Sheriff

The word comes from Old English shire reeve, the king's officer of a shire. In the United States the sheriff is the county's chief officer for law enforcement and keeping the peace, almost always elected, and usually in charge of the county jail and courthouse security.

For family historians the sheriff matters as the officer who served court papers and summonses and, in many places, auctioned land in foreclosure and seized goods to pay a judgment. Those sales are recorded as sheriff's sales and sheriff's deeds.