orporate powers, there must be among
its officers some in whose name these powers are to be exercised. In
some states there is a board of _county commissioners_, (usually three,)
who exercise corporate powers. In a few, these powers are exercised by
and in the name of the _board of supervisors_, which is composed of the
supervisors of the several towns in the county, of whom there is one
supervisor in each town. These boards, or such officers in other states
as exercise these powers, have generally the power also to examine and
settle the accounts against the county, and to make orders and contracts
in relation to the building or repairing of the court-house, jail, and
other county buildings; and to perform such other acts as the laws
require.

Sec.6. There is in each county a _treasurer_ to receive and pay out the
moneys required to be collected and paid out in the county. There is
also, in some states, a county _auditor_ to examine and adjust the
accounts and debts of the county, and to perform certain other duties.
The business of county treasurers and auditors in their respective
counties, is of the same nature as that of state auditors and
treasurers. In states in which there is no county auditor, the duties of
auditor are performed by the treasurer, and some other county officer or
officers.

Sec.7. There is also in each county a _register_ or _recorder_, who records
in books provided for that purpose, all deeds, mortgages, and other
instruments of writing required by law to be recorded. In New York, and
perhaps in some other states, the business of a register or recorder is
done by a county clerk, who is also clerk of the several courts held in
the county, and of certain boards of county officers. In some states,
deeds, mortgages, and other written instruments, are recorded by the
town clerks of the several towns.

Sec.8. Another county officer is a _sheriff_, whose duty it is to attend
all the courts held in the county; to execute all warrants, writs, and
other process directed to him by the courts; to apprehend persons
charged with crime; and to take charge of the jail and of the prisoners
therein. It is his duty, also, to preserve the public peace; and he may
cause all persons who break the public peace within his knowledge or
view, to give bonds, with sureties, for keeping the peace, and for
appearing at the next court to be held in the county, and to commit them
to jail if they refuse to give such bonds.