofMiddle Township,an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the originalThirteen Colonies,county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such asSpotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia.

U.S. counties with more than one county seat[edit]

Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties inAlabama,Arkansas,Georgia,Iowa,Kentucky,Massachusetts,Mississippi,Missouri,New Hampshire,New York,andVermonthave two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. Examples includeHarrison County, Mississippi,which has bothBiloxiandGulfportas county seats, andHinds County, Mississippi,which has bothRaymondand the state capital ofJackson.The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source ofcivic pridefor the towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities.

There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states:

Other variations[edit]

Alaska[edit]

Alaskais divided intoboroughsrather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality" ). TheUnorganized Borough, Alaska,which covers 49% of the state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, theLake and Peninsula Borough,has its borough seat located in another borough, namelyKing SalmoninBristol Bay Borough.

Louisiana[edit]

InLouisiana,which is divided intoparishesrather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats".

New England[edit]

InNew England,counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems.Rhode Islandhas no county level of government and thus no county seats, andMassachusettshas dissolved many but not all of its county governments. InVermont,Massachusetts,[11]andMaine[12]county government consists only of aSuperior CourtandSheriff(as anofficer of the court), both located in a designated "shire town." Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire townManchester,and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington.[citation needed]

In 2024,Connecticut,which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending the use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of theUnited States Census Bureauto a system ofcouncils of governmentfor the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents.[13]

South Dakota[edit]

Two counties inSouth Dakota,Oglala LakotaandTodd,have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided byFall River CountyandTripp County,respectively.[14]

Virginia[edit]

InVirginia,a county seat may be anindependent citysurrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example,Fairfax Cityis both the county seat ofFairfax County, Virginiaand completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in the independent city under an agreement, such as inAlbemarle,or may in beenclavesof the county surrounded by the independent city, such as inFairfax.Others, such asPrince William,have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city:

Bedfordwas an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat ofBedford County.Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county.

Lists of U.S. county seats by state[edit]

The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^VT Shire Towns: Visiting The Shires of Vermont
  2. ^"County Map of Nova Scotia".Nova Scotia Archives.Retrieved3 June2024.
  3. ^"'What happened?' Long forgotten Dorchester wharf was once heart of shire town ".CBC News.CBC.Retrieved3 June2024.
  4. ^Hsu, Cho-yun (2012) [2006].China: A New Cultural History.Translated by Baker, Timothy D. Jr.; Duke, Michael S. Columbia University Press. p. 102.ISBN9780231159203.
  5. ^Goodman, David S.G., ed. (2015).Handbook of the Politics of China.Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. p. 159.ISBN9781782544364.
  6. ^Zarrow, Peter (2006).China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949.Routledge. p. 58.ISBN978-1-134-21976-6.
  7. ^Davidson, James W.(1903).The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: History, People, Resources, and Commercial Prospects: Tea, Camphor, Sugar, Gold, Coal, Sulphur, Economical Plants, and Other Productions.London and New York: Macmillan & Co. p.93.OL6931635M.
  8. ^"An Overview of County Government".National Association of Counties.Archived fromthe originalon April 17, 2013.RetrievedApril 25,2013.
  9. ^"Counties in Virginia and the Location of Their Seats of Government"(PDF).Virginia Commission on Local Government. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 13 November 2018.Retrieved10 April2018.
  10. ^Coffee County, Alabama."History of Coffee County".Archived fromthe originalon 27 October 2011.Retrieved19 August2011.
  11. ^"MGL c. 231, s. 82".Retrieved15 July2013.
  12. ^"Title 33, §701: Office in shire town".mainelegislature.org.
  13. ^"Proposed Change to County Equivalents in Connecticut"(PDF).US Census Bureau.
  14. ^"Shannon County, South Dakota".Sdcounties.org.Archived fromthe originalon 25 April 2012.Retrieved1 May2015.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=County_seat&oldid=1232509846"