Old English "scir-gerefa " = an officer appointed in Saxon times to administer justice within the shire or county.
London has two sheriffs, elected annually by the livery men of the City. Frequent references to their elections occur in the City records, as well as to the maintenance of their authority within the City against the King's officers.
Jurisdiction distinct from that of the Sheriffs of Middlesex.
In 1308 the King directed a writ to the Sheriff of Middlesex as to the right of Master Wm. de Ewelle, Canon of St. Paul's, to a tenement in the parish of St. Giles without Crepelgate. But the Sheriff returned answer that he could not execute the writ, as it was not within his bailiwick, but within the precinct of the liberty of the City of London (Cal. L. Bk. C. p.160-1).
In 1227 the King granted to the citizens of London the Sheriffdom of London and Middlesex on payment of 300 marks yearly at the Exchequer (Cal. Ch. Rolls, H. III. I. I226-57, p.137).
In 1236 the Sheriffs of London and the Sheriff of Middlesex appear as separate witnesses to a deed (Anc. Deeds, B. 2376). They are again mentioned separately in 1283 (Cal. L. Bk. A. p.75).
In 1321-2 the writ to the Sheriff of Middlesex is in the same terms as that addressed to the Sheriffs of London, Is Ed. II. (Cal. L. Bk. E. p.163).
The two offices do not seem to have been directly separated until the Local Government Act, 1888.
In 1291, at the Sheriff's Court, allusion is made to the four benches of the Court, for whom assessors appeared in the Court.
The Sheriffs had jurisdiction over the Compters, or prisons, which in early times were often in the Sheriff's houses.
The precincts and privileged places in the City were exempt from their jurisdiction down to the end of the 17th century.