Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became an annual appointment following the Provisions of Oxford in 1258.
[1] Besides his judicial importance, the sheriff had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs.
[2] The first (High) Shrievalties were established before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and date back to Saxon times.
[3] In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence.
[4] Despite however that the office retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in a county.