s of the county,
with the county judge as presiding officer.

The county commissioners, or board of supervisors, have charge of the
county property, such as the court-house, the jail, and the county
infirmary; make orders and raise funds for the erection of county
buildings, and for the construction and improvement of highways and
bridges; provide polling-places; make appropriations of money for
public purposes; and act as the chief agents of the county in its
corporate capacity. In some States they fix the salaries of county
officers; in others they have power to form new townships and to change
the township boundaries. In several States the functions of the board
are almost wholly executive.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS, OR PROSECUTIN ATTORNEYS.--The
county attorney, or prosecuting attorney, is the county's counsellor at
law, and when requested gives legal advice to all the county officers.
It is his duty to prosecute the accused in the trial of crimes and
offences, in the justice's court, the county court, and in some States
in the circuit court or district court; to represent the county in all
civil suits to which it is a party; and to act for it in all cases in
which its legal interests are involved.

COUNTY SUPERINDENTENT OF SCHOOLS.--In some States there is no county
superintendent of schools. In most States there is such an officer
elected by the township school directors or by the people of the
county, or appointed by the State superintendent of public instruction.
In a few States the county is divided into two or more districts, each
having a commissioner of schools.

The county superintendent, or school commissioner, is the chief school
officer of the county. He administers the public school system,
condemns unfit school-houses and orders others built, examines teachers
and grants certificates, holds teachers' institutes, visits and directs
the schools, instructs teachers in their duties, interests the people
in education, and reports the condition of the schools to the State
superintendent of public instruction. He is one of the most important
officers of the county, a capable administration of his duties being of
the greatest benefit to the whole people.

SHERIFF.--"The sheriff is the guardian of the peace of the county and
the executive officer of its courts."[1] He preserves the peace,
arrests persons charged with crime, serves writs and other processes in
both civil and criminal ca