This is a list of the present unpaid ceremonial offices ofHigh Sheriffs inEngland and Wales and inNorthern Ireland, along with the more localised but equivalent Sheriffdoms of 16 towns/cities.
Historically a High Sheriff was appointed bythe Crown to each of thehistoric counties of England andWales and those ofIreland. TheSheriffs Act 1887 sets out the appointments and qualifications of sheriffs in England and Wales. The shrievalties were subsequently redefined in terms of the new administrative counties established by theLocal Government Act 1888 andLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898. These were abolished in England and Wales in 1974 by theLocal Government Act 1972, with shrievalties since then being defined in terms of the new local government areas created by that Act. As the structure of local government has changed since the introduction of unitary authorities from the 1990s onwards, the shrievalties in England and Wales are now defined as groups of local authorities, or parts of them, in a similar fashion to theLieutenancies.[1]
The shrieval counties and shrievalties contrast with different words and meaning inScotland where the office of Sheriff has remained a judicial office. Sheriffs preside oversheriff courts with oneSheriff Principal for each of the sixsheriffdoms in Scotland.
Town sheriffs are maintained in some of the historiccounties corporate.