_The Sheriff._--The most important executive officer of the county is the sheriff. This office is a very ancient one, though it has lost much of its former dignity and importance. The sheriff is elected by the people of the county, in all of the states except Rhode Island (where he is chosen by the state legislature), for a term ranging from one to four years, the most usual term being two years. The sheriff is usually assisted by a number of deputies, who are either regularly employed by him or especially summoned in case of emergencies. He is the general conservator of the peace of the county and is charged with attending the court as its executive officer and with carrying out its orders, whether it be to sell property for nonpayment of taxes, to seize and sell property in execution of a judgment, or to hang a convicted criminal. He has the power, and it is his duty, to arrest offenders and commit them to the jail, of which he is usually the custodian, and to this end he may summon to his aid the _posse comitatus_, which consists of the able-bodied male citizens of the county. In case of serious disturbance and riot he may call on the governor for the aid of the militia. He must exercise reasonable care for the safe-keeping of prisoners in his custody, and in some states he may be removed from office by the governor for negligence in protecting them against mob violence. In some of the Southern states he is _ex officio_ tax collector and in some he is also _ex officio_ public administrator. Other duties of a special nature are imposed upon sheriffs in different states. _The Coroner._--Next to the sheriff among county officers in point of origin is the coroner, whose principal duty is to hold inquests upon the bodies of persons who are supposed to have died from violence or other unlawful means. In such cases it is the duty of the coroner to impanel a jury, usually of six persons, who from the testimony of witnesses, if there are such, and with the aid of a physician or other expert, decide the facts as to how the deceased met his death. A coroner's inquest, however, is not a trial but merely an inquiry into the circumstances of the death. By an old common-law rule, the coroner usually succeeds to the office of sheriff in case the latter dies or for any other reason is disqualified from acting.