Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258.
[1] Besides his judicial importance, he has ceremonial and administrative functions and executes 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 retains his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in a county.